It only takes one rock to start an avalanche.

It only takes one person to start a movement.

What change do you want to make in the world?

What are you going to do to make it happen?

And how can we help?

When I was a child, surrounded by the schizophrenics that made up my family, I read this book that was totally foreign to me. I don’t know where the book came from. I will tell you my crazy mother thought it was ‘stupid’ and threw it out. In the book, I saw a way of living that made perfect sense to me.

A woman made a pie and gave it to a man. When he tried to repay her, she said, “Just do something nice for someone else.”

Throughout the children’s book, we watch one person after another doing small kindnesses for each other until at the very end of the book, someone brings the woman a pie. In the middle of the chaos and insanity that was my life, this idea – give a kindness, request other people give to others, and eventually you will get it back – made great sense to me.

What I didn’t know is that doing an act of kindness feels good. By doing kind things for other beings, you get to live in the wonderful feeling of kind giving. And that’s a pretty great place to live.

This video is a great example of exactly what I am talking about:

I never found the book nor do I know who wrote it. It was a small act of kindness that was given to me. I try to repay it through the conversation about kindness here on the blog.

After an interaction with a begging child, garment maker and importer, 28 year old Kuku Arora meditated on how it was tolerated that his child would grow up in privilege and so many others were forced into a lifetime of begging.  He and his wife decided to do something about it.

Yes, it was hard.

Yes, many times he decided to quit.

And he’s been able to help 150 children. He provides meals, clothing and a place for the children to bathe. This is their entry to the world. Most of the children are now in school. Many of them have grown up, moved on, and dream of helping others.

All because of a meal, clothing, a place to bathe and a man who cared.

What can you do?

Kuku Arora has a website where you can learn more about him and his project – Sunshineproject-delhi.org 

This is a gorgeous video with flowers, people, wisdom, nature, and the power of actually seeing your life and your blessings. It’s 10 minutes long.

You have time.

Breathe.

Have a good day!

While you don’t need me, on a Monday, telling you that there are puppets running our country, I think we need to know every single day that WE have a choice to reject the corporate culture and live free.

For this week, I wish you freedom. (And a little laughter. Seth & Kermit are funny)

This has been a super full week of writing, working, figuring, and planning.

I did come across a few cool things:

Mezmerizing Time-Lapse Videos:

Wired magazine picked 10 videos they loved.  They are short and well worth a look see. Here are my two favorites:

A year in the life of a forest – gorgeous and hypnotic

This video gave me chills. Breath-taking!

Desert island:

I spent much of the week simulating a desert island with the help of Calm.com I’d turn it on and write to the echos of the surf and sand. Fabulous.

Enjoy!

It’s been a lot more than one year for me…

I’m still recovering from my trip to Fort Worth. I plan to use my week this week getting caught up in my writing – that includes this blog.

Wish me luck!

Here’s the thing:

If you find yourself feeling afraid,

If you find yourself feeling hate,

The smart thing to do is to look at where you are ignorant.

Information is neutral. It’s neither good nor bad. Ask a question. If you don’t get a good answer, ask another question or ask someone else. You don’t have to live within your own walls of ignorance.

A lot of people have been taught to be so afraid of information that they would rather live in a prison of hatred and fear than simply learn.

We cannot be free of hatred until we are free of our own ignorance. Love cannot find you if you live within the thick walls of ignorance.

What will it take for you to let go of your ignorance today?

“When it’s time to change, then its time to change
Don’t fight the tide, come along for the ride, don’t you see
When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange. “

The Brady Bunch

Ok, I hate myself a little bit for using this quote. At the same time, I can’t think of anything else that’s more appropriate.

Tomorrow, I get on a big jet airplane and fly to Fort Worth, Texas to research and support the Queen of Cool. This is a big deal for me because I rarely travel anywhere; and I almost never travel anywhere without the husband and Rose.

But it’s time to change, to grow up a little bit, and leave the computer. It’s time to take a next step in the evolution of the author by heading out on the road. Or at least leave the house long enough to hang out in the hometown of my character Lo Downs – Fort Worth, Texas.

If you’re in town, I would love to meet you. She is Dallas is having a lovely event on Friday at 10:30 am. Just click here for a free ticket. Do come as I think I might be there by myself! (eeek!)

Everything is new. We’ve had to get luggage. I’ve been living in sweats, T-shirts, and/or workout gear so we went out and bought actual clothing! I even had professional press shots taken! Tiny steps into the big time.

While I’m away, I asked a few friends to guest post about serial fiction.  For the next week, you’ll hear from:

• Angie Covello – Creating tension in your serial fiction
• Publisher Kate Sullivan of Candlemark and Gleam discussing why serial fiction is important now
• PJ Kaiser joins us to talk about your style of fiction and your target audience
• Dwain Smith discusses his experience starting a new serial fiction

I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by and hang out a bit. If I have a chance while I’m gone, I’ll let you know how the trip is going. I’ll be tweeting from The Queen of Cool or you can keep up with me at the Queen of Cool Facebook page.

I’ll be back on Monday with tales of the adventures in Fort Worth.

Wish me luck!

P.S. If you’re a Denver Cereal fan, never fear! The Denver Cereal continues at DenverCereal.com and will appear on this blog on Saturday.

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