Holiday Party Ideas

A quick thought. As we get into the holiday party season many of us will be thinking of host gifts. Why not make a donation to a charity in their name? Not going to work? How about buying a bottle of wine where a portion of the proceeds go to a charity (ask your local wine retailer if they carry any). Hallmark has a new line of product(red) items that will let you package whatever you do buy and make it 'Good'. Christmas cards? Hallmark has them covered. Challenge yourself to find something that not only will people want to receive as a gift but that will provide a greater good in the process. Most importantly though, remember it is the THOUGHT that counts!

I Have a Dream

I have always loved the words Martin Luther King used in his historical speech "I Have a Dream". His grasp and use of the English language is absolutely remarkable. The passion and conviction with which he expresses his ideas is awe inspiring. While M.L.K was speaking about equality of race, his words ring true for just about anything. You could replace race with any other problem of equality, wealth, geography, etc. and his words would be no less true. I share with him that dream. A world in which we can all live together, holding hands together, and love together. I have my own dream but I share it with everyone who believes we can achieve this world. Let us DREAM together.

More Change

I have been doing a lot of research about change lately. How can I create change. On a small scale, on a large scale, on any scale. I came across some great websites and ideas and I want to share them with you guys.

Michael Norton has a great blog called 365 Ways, which is a take on the book he wrote called 365 Ways to Change the World, an activity for each day of the year. He provides some great information and case studies, books, and ideas to inspire people to make a difference. Kind of like my blog only he has been at it much longer and is a little better at it :).

A book that I came across entitled 'How To Change The World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas' by David Bornstein, which also seems to have a lot of interesting stories. I have added this to my Christmas reading list (as if it isn't so long that I will be reading for the next 50 Christmas). Give it a look and if anyone has actually read it I would love a synopsis.

Another great blogger, Desiree, has created a blog by the name of 'Lets Change the World'. This blog is more of an inspiration and she has packed a lot into her blog that I haven't even begun to comb through.

For those of you who know the band Five for Fighting you may or may not have come across an initiative they created called 'What Kind of World Do You Want'. You can post a video about your idea of a perfect world for others to see and a donation will be made to a charity depending on which videos you view. Check it out to see some interesting ideas on a better, or at least different, world.

Last, but certainly not least, is a truly awesome idea, and one I wish I could say I came up with. A new website called Change.org is a social website, sort of like Facebook, only for people who are interested in charity, development, and creating change. Members have the ability to make donations to organizations of their choice, and meet others who are interested in similar organizations or ideas. It is a great idea and one I am more than positive will grown into something special.

If anyone has other resources that they want to share I would love to hear about them. I have a hankering for some CHANGE and the only cure is more information.

World AIDS Day

Tomorrow happens to be World AIDS Day. A day of awareness on the health emergency that threatens to take the lives of millions around the world. It is interesting that the day receives so very little attention. Over at the ONE campaign they recently posted on their blog the up-to-date figures on the AIDS pandemic. According to the statistics 33.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS globally; 2.5 million new infections occurred in 2007; and 2.1 million people died, or 5 700 people per day from HIV/AIDS in 2007. The sheer scale of these figures is enough to make a grown man cry.

I have now wrote a couple of posts on AIDS and a couple of books I have found that really create some perspective on this problem. In our increasingly interdependent state on one another it is entirely surprising that we don't have more dialogue and conversation going. Where are the news stories? Where are the public service announcements? It needs to be talked about, it needs to be HEARD. Our silence only increases the stigma placed upon the disease.

Just this past week an article in the Toronto Star broke the news that the Canadian government was diverting funds from community AIDS programs to help boost its AIDS medication program announced earlier in the year in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. How about they just increase funding altogether instead of shuffling it around? Of all the surplus that has been announced why can't we afford to spend a little extra on AIDS programs? As one of the G8, or wealthiest nations in the world, it is our responsibility to take this emergency seriously!

While it isn't all bad, and we have certainly made strides over the last few years, we have to realize this isn't going away. The current campaign circuit for the Democratic nominations down in the U.S. has yet to address where the candidates stand on AIDS research, poverty reduction, global debt relief. This requires a grassroots conversation. It requires that we force it onto the agenda. We need more than a few celebrities to take notice and create groundswell action. It requires that you and I participate. It starts with a few and the few bring with them many. Instead of waiting to join the fray how about we start the fray? Ask your teacher if you can start the conversation in your class, bring it up at the water cooler at work, send an email to your friends and family, not to ask for money but to ask for comments, to ask for actions.

We have the snowball rolling, but it needs to pick up speed. Give it a push.

Passion's Purpose

Here is another great post by Brad Williamson over at Small Business Branding. Check it out here.

