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Kindness is the act of speaking or behaving in a way that shows caring and love. You can be kind to people, places or things. Kindness is love in action.
Random acts of kindness is a movement that began in the 80’s. Since then millions of acts of kindness has transformed people and communities. We believe kindness will heal the world. Each day we are focusing on offering deliberate acts of kindness and posting our experiences on our Facebook page or here on our blog. Would you like to join us? We invite everyone who receives an act of kindness to pay it forward by offering our ‘Kindness Card’ (free from our yoga class or website). Random acts of kindness make the world a better place. If someone wishes to repay you for your kindness, ask them to ‘pay it forward’ instead, so that others may experience the ripple of your good intentions. Ideas for Random acts of Kindness 1. Smile at people 2. Open the door for a stranger 3. Offer to help others in anyway you can 4. Phone someone who is lonely 5. Post a note to a loved one about how much they mean to you 6. Help a parent with their gardening/shopping/chores 7. Hug a friend (who likes hugs) 8. Pay a compliment 9. Looks for things in people that you like, and then tell them what you see 10. Look for virtues in people and tell them how you saw it 11. Go through all your ‘stuff’ that you don't need, use or love, and gift it 12. Re-gift unwanted gifts 13. Babysit or Petsit 14. Send a thank you note to someone every day 15.Take your dog, or another dog for a walk 16. Buy some pet food and donate it to your local animal shelter 17. Volunteer at the local animal shelter 18. Volunteer at the local service for homeless people 19. Protect the environment and speak up for it’s safety 20. Protect children and show them love 21. Volunteer at your local school 22. Protect the weaker members of society by speaking up on their behalf and offering eye contact with a smile 23. Say hello to someone you wouldn’t normally speak to 24. Invest in yourself to let go of prejudicial thoughts or actions 25. Support services that protect the vulnerable 26. Teach others your skills at a local community centre 27. Cook a meal as a gift 28. Use your manners; please, thank you, and sorry, are words that ease transactions and help others feel valued 29. Pick up rubbish 30. Give a friend a massage 31. Be kind to people you don’t like 32. Forgive yourself for whatever it is you think you’ve done wrong; all humans make mistakes; forgive yourself and let go of the pain 33. Be an interested listener 34. Ask someone about themselves 35. Make kindness bookmarks and share them with your friends 36. Share your stuff 37.Take a gift with you and then give it away at random 38. Donate blood 39. Invite someone to use your services without expectation of anything in return 40.Giveaway useful items that you no longer use 41. Ask your employees ‘what do you need’ and brainstorm about ways to achieve it 42. Take yourself out on a fun date (be kind to yourself) 43. Buy a friend a cup of coffee 44. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee 45. Pay the toll for a friend or stranger 46. Pay the parking for another car 47. Read a child a story 48. Donate food or personal care items for your local homeless shelter 49. Buy items that support fairtrade and developing countries 50. Send flowers to a loved one 51. Send flowers to someone you forgive 52. Send me your idea to put in this space... Please post your random acts of kindness here, or on our Facebook page Kindness cards are free from our yoga class, or from our website Art by www.monicabatiste.com.au
'I love you.'
Not so hard, is it? When you love and accept yourself, just as you are; life just gets better and better. Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. High self-esteem is having positive beliefs and expectations about self. Low self-esteem is having negative and low expectations about self. A student’s self-talk is a strong indicator of self-esteem. For instance, ‘I can’t do this posture,’ usually means; ‘I don’t have faith in myself’. And ‘This is too hard,’ usually means ‘Life is hard and I am afraid to try’. Other indicators of self-esteem during yoga are pushing into postures because ‘I must achieve’. This means, ‘I will push myself into doing things I don’t want to do even if it hurts me’. As you notice the struggle, use this as your guide for improvement. Say things like ‘There is no right or wrong; there is no need to push; just relax and allow the posture (and life) to come to you. Let go and trust that you (and the world) will support you’. Self-esteem can be improved at any age by offering positive acknowledgment of virtues. Acknowledge peaceful and self-accepting moments to show children that life is easier if you can accept where you are in this moment. Use affirmations like ‘accept yourself right here and now’ and ‘I am where I am, and it’s ok’. By improving self-talk, self-esteem and communication improve. Yoga improves self-esteem by mirroring desired virtues. Warrior Poses reflect assertiveness. Child’s Pose reflects acceptance and humility (being humble). Lion Pose improves the ability to ‘speak up’. Dancer’s Pose improves grace and confidence. Virtues developed through the physical body become a part of the emotional body. All emotional experiences become part of the physical body and evolve its shape and posture. It is all interconnected. When you are true of purpose, in mind, body and spirit, you move with confidence and joy. When you open your heart to love, you experience freedom and spontaneity. Yoga improves emotional IQ by offering a space where body language reflects emotional language and by improving the body, the mind follows. Using yoga as the tool for personal transformation is a loving, healthy, peaceful and honourable way to improve self-esteem in yourself, your family, your community and the world. Loving the self leads to loving others Monica Batiste From my children's book Yoga for Little Bears
Most successful people set goals. Goals give you direction. Without direction, you forget where you are going.
