Resilience and Permission to Fail

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

You’re ok.

Perfection is overrated.

You’re good enough.

I was just wondering if we are teaching our kids that it’s ok to make mistakes? Are we giving our kids permission to fail and heaven forbid, not be the best?

There seems to be so much pressure on our society to be the best, to be the skinniest and the fittest, and the smartest and the fastest and the prettiest and the first and the whatever. What’s the race all about anyway? What about happiness and joy and just being ok with who we are right now, looking silly and maybe even sloppy? Is that even allowed any more?

I think we have to model for our kids how to not be perfect and I’m not trying to make excuses. I just want them to know that we’re ok too and I want us to be ok with being enough. We do our best and our best has to be good enough.

This is what I want to teach my kids. If they make a mistake, so what? Acknowledge what went right. Acknowledge what didn’t work and fix it for next time. And then try again. It doesn’t have to be so complicated. Keep learning and practicing this life thing and don’t be so hard on yourself. Repetition is good. And making mistakes means you’re trying and growing and learning. It’s ok. That’s what I want them to know. You have my permission to fail. Just learn from your mistakes so that life can carry on as smoothly as possible for yourself and everyone else around you, because our lives are really interconnected as much as we think we are on our own.

I want them to be ok right where they are, every day. I want them to make mistakes and I want them to figure out what’s important to them and to make the most of all their experiences and relationships – the good and bad and ugly. I think this is the path to happiness. Accepting what is. Adapting and moving forward and liking themselves right now.

Carry on, resilient BeLoveRs. You’ve got this.

12Jan2015

There is Something Good

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I believe there is something good in everything. We might not always recognize what goodness is hidden in the moment, but usually we can see it when we allow ourselves to open up to the possibility of hidden nuggets behind our own perceptions, if we can pause to focus and be grateful for what is right despite the injustices that we feel.

Last week at dinner, Charlie was struggling to see the good in his big brother. He kept using BIG words like always, never, every time, and so forth to describe the behaviors that were bugging him. He was rightfully frustrated and kept labeling his experiences with these words. He wasn’t feeling so good and I sensed a downward spiral that I didn’t like.

I wanted to teach him empathy. I wanted to teach him to see the good despite the struggle. I wanted to teach him that things aren’t always as bad as they seem. I wanted to teach him gratitude for all that is good and to recognize the conflict that was creating such frustration for him. I wanted to protect him as he slung angry words so that he could hear the real, important message and I wanted to validate his feelings despite being frustrated and I didn’t want to react to his negative reactions. I wanted to help manage expectations. This was a complicated challenge and I was thankful for our family dinner time to be together and to work through the conflict so that we could get back to our roots.

At first it was hard to hear each other. Charlie taught me 7-11, the mindfulness technique to slow down and breathe for seven seconds and then blow out for eleven seconds. We practice this together when conversations start to get heated. I like to be as close to neutral as possible with our emotions so that we can hear each other and negotiate a fair solution. Eventually we got there. He was frustrated and expressed his concerns. I listened. And then I shared with him a story about how I used to label people a certain way when they frustrated me. I told him that the more I called someone something mean, the meaner they became. They lived up to my expectation and I was successful at not liking them, but I was sad because I loved them and wanted to like them. I didn’t like creating monsters from my perceptions and I had to fight against the labels to make the monsters go away. I had to see the good in them when I didn’t want to, and I had to keep fighting to see their value instead of what bugged me. I told him instead of seeing what was wrong with the other person, I tried to find 5 things I liked about them despite the things that bugged me. It worked. It works every time with those I wish to have positive relations because I choose to focus on the good so that I can scare the monsters away and catch them being great. I challenged Charlie.

I asked him to think about what he liked about his big brother and to share with us 5 things. He was mad at me and I pushed him a little harder. He chose sarcasm as his weapon. His first response was that he liked his brother because he was a boy. His second response was that he was tall. I told him that these didn’t count. He had to use his imagination to think of what things his brother did that he really enjoyed. And then he practiced 7-11 and began again, because he knew he had to answer eventually and he really doesn’t like long, drawn out conversations over dinner. As he began, he shared really nice things such as his brother letting him in his room, and how his brother lets him play Minecraft with him, and how he lets him hang out with his friends. And as he shared, his tone began to change. He started to believe himself and he was right. He liked the things that were good more than he didn’t like the things that were wrong. He was able to see that his brother wasn’t always, never, ever and etcetera. He saw the good. This created a connection and both boys were content. Apologies were shared for the actions that created the conflict and resolutions were made.