Passion’s Purpose

Listen to the Soul, let it guide you towards the highest vision you have for yourself, and live a Life you can Love. You know who you are and who you want to be, so let your spirit be shown through the progress of your purpose. This energy that drives your dream’s desires, to turn being-ness into experience, is called passion.

The Soul presents you with its purpose through feelings of passion. It is an energy that drives you to push aside that which does not reflect your being, in favor of pursuits that mirror your inner-motivations. The experience of passion is so profound that you Lovingly cry years of dedication into crafts that represent who you are; and when your creations consume you, know that the Soul is living its dream.

The pulse of passion feels like pure Peace. Pure Peace that provides unconditional comfort without corruption, because conflict cannot possibly cross the Love of your Life. Every breath is beautiful as your spirit shouts the energy of affectionate addiction. …Your Love is alive.

Passion has no expectations. Its desires are fulfilled with or without awards or accomplishment, and simply strives for the Soul to see them survive. Passion must be given creative freedom if it wants to truly experience itself; and the distractions expectations inflict can restrict the liberty that is needed to transform dreams into Life.

Passion is purpose; and without passion, Life has no purpose. Thanks to Love, your passions are made obvious to you in every moment. All you must do to find your guiding light is hear the sincere shouts of the Soul that serve to remind you of who you are. Every moment reveals reasons to pursue the progress of passion, so never push away its promises.

Your passion can fashion a Life of Love; so embrace your motivations, both modest and magnificent. Present every moment with your purpose and prepare to be amazed by the presents you persuade Life to shower upon you.

How to Live Your Dream

I came across this great post on a blog and I wanted to share it with all of you. The author is Sean M Kelly and the link to the post is here

Is living your dream only for a select few or can we all realise our dreams? Here’s six tips to help you live yours.

1. Create a Great Purpose - The greater the reason you have to live your dream the greater your motivation. Think of those who have achieved greatly in their lives. Their purpose wasn’t limited by a personal agenda but by a purpose which was far greater than themselves. A few years ago I had the honour to musically lead Sir Bob Geldof into a conference. During his keynote speech he spoke about how “Live Aid” began. He said, “…our goal was to raise $75,000 to help feed people in Africa. Now millions and millions of dollars later we’re still doing it.” Create a great purpose for your dream - world abundance, world peace, feed the world, make poverty history or whatever resonates deep within you, almost as if you were born for this purpose to be realised.

2. Explore Your Dreams - What are your talents and gifts? What are you deeply passionate about? What do you love? Everyone has talents and gifts. Everyone has unique contributions to make to our world. However if we just follow everyone elses lead hoping to be liked and approved of, we may miss our calling. Ask yourself - what do you truly love doing? Do you lose track of time when you’re doing this? Would you do it even if you never got paid?

3. Create a Vision - Get a blank sheet of paper and markers. Now imagine anything is possible. Then draw a vision for your ultimate dream, one that feels absolutely fantastic! It’s the feelings that will energise your vision into reality, so let them soar! Put the vision somewhere you will see it daily and reconnect with those feelings as if your dream is already true.

4. Take guided action - There is an intelligence within the universe that keeps the planets in their orbits, ensures the sun rises daily and can also manifest your dreams. What do you need to do? Let go of the need to figure “how” your dream will happen, trust the infinite intelligence of the universe and watch for opportunites that arise. These opportunities may come to you, or your intuition may urge you to take guided action. Whichever way they arise, gently seize these opportunies!

5. Give Thanks - A thirteenth century philosopher, Meister Eckhart once said - if the only prayer we ever said in our lives was “thankyou” it would be enough. Never cease to feel gratitude for the manifestion of your dreams. Your feelings of gratitude is the energy which fuels the magical manifestation of your dreams. No matter how slow or fast the progress, celebrate every step of the way!

6. Your Greatest Gift - Finally and most importantly remember even if your dream doesn’t come true, be forever grateful for the greatest gift of all - the gift of your precious and unique life. And know that this world is a better place because … You have dared to live your dream!

World Changing

I received a book last year for Christmas and because I have let them stack up I have not had a chance to read it. The book sounded quite interesting but I have a book addiction and I think too many books sound good. The title for this particular book though was World Changing: A User's Guide For The 21st Century. Profound. Well lately as I have scoured the internet I keep linking back to this one particular website; World Changing. What is even more odd is that a friend of mine has been working with this new organization called REBEARTH and they just happened to be a headline article on the website today. Well my curiosity had me and so I started poking around the REBEARTH website. The tag line for the website "Growing a world 6.6 billion people would want to live in". It is exactly the kind of tag line I have been batting around in my head. It makes you day dream of the possibilities. So I ask this question: What would this world look like? What would the world look like if all 6.6 billion of us could be proud of it? What do you dream of? If REBEARTH can't make it happen then I want to try so please share.