EVERY CHILD, ONLY ONE HOUR EACH WEEK!

Image via WikipediaI took a few minutes tonight to watch “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” I tivoed it from this morning. She had on Dr. Wayne Dyer (again, my wish). He was talking about the Tao Te Ching, which is what Wayne Dyer took a year off to study, and then write “Change your Thoughts, Change Your Life”. He said he heard that the dalai lama ( who he is going to see in the Fall) said, “If every child in the world was taught to meditate from age 5 and up, just 1 hour each week on “compassion.” Just on compassion…in one generation we could end all the violence and the prospect of war forever on our planet…JUST 1 HOUR PER WEEK…IMAGINE…

He talked about a study that he was part of, where they monitored the serotonin levels in people that did a simple act of kindness for another, and also of the receiver of the act of kindness, and they discovered that the serotonin levels in both were raised equally…even more, they monitored the people that watched the act of giving and receiving, and their serotonin levels were the same also. Amazing.

He went on to explain that he developed a habit now of, every morning, before anything else, he does a single act of kindness, like return a phone call, answer a letter, say a prayer for someone. He said that Lao Tzu (The author of The Tao Te Ching)said that “If you only have one prayer in a day, it should be of “GRATITUDE.” How beautiful.
He and Ellen decided to offer a challenge to her audience. The challenge is that everyday they should do a random act of kindness for another, with no expectation of reward or thanks, write it down, and return in 1 month to the show and see what the results are. I try everyday to do one act of random kindness, and the funny thing is, I would actually have to stop and think what it was, because as soon as I do it, it is gone from my mind, it has become habitual for me. But, I will begin to notice it and write it down for this month. I hope others will join in that challenge also.

I was taking my power walk today and I noticed a neighbor that I had not seen since last summer. The winter keeps most of us inside. (New England, no more explanation is needed). I had heard that she lost her son around Thanksgiving. As neighbors we all talked about doing something to help her and someone came up and volunteered to take up a collection for her to help with the funeral costs. Anyway, I ended my walk and went over to her and told her I was sorry to hear about her son. I asked how she was doing and she was at a loss for words, kind of well,,hhhmm,aahh. So I said, “You just taking it one day at a time?” (simple thing to say) and she responded with a smile and said “yes, exactly.” I took the time to tell her that, I also had lost a child, but it was over 20 years ago, and although we had experienced the same loss, I did not want to minimize her grief. I explained that over the years I had developed a habit of doing certain positive things when anniversaries of lost loved ones came up and I found that it worked very well for me. I also suggested that she watch “The Secret” the movie, because it had done wonderful things for me when I used it as a “Tool,” to aid in my recovery from Agoraphobia. She said I looked good and happy and I told her that maybe if she watched the movie or read the book, she would find some comfort in it also. I know she will, but I would not presume to tell her she that, I have no control over that, only she does…in her own time.