After posting a review of New Day Revolution, Sam contacted me and suggested I hold a little contest on the site. Being a fan of Sam, the book, and CoolPeopleCare, I eagerly agreed. Here are the details…
The Prize: An Autographed Copy of New Day Revolution!
The Contest: Leave a comment on this post with your idea for making a difference with small choices. Sam and Stephen (the authors) will choose the best idea and you’ll receive a copy of the book. It’s that easy.
Contest Deadline: Friday (July 25th) around noon
Go ahead and start sharing your brilliance with the world. Go ahead and give as many ideas as you want, but be creative, Sam and Stephen have already come up with a lot.
Passing out cookies to neighbors and passerbyers.
I created a Facebook page for students I worked with at a non-profit organization over 10 years ago in order to reconnect with them. Since most of them are seniors in high school, in college, or graduating, I post information that may help them with continuing their education. On this page I post scholarship, internship, and employment information. This leads to less stress about money for college, leads them to internships, and even their first jobs. It is a way to compliment my suggestions about their education when they were in elementary school.
invest 32 dollars a month to sponsor a child at compassion international
hold a one-person 24hr live blogothon to raise money and awareness for a worthy cause…
p.s. yes i am actually working on doing this one
actually follow the Golden Rule
make a different person each day smile
We all eat fast food at some point or dine out a restaurant. I have noticed that these places have become the “emotional dumping ground” for many customers. It seems to me we feel we can take out our exhaustion, frustration, disappointment, etc on our servers. So, My Idea For Making A Difference With Small Choices is….
to say thank you to my server and / or cashier before even beginning my order.
I think this makes them feel appreciated for just showing up to work which is very important.
Give away your television. You’ll have more room in your head to think about real community as opposed to tv characters. You’ll spend less, because you’re not being bombarded with advertising. You’ll have time to connect to people and do things you never thought you’d have time to do.
Here are some ideas for how to make a difference via small choices:
1. Collect your change, tips, or money you find on the ground in a jar over the course of a few months, and then take a homeless person in your community out to a fancy dinner. Make an effort to get to know him or her as well as their story.
2. Make an effort to look at least one stranger in the eye and genuinely say “hello” while out and about.
3. When confronted due to a mistake you have made, make an effort to be up front with your response rather than defensive. For example, a co-worker asked if you completed a certain task which you forgot. Rather than instinctively explaining why you failed to complete the task, say; “Yes, I made a mistake. I apologize.” And do what you can to solve the problem.
4. Send a text message of gratitude to one person each day.
5. Sweep spiders out the doorway rather than kill them on sight. =)
I try to do many small things and incorporate them into my natural lifestyle.
– Use a reusable Sigg water bottle daily.
– Purchase gifts for others that are not only great gifts, but benefit a worthy individual or organization. (this one has rubbed off on my friends and family)
– Take along my own reusable bag when shopping.
– Feed the very skinny cat that wanders my neighborhood, even though my dog gets very jealous.
– I (and many others) contacted my local government regarding recycling programs and they have recently acquired a local service.
– Use the water from waiting for the shower to warm up to water houseplants.
– I work (my real job) with children daily to expose them to good citizenship, environmental and personal responsibility.
– Put myself in others position before judging their words or actions. Show empathy.
Here’s a few things I like to do:
* recycle greeting cards (it’s great getting mail but I always hate throwing away cards… so I cut off the front when possible and re-send it to someone as a postcard. There’s also a way to fold a full card into a small box with top & bottom… this makes for a great decorative holder to return the favor with a small something ~*)
* when you ever break a dollar keep the change in a special change purse instead of spending it… the money really adds up! Then use this money to do something good for the world 😉
* the next time you’re at any sort of vending machine try leaving your change in the change holder. It will brighten someone’s day to find it!
The elementary school my child attends is awesome! They use habitats for their yard work to encourage the bugs and animals to do their jobs. They have a student group that is in charge of this. They have recycle bins out behind the school to encourage the parents to recycle paper and boxes. They have a student group that chooses what kind of things each quarter they will collect and where to donate it to raise awareness of what other people are going through. Last year, they raised pennies for our local fire and police departments to have a thank you breakfast (our town has 30000 people so they fed quite a few departments), socks and shoes, toothpaste and toothbrushes and had a canned food drive to give to local food pantry. Each year they have a fundraiser for the rainforest where we buy tshirts and for every 10 shirts bought, 1 acre of rainforest will be adopted. They have many certificates for this and has been very successful at raising awareness about what the rainforest encompasses. This school has “Academy Rings” which teaches kids during their time at the school, Integrity, Respect, Accountibility, Compassion, Effort.
In my opinion, this is a great way for the students to learn about all these things early in life. It builds life long adults who think outside themselves and it helps change the way their parents think too, right now.
I do lots! All 4 of my cats were strays or given to me by someone who couldn’t care for them. I use my walks with my dog to start conversations about adopting animals and being vegan. I meditate ala His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I have no trash service because I recycle all paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastic. I have one small bag of trash a week to dispose of. I’ve unplugged and/or put on power strips everything in my house when it’s not being used. This has lowered my monthly energy bill from 140 to 76 dollars a month. I have the smallest American car I could afford that gets good gas mileage, a Ford Focus. I am careful with my water usage. I downsized from a huge house on 5 acres to a small, 2 bedroom, 1 bath cottage. I am even downsizing from that soon, including more of my possessions that I no longer want to be possessed by. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know! Blissings! Susan Beverly
spend an hour a day doing something for someone else, no matter how you feel. it will help you to become less selfish.
Hi! I try to make a difference when I encounter any kind of service industry employee. I seek out their supervisors and specifically compliment the employee, AND the employer for having the good sense to have such an employee. I do this even if the service is not the greatest ever, because a friendly word and a pat on the back could make all the difference in someone’s day. 🙂
I pick up trash.
Its not as bad as it sounds. When I lived in the Berkshires my friend and I would walk each day to pick up our mail at the post office and found ourselves picking up the small pieces of trash along the 1/2 mile route.
The habit continues in Nashville, I find myself picking up around my neighborhood, during hikes at Edwin Warner Park and around town. I just got back from the Grand Canyon and my friend commented on my pick up skills —albeit of a different nature.
You should try it. Not matter what kind of day you are having at least you know that you have made your corner of the world a better place.
A friend and I were discussing a recent article about how much Americans spend on bottled water and how crazy it is considering we have clean drinking water when others all over do not. The idea was to buy Brita water filtering systems for wedding presents (since a ton of our friends are getting married right now). There was also discussion of including the article about bottled water and also about a country who needs clean water (Africa).
Oooh, Ashley. I like that!