This took time. It wasn’t easy. Yet we took the time to listen, to validate, to redirect, to be empathetic, to hear each other and to not be defensive. We protected each other and avoided accusations and instead used words such as “I don’t like it when…” and “I feel… when you…” and it was no longer feelings of personal attacks and people feeling like they had to hold on to their positions. It was actually pretty cool. Our family focus is on connections and not conflict and to love one another despite any struggles. We kept bringing the conversation back to the center and the end result was success and we picked up where we left off and cleared the dishes.

So fast forward to today when after school, the boys chose to play basketball together and Charlie let his big brother be the coach that he wanted to be. The two played and enjoyed each other’s company and I was proud of their connection.

Wishing you the power to always find connections despite the conflicts you are faced and the strength to persevere. There’s always something good.

Namaste.

2Dec2014

Rainbows and Unicorns

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I don’t always see rainbows and unicorns, but I’m always looking for them in my mind and once in awhile I find them, both literally and figuratively.

Today I got lucky and actually saw this rainbow over my house and it made me smile. There is something magical about them. You have to be looking up to see them and they don’t last for very long, so if you’re not paying attention and you stay inside, you might just miss them.

This is how I see life. There are rainbows that appear and we have to be present and in the moment to see them. We have to go outside and play.

What rainbows did you see today? What was magical about your day? Did you slow down to see what’s special in front of you?

I have holiday anxiety in my body. I want to be in several places at the same time and my To Do list is bigger than my To Be list. Yet I refuse to be too busy and to let the anxiety take over. Instead, I made the time to be present and to enjoy the gifts of presence with my self, my friends and with my family, amidst the chaos and rain and shopping and planning and cooking and cleaning. This is what advent means to me.

Susanne saved me a place at yoga this morning. I was running behind in the rain and hitting every stop light. I didn’t think I was going to make it there on time, and if you’re late, the yoga teacher puts out a sign saying the class is closed. I was fearful and planning a plan b, and luckily Susanne was able to stall and I squeezed in the door just in time for an awesome workout. Melissa is an amazing yoga teacher.

I had lunch with my BFF Julie who broke her arm. Mom’s are not allowed to go down. We have too much work to do. I was thankful for the silver lining that she wasn’t hurt too badly and that she had to stay home from work for a few days and that we could see each other. We enjoyed catching up and just being. This To Be list is quite fulfilling and it feels so good to check things off.

Because I was out during the day, I enlisted the help of my elves to get the housework done after school. They are good little elves and worked with me to declutter our house after our trip this past week. We got the laundry all done, the floors cleaned, the kitchen decluttered and the bathroom cleaned. I am so thankful for them. We believe in work and play, but we have to work first. After the house was less chaotic, I took the boys to the pool in the rain so that they could swim and practice water polo. I have to thank our time in Amsterdam for desensitizing me to the cold, dark, and rain and to go outside anyway. They were happy and I was happy watching them enjoy each other tonight.

Finally, Juliana and I went to a Pampered Chef party and fundraiser with my PEO sisters to raise money for women’s education. I loved being out with her, spending time with friends and enjoying shopping for fun new kitchenware. I can’t wait for our presents to arrive.

As the hustle and bustle and christmas music fills your ears, remember to slow down and enjoy the journey. Make time for rainbows and unicorns, and if you don’t see one this minute, I’m sure one will appear soon. Keep looking. Never give up.

Namaste.

1Dec2014

Accomplished

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Jessica Herrin, a wonderfully talented, well rounded woman and the founder of Stella and Dot, just celebrated her birthday after Thanksgiving. She posted a picture of a card that one of her daughters gave her that stood out to me. The card mentioned all the things her daughter loved about her. I found this incredibly charming.

One of the adjectives she used to describe Jessica was accomplished, in addition to many other kind words such as loving, beautiful, witty, unique, forgiving, caring and strong to name a few. The accomplished one really stood out to me and I wondered about it.

How did her young daughter realize how accomplished her mother really was? Is this something she heard people say about her? Is this something she says about herself? I liked all the other adjectives too, but this one shined. Her daughter sees her mother as accomplished and she admires her. This is a beautiful thing.

