So this is kind of embarrassing, but I so "get" the irony in it.  If you saw my entry a few days ago where I give a shout out to Starbucks for their inspirational to-go cup printed with "The Way I See It" quotes, you will find my current observation pretty funny (or ironic, or embarrassing....).  I'm not sure how many weeks Starbucks has been doing this (certainly a few because I remember noting the red & green cups), but their new holiday promotion is called "Pass the Cheer."  It is specifically and entirely about kindness.  Straight up.  Undeniably.  Kindness.  The cups are all about feel-good holiday actions that encourage a "pay it forward" attenuation.

I just think it's funny that I'm "always on the look out for kindness" and it, quite literally, has been under my hand for weeks.  (Doubly funny because my last name is Hand!]  Yep, that's me, Emma Hand, the Kindness Expert!  So if you find yourself in Starbucks this holiday season, please sip slowly, take a deep breath, relax (you deserve it!).  Then read your cup, and proceed as inspired.

I, meanwhile, will be taking my own advice and slowing "to the pace of thoughtfulness."

This is a great website to be aware of right before you head out for day-after-Thanksgiving shopping.

Network for Good allows you to make donations online at one place in the name of someone else.  You can donate to a whole bunch of (over 25,000) deserving organizations.

This is a very inspired--and very kind--concept:  it's easy, it's meaningful, and it's thoughtful.

Heck, maybe you don't even need to hit the mall.  You could just cozy up at home and play a board game with your family!

Happy Thanksgiving & don't forget to count your blessings :)

Here I am talking about coffee again...

It's funny to look back at my blog entries so far and feel like a third of them relate to coffee.  I think the coffee entries correlate with Lilah's early mornings :)

This time I want to highlight the kind actions of the coffee-craze-starter, Starbuck's.  I love the quotes they have printed on the signature white to-go cups. The quotes are called "The way I see it" and some of the selected quotes are from celebrities and some are from everyday folks.  No offense if you're a celebrity, but I really really like the quotes from everyday folks.  I was practically hyper ventilating when a read my cup; I saw that it was submitted by "Beth Vanden Hoek, Starbucks assistant manager, St. Louis, Missouri.  I was so excited because I LOVED the quote AND I live in St. Louis, so maybe Beth had even waited on me before!  I kept the cup with me all day!  I've pasted the quote below & you can click here to to see more quotes.

The second Starbucks kindness I wanted to comment on is the bottled water they have for sale, Ethos Water.  As the packaging on the water bottle will tell you, a percentage of the money from the sale of the water goes to providing safe drinking water in a developing country.  The water was designed by Peter Thum, and I learned about it in a recent article I read.  His thinking, quite simply, was to sell fancy bottled water in developed countries, in order to provide clean drinking water to those millions in the world without.

It's a beautiful mission.  It's a brilliant mission.  It's a powerful mission. 

In fact, I was so moved by the idea that I have decided to change the way my business (licensing the artwork of Acts of Kindness TM).  Instead of donating a percentage of my profits to charity organizations, I have decided to donate a percent of a percent (since royalties in licensing are only a few percentage points) of EACH deal I do to benefit an organization that is logically ties into the deal at hand.  For example, I am in partnership with Calypso Studios, a company that makes jewelry from the earth's bounty of natural elements (clay, shells, and glass).  So I will donate 0.5% of my royalty on that deal to the Surfrider Foundation.  That's just one example & the more deals I do, the more organizations I'll get to support.

Thanks, Peter, for connecting the logical dots for me and leading by your example.

Thanks Starbucks for the cup 'o joe & the cup-over-flow-ith of inspiration.

I live in a pedestrian neighborhood and I walk the 'hood a lot.  This past Sunday we (Carter, Lilah and I) were out walking and got to chat with another neighbor out walking.  He was telling us what a wonderful Saturday night he just had at an awards banquet at Saint Louis University in honor of Kaziah Hancock.  She is an artist who is so moved by the sacrifice of fallen soldiers that she paints a portrait and sends it to the family of the deceased soldier.  What started as one painting has turned into over 250 paintings.  Our neighbor said that listening to her share her personal story, as well as what compelled her to paint these soldiers, was very inspiring and honest and beautiful.  He said there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd and that he was so touched to know that there were people "out there" that cared so much.

I was delighted to hear of this woman's pure and ongoing kindness.  I had to learn more.  Of course it was easy enough to "goodsearch" Kaziah Hancock & land on www.heropaintings.com  I watched the video clip from NBC that is on the home page and would highly recommend it, if you have seven minutes to be touched by compassion.