I just love Will Smith.  This is an awesome compilation of his wise, wise words!

As I hope you know by now, I contribute to a great non-profit organization called Spirit Jump.  Their mission is to give hope and comfort to the many men, women, and children battling cancer.  They do this by sending cards and inspirational gifts to lift the spirits of those experiencing that difficult time.

I sent many cards and Self Symmetry jewelry to cancer patients in 2009, but this year I want to step it up a bit!  I’m leading a team in the 1st annual Cards 4 Cancer Day, which is April 10, 2010.  What I’ll be doing is gathering cards from now until then.  Then on April 10th, I will be delivering all the cards to Texas Oncololgy – Medical City Dallas.

So, I need your help!  I’m looking for team members.  All you have to do as a team member is gather cards.  These cards don’t have to be anything fancy.  They can be homemade or store bought.  They can be scribbles from a 2 year old, a fun drawing from a 5th grader, or an uplifting message from your coworker.  It doesn’t matter.  I don’t know who will get what card, so it doesn’t have to be addressed to anyone in particular.  The only requirement is that the message be positive!  It would also be great if “Spirit Jump” was somewhere on the card so the recipient will know what organization it came from.  If they find the card helpful and it lifted their spirit then they can log onto Spirit Jump’s website and register to receive more cards and gifts.

If you’re a team member all you have to do is help me gather cards.  You can gather 5 or 500, I don’t care!  You can ask your child’s school or classroom, your coworkers, church, family, friends….basically anyone you can think of.  Would be fun to have a card making party too!  Or, if you don’t necessarily want to be a team member but want to buy or make a card you can do that as well.  Just send me the card and I’ll get it to a person battling cancer.

I don’t have a number for a goal in mind, but let’s just say this…I want to gather a ton of cards.  This is so easy, so thoughtful, and it can mean so much to someone.  Just think how cool it would be to go to a radiation treatment and have a card or two waiting for you.  The thought of knowing that people care about you and are praying for you right before you have a procedure or right after you get some news about your disease.   It really can make the difference in someone’s day.

Let’s show those battling cancer how much we love and care for them.

If you’d like to be a team member, let me know!  Leave a comment, email me, let me know on FB, tweet me…just let me know!  If you just want to send a card that would be awesome too.  Again, just let me know.  I’ll get you my address.

I’m looking forward to gathering cards and doing some good.  Thank you SO much!

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Just a rambling thought (on this frreeeezzzzing cold day)!

So I’m thinking about conflict, mostly religious and political, and why our world is so caught up in it.  What if we were all to let our mind open a bit more and expand.  Some of us get so stuck in our ways, thinking that those who disagree are foolish.  Really all arguments are about who’s right and who’s wrong.  That ego of ours can be a bitch!

I think that the more our mind opens, the more we realize that it’s okay to have different opinions.  It’s okay to want different things.  It’s okay to have different beliefs.  Having choices, being different, and having the freedom to do what we want is what makes life so awesome.

It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong.  Can’t we just be okay with having our own opinions?  Ideas are born from an open mind, from the thinking that we can expand on what we have.  We can have bigger and better if that’s what we want, but it takes an open mind to dream of something different.

If we all conformed and had the exact same beliefs then we would really be limited.  We would have no new inventions.  No one would be thinking outside the box.  We would basically be like robots.

So next time you disagree with someone or go to a different church or have an adamant view of the president and think that everyone else is crazy for not thinking the same as you — just remember…it’s okay.  In fact, it’s good!

So it starts with you.  It starts with me.  As Gandhi says “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

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