Goals are like a GPS 1-Set goals. 2-Visualise goals. 3-Take action. 4-Move towards your goal. 5- Continue to visualise - take action - and move towards your goal until it is achieved. Creating a vision board is an excellent way to stay focused on your goals. If you've never created a vision board, make one with me now. Materials required:
Action: Cut out images, words or affirmations that symbolise or represent your goals and what you'd like to achieve. Paste them onto your board. You can use your intuition, imagination, or even Feng Shui to place your images and words. Jazz up your board with glitter, pictures, and whatever makes you feel good. Hang your vision board in a prominent place so that you can remind your subconscious that 'this is what I want' and allow the universe, and the law of attraction to show you how it can be achieved. If you notice you feel 'I could never do this.' You may have low self-belief or low self-esteem. When you have high self-esteem you believe you are worthy of a good life, and wonderful experiences. When you have low self-esteem you might believe you are not worthy of a good life, or good experiences. Low self-esteem will make it harder to achieve your goals, because your beliefs won't match your desires. You must change your beliefs to achieve your goals. You must believe you are worthy and deserving, and give your self permission to shine. There are lots of ways to build self-esteem. You can build your self-esteem with counselling, books, affirmations, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), and a network of support to remind you that you are loved, worthy and brilliant. If self-esteem is a major block, you could do your first vision board on how you want to feel about yourself. It must be YOU that gives yourself permission to have, do, or be, whatever you want. Daily actions for success
Best of luck and please let me know about your journey with your vision board. Monica
I was driving to work doing 100 on the freeway and took the turn off at 80.
Police pulled me over. ‘You’re speeding,’ he said. I was so annoyed! I was fined $130 and would earn about $30 that day. As a single mum with small girls I asked if there was another way to pay. ‘You can do community service’ said SPER. ‘Great. Can I do meals on wheels? I’ve always wanted to help those people.’ The corrections officer looked at his list. ‘No, not accepting community service.’ ‘What about a hospital?’ ‘Nope. Not that either. How about a kindergarten?’ ‘Oh yes that sounds good.’ I arrived all dressed up, with my portfolio. The director barely glanced at me as she waved me to the kitchen to wash pots and pans all day. All day. The following week I worked hard to get those pots done so I could go back to the director with a request, but they sent me into the laundry with the other inmates. We could hear the children behind the wall that separated us. The pots were endless. I went back to the director. ‘Please' I said - I’m an artist. I’ve done all my chores. Wouldn’t you like something painted for the kids?’ ‘Well,’ she said, and led me to an abandoned room. ‘Can you paint something for the Christmas play?’ They gave me some sacks and some paint. Two hours later one of the teachers came in and his eyes widened. ‘Wow’ he said. He ran out of the room and came back with two more teachers. ‘Wow’ they said. The next day the director asked if I could paint their building with ‘Noah’s ark and animals and stuff.’ ‘Sure’ I said. ‘I will need some money for paint.’ I painted the top half of the building blue and the lower half green. I drew the ark, a rainbow, a bunch of animals on the front, and Australian animals by the entrance in a forest. I added vines growing around the architraves. I finished my community service and was put on the payroll to complete the mural. I worked there for 8 months. On weekends my daughters helped me paint. The teachers and children were so grateful they put on a special morning tea, sang me a song and gave me a present. I almost thanked the Department of Main Roads for this wonderful experience. I drove past that kindergarten for about a decade before we moved to another town. I heard my mural was painted over when the building changed hands. It’s now a pristine white. But I know the mural is under there, somewhere. |
About Monica
I am a yoga teacher, author and artist. Blogs by Monica
Growing Emotional Intelligence Archives
April 2018
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