On a limb with Claudia

Tuesday I asked why we bother with kindness. Frankly, I think it’s a good question.

We live in a world where kind people are seen as a little stupid or weak.

Over the last ten years, our entire culture has adopted either a Gordon Gekko, Wall Street mentality – “The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” - or a inverted Secret mentality – bad things happened to you because you manifested them in your thoughts.

And where has it gotten us?

I don’t need to list the unemployment statistics or deficit spending to make my point.  You and I know what the lack of kindness has brought our country and world.

Why bother being kind? Because kindness is the glue that holds us together.

Have you ever notice what a toddler does when s/he sees another child? What children know instinctively – we belong together, that’s someone like me, I want to be around him or her – we’ve lost in our ego drive to manifest success.

We are born with an innate desire to connect with other human beings. We are born to find another human being who understands us. We are born laugh when another person laughed; yawn when another person yawns; and imitate the latest fashion.

The only human beings who lack the drive and need to connect are psychopaths. That’s what makes this tiny, two percent portion of the population psychopaths.

We long to connect. We long to love. We long to live our lives within a community.

So here’s an idea:

If you want to be successful, why not try being kind first?  Yes, it’s a choice. Yes, it might not be your first instinctive reaction. But unless you’re brain damaged, you can learn to do something new.

Want more love in your life? Try being kind to the people around you.
Want to make more money? Be kind to everyone at your office. Say ‘hello’ when you pass. Get up and walk around once a week.
Want to lose weight? Try letting go of that unkind voice. You know the voice I’m talking about. Be kind to you. See what happens.

Kindness is the road that will take you where you want to go.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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In this video, Jeff Bezos discusses the difference between talent and your choices. He tells a poignant story of making his grandmother cry and the lesson of choice.

We are all talented. We live in a world that champions talent. Talent wins the day over and over again. But, as Bezos points out, talent is a gift. It’s not something we work for. It’s not even something you develop. Talent is innate, a gift given by genetics or God or some quirky soul that invaded our body at birth.

Kindness is a choice.

It’s not a very natural choice either.  It’s not like the hard choice to eat french fries over fruit. It’s not the easy choice to pee before a long race. It’s not a confusing choice of which college to go to or even if you should graduate from high school. It’s not even like the life changing choice to marry this person or that person.

Kindness is a cognitive decision to do something against parts of your nature.

So why do it?

I mean really. Kindness is hard. We’re all super busy. No one becomes a millionaire by being kind (or do they). And really aren’t we supposed to be aggressive, get our goals met, bash the man, or whatever our passion is?

Why be kind? Why bother?

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“Who is suffering by you playing small?”

- Dov Baron

Happy Monday!

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“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

–Albert Einstein

Happy Monday!

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Happy Monday!

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This is an image by Banksy, the street artist, general annoyance of authority, and amazing person. What I love about Banksy is that he doesn’t wait for a platform. He doesn’t wait until he has money or when he’s retired or when he can get it perfectly.

Instead, he acts and acts big.

He’s funny.

And poignant.

This last one was created at an old Packard plant in Detroit. Because Detroit is falling apart, a non-profit art gallery stole this image to protect it.  So here you have a graffiti artist creating something that an art gallery wants to protect.

For more of these awesome images, go to his website. Or see his movie, Exit through the Gift Shop.

More than anything – get moving!

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“We must trust the people to hear and see,
both the good and the bad
and to choose the good.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Happy Monday!

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“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,
but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
–Herm Albright

I think I’m finally getting back in the groove of things after being gone. I think… I hope…

Happy Monday!

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“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t,
you’re right.”
Henry Ford

Happy Monday!

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On Wednesaday, March 31,  10 year old Satori Lewis is going into surgery. Her entire spine, head to hip, will be fused together with two titanium rods going along either side of it. She has Muscular Atrophy (type II).

This is a major surgery.  Especially for a little girl.

Her mother has asked that people send Satori postcards. Sartori doesn’t know that her mother has set up a Facebook page and a website to recruit people to send a post card.

It’s not too late. Satori will be in the hospital for at least 7-10 days. You can make a huge impact on a little girl’s life.

All it takes is one small postcard.

Rose insisted on sending a card from her. I used my thumbs to put together a postcard with Rose’s picture on it. I also send one from Dinosaur National Monument. It was pretty easy.

I made a couple other cards to send in a couple days. I’m confident the husband will want to get involved. So there’s at least one from him.

Here’s the details :

• Satori Lewis will have surgery on March 31 and be in the hospital for 7-10 days.
• Mailing address : Satori Lewis, Surgery date 3-31-10, Davis 7 Pediatrics, UC Davis Children’s Hospital,,2315 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95817
• Blog address for more information.
• Facebook page for more information.

There’s still time and you have a thumb. Will you send a postcard?

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