Connection Through Kindness (A #1000Speak Post)

May 20th marks month four of 1000 Voices for Compassion, an amazing movement of bloggers coming together to flood the blogosphere with posts dedicated to compassion. The kickoff in February was simply themed "Compassion," March was "Building Beyond Bullying," and April was "Nurture." May's theme is "Connection" and you can read all of the beautiful pieces by visiting the 1000 Speak link up. We post on the 20th of every month so if becoming a part of our community is something that interests you, please keep in touch and join us with your own post in June.

Once again, my 1000 Speak post will be directly connected to my own special project: B(e) Kind 366. In 2016, I'll be doing a Random (or not) Act of Kindess every day of the year to raise funds for charity. Throughout the month of April I blogged A to Z, listing Random Acts of Kindess that begin with each letter of the alphabet. It was a blast!

Today I want to talk about the connections that RAKing, and really just kindness in general, creates. On June 13th I'll be participating in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life with my husband, best friend, and a group of her friends some of whom I've met and some whom I have not. We've all connected through our dedication to a cause that touches us all in some way.

One year, at my place of employment at the time, instead of purchasing gifts for one another like we usually did, my colleagues and I decided to adopt a family through Christmas Cheer. We connected over the purchase of food and gifts and shared in the delight of the family when we arrived with "Christmas" at their door.

A few years ago, my Mom and I spent Christmas Day serving turkey dinner to the community with Westman and Area Traditional Christmas Dinner. It was one of the best Christmases, and days in general, that I've ever had and I connected in a very special way with my Mom.

Just today, I put an ideas from my "Random Acts of Kindness beginning with P" list into motion. I mailed a Purple Box of Power to my closest friend from grad school. I met her during the first week and as soon as I found out that she was a Canadian prairie girl like me, we were connected for life! It's been two months since I moved back to Manitoba and she stayed in New Brunswick. While we were in the same city, we were each others' support system. I just know that this collection of purple "power" items will be a much appreciated surprise.


Nearly every day after I come home from work, I take my small dog, Memphis, for a walk. Since I've returned home from school my husband and I joke that we should change Memphis' name to Velcro because it is rare that he is not attached to me. I have a special connection with my little Pom-Chi and the best part is that our mutual love calms our anxiety (yes, Memphis and I both battle anxiety on a daily basis).

Random acts of kindness like leaving an extra generous tip for your server at a restaurant, telling a parent in the grocery store how well-behaved their children are, complimenting a stranger on their coat/hat/shoes, holding a door open for the person behind you, or even just smiling at someone you pass on the street all create, at the very least, fleeting, but often lasting connections with the recipients of your kindness. Those people are highly likely to tell a co-worker, friend, family member about "that nice thing that happened to them today," creating a chain of connections and inspiration to pay that kindness forward, through one simple act!

Go forth and be kind! The connections you will make in the process are truly invaluable!

Coming Soon: B(e) Kind 366

It's been about a year since I posted on a regular basis. I've been on hiatus and I still am (sort of). While I complete my Master of Arts degree, blogging is one of the things that has to be put on the back burner so to speak. Most of the posts you'll see if you stop by will likely be book reviews. My New Year's resolution of sorts was to read for pleasure more often. To keep up with that promise to myself I signed up for a few 2015 Reading Challenges. Every now and again, though, you'll find a post like this. I've had a plan in the making for some time inspired by 366randomacts.org. A few years ago I started and finished 100 Days of Kindness. Then on my 29th birthday (January 29th) I performed 29 Random Acts of Kindness that day and asked others to perform RAKs as well. The results were incredible with 51 people in 7 countries across 5 continents performing 70+ acts of kindness!

In 2016 I plan to launch B(e) Kind 366. 

I'll do a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) every day of the year. At the same time I'll be raising money for the WUSC (World University Service of Canada) SRP (Student Refugee Program), an organisation and program that I have been involved in for over a decade and one that has changed my life! Every month I'll have a different theme for my RAKs and different surprises for everyone who contributes to my fundraising efforts. It'll all be part of a perpetual kindness cycle and I hope you'll be a part of it!

2016 is going to be a fantastic year; I can just feel it and as part of the build up I'm going to try my best to write an anticipatory post like this at least once a month in an attempt to build my blog following. In 2016 I plan to update my blog daily as a record for B(e) Kind 366 and I'd like as many people to follow along and take part as possible! So, if you stopped by this post, please stop by again and tell all of your blogger friends. Leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you too!

