photo (75)You know how sometimes your life blows monkey chunks?  No matter what you do the universe has decided to throw up it’s middle finger to you.  You feel like you are on a constant pace of two step forwards one step back.  Yah … me too.  In fact, I dare say, that is something everyone feels now and then.  If life was all rainbows, unicorns, and puppy dog tails how would we know to enjoy the good times when we have them?  Still … getting kicked in the bum by life isn’t fun and sometimes it feels like no one cares (when in fact everyone cares but that would really throw a wrench your pity party that you are rightfully throwing yourself).

As you may remember when I turned 39 I did 39 acts of kindness in my neighborhood.  It was a great experience.  I thought it was time to whip out a couple of my favorites to share with you again.  They are two that you can do too.  It’s a great way of throwing out happiness to random strangers that feel like they are being sucker punched by life.  When you feel that way wouldn’t it be nice to receive a moral boost from a stranger?  I think so!

1 – (The following is copy and pasted from my original post.  I had to remake the flyer – see picture below.  Please feel free to print it out – print as full page picture – cut the tab lines, and start posting it around your hood. You can also find my original on my Studio account – wendylnewell.  If you want to change any of the messages you can just hit “remix” on the app.)

Pinch to grow an inch – Free Happiness.  After the Make a Wish Wendy Bomb of Kindness I made my way home to take Riggins for his morning walk.  I had decided that my neighborhood could use a little happiness and compassion.  I’m not saying it is a bad neighborhood but it did take me YEARS to get my neighbor to smile back at me when I waved as I passed him in my car.  And there was that one time when I was running with Riggins and misjudged the height of the curb causing me to fall flat on the ground.  We are talking straight down, pants torn, knees bloody, hands scrapped fall.  Their were plenty of people around, there usually are.  They all stopped and stared at me.  Not ONE came to see if I was okay.  The only person at my side was Riggins.  Now it is possible they are afraid of Riggins.  Scratch that, they are afraid of Riggins.  If you want to scare the crap out of someone in my neighborhood tell them you are friends with the big black dog that blonde girl walks.  It will have them shaking in their boots.  Still, no one even called from a distance, “Are you okay?  I’d come help you but your dog scares the crap out of me.”  Sigh.

On our walk today Riggins and I put up free happiness flyers.  Each had tabs that a person could take for him/herself or pass on to a friend including “happiness,” “love,” “a hug,” “confidence,” “patience,” “humor,” “strength,” and “peace.”  I hope they bring a smile to someone’s face.

BTW while looking for Scatter Kindness pictures I came upon a few that are part of really great Etsy stores so I wanted to share them with you:

2. (Also taken from my original post) 

Now, as promised, more on Operation Beautiful (http://www.operationbeautiful.com/). Per the web site – “The goal of the Operationphoto (6)Beautiful website is to end negative self-talk or “Fat Talk.” If this little blog only does one productive thing, I hope it helps readers realize how truly toxic negative self-talk is — it hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.” To participate you grab a sticky note pad and a pen and write out positive messages to strangers then leave them in places they will be found. The woman who started this movement, Caitlin Boyle, is adorable. Truthfully I don’t follow her Operation Beautiful blog but I do read her personal blog (http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/). Caitlin also goes around the US conducting inspirational discussions with teenagers within high schools spreading her message that everyone is beautiful. Although aimed toward teens, who are often at the age where you struggle with your self-identity and care deeply about what others think, I’m all for getting the message out to adults as well. Seriously, if I was on a date and, feeling self-conscious, popped into the restroom to “freshen up” (aka try to slather on more make up in an attempt to look alluring) and came across a post-it staring at me telling me I was already beautiful it would be a game changer. I’d drop my make-up bag back into my purse, stand up a little straighter, smile at myself in the mirror and pronounce, “That’s right! F*** it. Let’s go do this thing Post-It” and then proudly head back to my date with more self-esteem than before. I’d love it if more people around the world became a part of Operation Beautiful. It’s so easy and can lead to such happiness.

photo (75)