I love this.

Jessica Herrin is accomplished and has accomplished many wonderful things. She has built a successful company, has helped so many women build careers for themselves, given back to the community, and has a supportive husband, and loving and daughters. She is smart, kind, genuine and is also a Christian. She is definitely accomplished in many areas and her daughter admires her. This is a wonderful gift for both of them.

I looked up the definition of this word and it means highly trained or skilled. I next wondered if I was accomplished and how would I know and what would I be accomplished at?

Then later during the weekend, Jeff and I were talking and he described me as accomplished and I stood back thinking this was too weird as I mentioned I was wondering about this word and now he was using it to describe me, even though I never mentioned Jessica’s birthday card and my curiosity. Weird.

So I wondered some more. How am I accomplished and what do I want to accomplish?

I feel that I am accomplished as a mother now that I have many years of experience and continue to practice daily. I feel successful so far in my role as a parent, even though there is always more work to be done. I’m sure this is true for every profession. I feel accomplished in my marriage, now that I’ve been married for many years and still love and admire my life partner. This feels good to me. I feel accomplished in my community and know that I have more to do and will never be done. So yes, I like this word and want to continue practicing this life practice that is my path and I want to continue adding to my list of accomplishments, whatever those might be.

I am getting ready to celebrate the accomplishments of my sisters who are graduating and becoming a teacher and a nurse this month. I am so excited for them and happy to see that their hard work and tenacity is paying off. They have accomplished so much and I am proud of them.

How are you accomplished? What are you highly trained and skilled at doing? Are you practicing what you love and sharing your strengths? We all have gifts and talents. What are yours? Celebrate wonderful you. xo Namaste

25Nov2014

I Am White

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I am white, privileged they say. I am so much more than my skin color and so are you. I never refer to myself as white except on forms, and it’s uncomfortable to me to talk about race because I prefer to think of us all as humans, part of the human race.

I think I was the only white girl in my yoga class today in Silicon Valley. I was aware of our differences and being a minority, but this is normal to me where I live as there are 26 different languages spoken at the homes of the children in our local school.

At the end of our class, our teacher asked all 20+ of to sit in a circle. As it’s the week of Thanksgiving, she wanted us to take a moment to say our name and introduce ourselves to one another and share one thing we are thankful for. There were people of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian,and European descents, that I could recognize and I’m sure there were more.

As we went around the circle, several names I cannot remember as they are different from the names I am familiar with and have never heard before. What was the same between us though, were our gifts of gratitude. We all expressed thanks for similar things such as family, health, love, our work, our beautiful lives and being present and thankful for our yoga class and instructor.

I Am privileged because I was surrounded by all these wonderful people who are different than me and yet we are the same. I felt a connection in our little, diverse yoga community. I see these people every week, but we don’t usually speak to one another, as it’s a one hour yoga class and I do not know the others. Sitting in this circle and sharing something about ourselves made a connection for me and for this I was thankful.

I Am in love with humanity and all that is good in all of us.

I Am sad for all who are in pain and suffering, and especially those in Ferguson.

Love sees no color.

We all want the same things and we need to do the work to create the things we love. I want us all to be on the same team.

I Am sad that there are inequalities and unfairness in the world.

I was listening to Dj Boogie D from St. Louis this morning on NPR, as he was responding to the unrest in Ferguson. He said that we need to change and look forward, despite what has happened in the past, and he didn’t know what that change looked like just yet and was using his airways on the radio station to let peoples’ voices be heard.

I want to be part of the positive change in this world. We can celebrate our oneness, our sameness by embracing and seeing the good in each other and changing the conversation to lift each other up, to forgive one another and to help one another. I think we can take care of each other by being kind, loving, and respectful to ourselves and to each other, always, even when someone hurts us. I think this change comes from being curious about each other and wanting to know more and looking for the connections in our shared values and interests.

I wish for love and peace and justice in this fragmented world, BeLoveRs.

Namaste…the light in me honors the light in you.

15Nov2014

Oprah – Live Your Best Life Tour – San Jose

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Oh my gosh, I’m just back from the finale, Oprah Live Your Best Life Tour in San Jose and am on such a high.

I love Oprah. I always have and it was on my bucket list to go see her one day and today my dream came true. She did not disappoint.

