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Hey again my friend,
How are things going with you lately? Can you believe we have reached the middle of the week already? Do you have any big plans in the making? I’m currently trying to put together a variety of photo shoots for this month – creativity, creativity, creativity – but that’s another story for another day.
I just wanted to share something with you. Recently I was encouraged by a friend to read The Power. (It’s an extension of the movie The Secret, which I loved, so I thought why not?)
To me, the entire book was about giving love and giving thanks. It runs along the very same vein of “The secret to living is giving”, and I liked it.
So I started to think about the love and gratitude in my own life and how to expand it. I wanted to be creative with the ways that I could go about increasing the love and the gratitude I give. So I came up with somewhat of a list (I know, I know – I’m list obsessed).
ONE. Write a letter to someone in your life. In the letter explain to them why you love them and why you are thankful for them.
TWO. Write an anonymous letter to a stranger. You’ll have to follow your heart with this one, but I want you to fill the letter with words of love, gratitude and encouragement. Either post the letter to a random address, or leave it somewhere in your neighbourhood where it will be found, opened and read. On the envelope write something along the lines of, “OPEN ME”.
THREE. Take photos of things you love or of things you are grateful for.
FOUR. Do something that makes you feel ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! For example – Make a playlist of songs that always make you feel good, turn it up to full volume, and boogy down. Embrace the feeling of “AMAZINGNESS”.
FIVE. Start a list of things you love about YOURSELF! Don’t stop till the list has at least fifty things!
SIX. Come up with a way to GIVE. Give time. Give money. Give help. Give love. Execute the idea!
SEVEN. Random Acts of Kindness. When I was a child I used to be obsessed with doing random acts of kindness. Need some examples? When you’re next in a restaurant, look around and pick a group of people and cover their meal expenses. Do it anonymously so that they’ll never know who it was. Or how about you use your skills (photography!) to help out someone in need? Maybe a family who would otherwise never get the chance to have their portraits taken? Or how about the next time you pass a vending machine, you put a few coins in to pleasantly surprise the next person who stops to snack? Or why don’t you do something particularly special for a family member who’s been a bit down lately? There are SO MANY things that you could do!
My goal? To do one thing on the list each day for the month of April. I’ve missed the first few days of April so today I will choose four things instead of one – but I think it will be a fun thing to explore the feelings of giving more gratitude and love. I know that it’s a lot to ask (I know you’re suuuper busy) but it would be awesome if you could join me on the quest to giving more love and gratitude. (As they say, the more the merrier) You could either do one of the things on my list each day – or you could make a list of your own! All I ask is that you add more love and gratitude into your everyday life, I think it’ll make your awesome self even awesomer. Yes I just made up a word. ha!
Remember: give love, give gratitude.
BIG HUGS
xoxo
Alex