Celebrate the Small Things - July 26 (3 week back log)

Yikes, folks! I haven't written a blog post since July 5th when I Celebrate[d] the Small Things with VikLit and the other blog hoppers over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. That means I have three weeks of celebrations to catch up on, but I'll try to keep them brief.

On July 6, the last day at my sister's in Leduc, Alberta, she and I, and a friend of hers did the Colour Run in Edmonton. I did it for fun and to raise a few more funds for the Student Refugee Program. It's an ongoing effort of mine, so if I can twist your rubber arm...click HERE!

I thought I would be celebrating handing in the final version to the committee on Friday, July 12. I was wrong. My advisor had other plans for me the likes of a third extensive edit. Those edits along with packing for my trip on July 13 are the reasons I didn't post that week. I can celebrate, however, the completion and handing in of my third massive edit!

Friday, July 12 was also my last day of work before heading out on two weeks of holidays! Now that is really something to celebrate!

Sometime in that week between July 6 and 12, we welcomed Memphis into our home. He's an adopted 5-year old Chihuahua from a local animal rescue organisation in our city.

The whole next week, July 13 to 19, was just one massive celebration. Farmer Joe, who I have now taken to calling Cowboy Tex since we moved from the farm into the city, and I started out on a massive 3500km road trip from Brandon, Manitoba where we live, to Fredericton, New Brunswick where I will be starting my Master of Arts in English this fall. I even enjoyed the driving. The main points of smaller celebrations within this major celebration are:
-Spending two nights and a full day in Montreal with my beautifully brilliant friend, Haley.

-Spending three nights and two full days in Fredericton familiarising myself with the university and the city.

-Getting a tour of the campus (especially the library) and meeting my grad school advisor.

Other celebrations that occurred from July 13-19 include:
-finding out that I got into the mature student residence for the fall and connecting with my roommate to start planning our living arrangements.
-finding a UNB Mom t-shirt at the campus book store to bring home for my Mom.
-being offered (and, of course, accepting) a position as a Regional Coordinator for WUSC starting in September. This volunteer position comes along with two trips to Ottawa, Ontario! I am really excited about taking on this leadership role with an organisation that means so much to me.

We started the trip home from Fredericton on July 20. The biggest celebration on the return trip, short of actually getting home, snuggling with my dogs, and sleeping in my own bed, was staying in Kingston, Ontario with another brilliant friend of mine. After 5 days staying places without air conditioning when the temperatures were 35 degrees Celsius above, Yvonne had central air and provided me with my first excuse to have a hot shower. It was heaven.

All of that brings me to one more celebration for this week, July 20-26. On Wednesday, I met with my thesis advisor again and despite a few, ok a lot, more edits, she did say that this time (the fourth time) she didn't need to see the entire document again, only a few short pieces! That, my friends, is celebration worthy indeed!

Cheers, everyone! Now, to try and catch up on visits and comments! See you and your blog soon!

A-Z: V is for Volunteering

Only 5 more posts to go in A-Z (including this one). I still don't have a topic for Y, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Moving on and keeping with my "All Things Grad School" theme, here comes V...

I volunteer a lot. When I was about fifteen, I started to volunteer a little. As the years passed, I started collecting more and more organizations for which I volunteered. I'm twenty-nine now and I don't volunteer a little anymore.

I know I volunteer a lot, I've known it for years, but I didn't really realise how much until I put together my grad school C.V. and noticed that the Volunteer Experience section was the longest. Right now I am active with five organisations, two of which I have been part of for two years short of a decade (yep, that's fancy talk for eight years). I volunteered in Gaborone, Botswana, Africa for four months, I've run two lengthy independent campaigns to raise funds for two separate causes. The first time I shaved my head (that link takes you to the video of the shave) and raised $4000 and the second time I ran a half marathon and raised $5000. I ship used textbooks to Africa. I sell daffodils for the Canadian Cancer Society. I help students from refugee camps settle into their new lives as post-secondary students at Brandon University. I love it all.

Volunteering is a huge part of my life. I don't think I will ever not volunteer in some capacity. Before I move to Fredericton this fall, I will have to give my resignation to all of the boards that I sit on, find people to take over some of my more personal projects, and say goodbye to all of the students that I help every day. That last one will be the hardest. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it, but I know I have to. It's time to move on...

...and volunteer in a whole new city, at a whole new university, with all kinds of new and fascinating people. I'll hardly have time to eat and sleep while doing my Master's, but I'll find the time somewhere to volunteer; I have to.