She is such a good storyteller and is very authentic and real and vulnerable and amazing. She gets life and I’m in awe of her grace.

She spoke for two hours to a sold out crowd and we’re going back tomorrow to listen to more master blaster trailblazers who are living it up, loving it out and living the best life possible. I saw Elizabeth Gilbert standing and dancing in the audience, just glowing and happy as can be. I can’t wait to hear her and the rest of the team tomorrow.

But tonight I lived in the moment with my mama, soaking it all in and enjoying the journey.

Oprah is an amazing life force. She is full of positive energy and wants to share her wisdom with the masses because she has received and is aware of her gifts and talents and is using them to help others. I love her, did I tell you that? We could be soul sisters.

The event started out in darkness with star lights twinkling on the screens and then the wristbands she gave to everyone who registered began lighting up. We all could see our light across the stadium, in all it’s wonder and reverence. We could see and feel energy. As she spoke of light and energy, the white star lights turned to orange and she told us that the sun always rises. This was another one of her themes, that every day is a new day and the sun will rise and we can start again. She soon emerged onto the stage, dressed in a vibrant, floor length orange dress.

Her message was questioning why we were all here and why she was here tonight.

She wants us all to turn up the volume on our lives. She wants us to live with passion and purpose and vision. She wants us to know that we are the co-creators of our lives and to remind us that we get to decide which path, which journey we want to take. She wanted us to know that we become what we believe and our experiences move us to our higher good.

I believe her. I practice every day what she preaches. I felt such a connection and resonating YES!!

She said that we need to surrender to the glory that belongs to each of us and to be thankful for all that is good in our lives.

She went on to tell us stories about her life and how she came to be where she is today. She told us how she enjoys time by herself, sitting under her oak grove in Santa Barbara, feeling thankful and grateful for all that is. Taking time to be still and to be thankful and to notice the positive things in her life are part of her daily ritual. Sounds like she understands mindfulness and meditation and makes the time to slow down and be alone.

She shared many quotes and reminded us that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

We have to learn to connect to our power within. She reminded us that we all are here for a purpose and we were born and called to be. Most of us have always known what our calling is, but we don’t always listen to the voices in our head.

She said that we all have a thread that we carry through our lives and that everyone has their own thread and that our spirits are seeking expression. It is up to us how we connect the dots and experience life. I LOVE THIS!

What is your thread? What are the commonalities and thoughts you’ve carried with you since you were a child? Are you listening?

She wanted us to think about what our calling is. Why are we here? What is our thread? What is our purpose and what connects us with the truth?

I know I keep repeating that “she said” but she was the only one on stage sharing her truth with all of us. We all long to leave a legacy, which is the collection of everything we’ve ever done, and everyone we’ve ever touched. We need to pay attention to our gifts and offer them to others. We need to be of service and to be grateful for all that we have been given.

What are the gifts and talents you possess? Are you sharing them freely with others? What we give, we receive. It’s a law of nature. Bam!

She wants us all to be a force for good and to share our positive energy with the world.

The main truths she believes in are of being of service and providing validation for all that is and for each other. Once we have these truths, we can focus on co-creating our life by thinking about what we put out into the universe. What goes out comes back. For every action, there is an opposite reaction. This is how our lives work and it’s important that we are aware of our actions and to be of service.

She reminded us of the Golden Rule and to do onto others as we wish done onto us. And she reminded us that our intentions were critical to our happiness. We have to act with our intentions so that we’re not aimlessly trying to please others so they will like us. We need to follow our hearts’ intentions and avoid the disease to please. We need to be responsible for our intentions and to do what we have time for and that we feel we are the best person for the job.

Oprah had many things that were bad happen to her as a child. She had a rough childhood and moved from place to place. She believed in God and believed in herself, We must believe that all things are possible. Everything is energy and carried by what we believe and nothing is a waste.

We need to live the life we want and to stay out of others’ energy fields.

When we are presented with love and fear, we must choose love. We want to shift the paradigm of focusing on fear and anxiety to focusing on love. It works. Try it. Let go of fear and let love in the free space.

We must be graceful and accept what comes our way and to always be thankful and practice gratitude daily.

And when things don’t go our way, as they often do, we must practice the art of surrendering and letting go, opening up and expressing thankfulness, despite the unexpected.

After we do all we can do, we must learn to surrender, detach, release and let go and trust in the power of our greater self. We need to live a grace filled life and pay attention and cultivate the spirit. Every breath is a gift and we need to pay attention to the little things and be grateful.

We are born to honor our spirit and to find our path, to follow our own journey and be the best we can be. We all want the same thing – to fulfill our highest expression as a human being and to find and weave our threads and connect with others.

We all get a second chance to begin again. We just have to choose a do over and to start again, right now.

Namaste. Live your best life!! xoxo I love you Oprah!! Thank you for coming to San Jose and sharing you love, passion, and light. I wish you well.

8Nov2014

Live Your Best Life – Oprah is Coming to Town!

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I am so excited. Oprah is coming to see me next week and I can’t wait. My mom is coming to see me too and I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

I’ve always dreamed of going on the Oprah show and was always busy with school and work and kids, and then her show went off the air and I missed my chance. But luckily, Vibeka shared on FaceBook that she bought tickets to her show as soon as they went on sale in April and I followed her lead and booked two tickets right away. I am as excited as I used to feel when I was going to Disneyland. I love this feeling of anticipation and excitement and waiting to experience something new and fun.

I love motivational speakers and learning from other women and can’t wait to spend the weekend learning from the Queen herself. And I’m happy to be sharing this experience with my mom.

I already know I’m living the life I want and spending time with Oprah and other motivational speakers and with my mama is like another dream come true. Oprah has a gift for being real and connecting with people and I can’t wait to just be in the same room with her.

I think Oprah is charismatic and entertaining, and I love that she’s using her voice to connect with women and to inspire us to be the best we can be, and bringing us all together. I can’t wait to hear her voice.

I am not going there for self-help or with the expectation that she is going to change my life. I am already happy where I AM. I am purely going there to be a witness and to share the journey and to be inspired by all those who share the same passion to live it up, to laugh out loud, to be entertained, and to live in the moment. Will you be there too for her grand finale in San Jose? I’d love to hear what you think after the show.

Life is good. Namaste.

15Oct2014

Let There Be Light

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Light represents all that is good.

Let your light shine.

The funeral is on Saturday. Everyone is asked to wear colorful clothing and to avoid the darkness. We will celebrate life and all that is good, despite our heartache.

Life will never be the same, but we will share our love and light and hopefully our souls will slowly heal as we share our love and humanity.

Namaste, BeLoveRs.

Thank you to Elizabeth for sharing this Diya ceramic candle, which is typically used in Diwali celebrations. You are loved! xo

2Oct2014

Busy and Stressful Days

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Some days are really busy and stressful, not just for me, but for everybody. I know that.

Today was one of those days. Most days include lots of juggling and coordinating and delegating and hoping and praying!!

Charlie woke up at 4am this morning and this just started our day out being tired. He came home from school and practice today and was an unhappy camper.

He was agitated, hot, tired, and hungry. Poor kid!!

He had to keep on going, being the youngest and all, but was such a trooper along with a few tears.

I had barely any time to make dinner tonight and was able to start a meal and then turn off the stove to drop off a kid to an appointment and then come back to resume cooking.

Before we came back home again, I needed to break the whining and demanding cycle. He desperately wanted me to go up in the attic to get down the Halloween decoration boxes and I couldn’t do it by myself.

I decided to stop by the Corn Palace to buy some little pumpkins for him to decorate with Sharpies. This bought me some time to finish dinner and to occupy him while I rushed around the kitchen. He was content and so was I as I got to prepare a healthy dinner.

I am thankful for my healthy family and my ability to help my little ones to deal with their own struggles.

Life is good!

22Aug2014

Love is Louder – The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Success

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If you want to see love in action, just take a look at the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

We, as a community, are speaking up. We are accepting a challenge to connect, to raise awareness, to be giving, and loving and supportive and playful, and grateful. We are creating compassion and we are doing something good that feels good and right, and not just for ourselves or our families or necessarily something close to home. We are helping others and that helps heal us and creates happiness despite the pain and suffering that exists in its many forms. And ALS is just one of them.

Love wins.

There will be haters and nay-sayers, but when we are loving and authentic and share from our hearts, love and goodness wins.

ALS Awareness is also winning through our social media online campaign. Just look at the numbers… over $42 million dollars has been raised in a month by thousands of new contributors. That is CRAZY good. I hope this sparks giving all over the place.

We as a society are winning by communicating and connecting and bridging the gaps between our humanity, across religious and political and financial and age differences, one at a time in our own little way. Woohoo!!

It is amazing to be part of this wonderful movement, and not just for the awareness that our participation and sharing is bringing to ALS, but also to the connection and compassion and kindness we are sharing with one another.

What if we can learn from this successful social media online campaign and apply the lessons to other causes?

What has made this so successful?

Here are my takeaways, in no particular order:

1. It started with a SPARK. Pete Frates, a patient with a need, had an idea. He dared someone to take a fun, goofy challenge to create awareness and to raise money and gave them a specific time period to respond, within 24 hours, and asked them to spread the love by challenging friends, creating a personal connection. He created an inferno!

2. A DARE. When we are dared to do something, it’s like challenging us to step up. In this case, it was a fun dare that is possible and easy to do, and most everyone can participate without getting hurt (if you’re careful!! – of course there have been injuries)

3. A quick turn around TIME, within 24 hours. The challenge was action oriented, dump ice water on your head and/or donate to the cause within 24 hours. People can’t put it off to do later.

4. Social Media – we have the means to connect quickly via Facebook and Twitter and Email, etc. People want to be part of something fun and good and it’s catchy. Sharing is caring. We are connecting communities and feel like we can do something to create change by participating. We can be seen and we can be creative and we like those things.

5. It’s FUN. It’s fun to be play and be silly and with all our busyness, it’s great to stop in a 24 hour period because we “have to” and to just be goofy. We are given a pass to play because we accepted a dare. It’s fun because of the anticipation of ice cold water being thrown on our head and waiting for the cold to chill and shock us and make us laugh and make those around us laugh. It’s like that carnival dunk tank game that makes us laugh every time the ball hits the target and the volunteer falls in the water. We laugh at this. We love the anticipation and clean, safe, fun that surrounds us and we want to play, participate and watch.

6. It’s POSITIVE and we can all connect and share and create community across communities. There is a lot of negative news and we’re tired as a nation of all the terrorism and racism and any other -ism. We need to laugh. We need to connect. We need to share some love and laughter, as a nation and across nations. We’re hurting as a society and we need to love one another. LOVE doesn’t see age, sex, fat, politics, religion, etc.

7. Happiness comes from GIVING. We give each other a challenge. We give each other a laugh. We give a little bit of money to help others. We give ourselves hope. We give each other some lovin’ and that’s a good thing. Giving is a secret to creating happiness, not just for the receivers but also for the givers.

8. It’s ENTERTAINMENT. We use humor to lighten the stress. We use humor to connect with one another. And watching people dump ice cold water on each other or themselves is funny. We can laugh and connect with one another in this simple way, through a smile and a laugh. And most everyone can participate in this challenge – young and old. And we’re using humor to create awareness, love and compassion. And we’re playing first, learning second, and giving third. Play is important.

9. It’s SIMPLE. It’s easy to do and it’s engaging and quick. We maybe spent 20 minutes between finding a bucket and filling it with ice and water, rehearsing for a minute and recording the challenge. And then going online afterwards to http://www.als.org to donate. It was fun, easy, quick and simple to do with my kids. As a family, we played first, watched a video second and learned about what ALS is really about, and then donated money next. The dare/challenge from a friend is what got us involved and interested in participating and we didn’t want to miss the 24 hour deadline.

10. The intention is AUTHENTIC and by participating and sharing, we make it PERSONAL. We thrive for authenticity and for what is real. This is a real need. There are real people dying and suffering with no cure. ALS is a horrible, terrible disease that affects the patient and his/her family and community. And we all know someone that knows someone that is afflicted by this and we can feel empathy by sharing in the pain and feel like we can make a small difference.

I hope what this challenge does is helps to raise enough money and awareness so that a cure can be found for ALS and the conversation continues and those affected feel the love and compassion from all of us. I also hope that we continue to engage with one another, play with each other, focus on the positive, and continue to think of others and give money and time to those causes that need our attention, as often as possible.

We can make a difference. We can be the change we want to see in the world. I dare you to take the challenge and play along and donate to www.als.org and to any other group or organization that needs some lovin’. I dare ya! xoxo

Namaste