Feeling Good

As I indicated in a previous post, one of the things I felt strongly about during the beginning of the year was giving back by volunteering. I recently spent a half day volunteering at America’s Second Harvest of Tampa Bay and I have to say it was an eye opening experience.

For those unfamiliar with this organization, America’s Second Harvest (ASH) is a food bank that acts as a warehouse for food coming from retailers that would otherwise be disposed of. Grocery stores and other retailers of food products often end up with items that have damaged packaging which they are not normally able to sell. These dented cans and overstocked items get donated to ASH where they are sorted and stocked in a grocery store like manner for their clients. Clients of ASH include churches and soup kitchens that must meet certain requirements in order to participate. Once they become “members” of ASH, these charitable organizations are free to “shop” among whatever items are available at no charge.

During my time with ASH, I was sorting goods that came in according to the type of product it was: Canned vegetables in one box; pasta and rice in another. Items arrive in banana boxes and are sorted using the same boxes as these are the strongest boxes for their size. A pallet of goods from a specific retailer may contain any combination of items which must be sorted in order to ease the next step in the process which is stocking ASH’s shelves.

For me, the single most surprising thing I learned was regarding the staggering amount of food that would normally be thrown away. We’re not talking about a few cans. It really adds up quickly.

So I spent a half day sorting items and getting a bit dirty in the process. When I got home, I thought about how thankful I was to have a place to wash up. When I sat down to my lunch, I thought about how thankful I was to have that turkey sandwich. And as I reflected on the events of that morning, I realized that my experience of volunteering had probably done as much for me as it had for those whom I will probably never know.

As the new year kicks off and we reflect on this year’s holiday gatherings with friends and family, let’s take a moment to ponder all the food and fun we’ve shared during the last few weeks.  I personally believe that its important to receive these gifts with gratitude and that there’s no better way to demonstrate our appreciation for these gifts than to give back to our community and those less fortunate than ourselves.

With that in mind, I am planning to volunteer some time during the coming months to America’s Second Harvest of Tampa Bay and I would love to have any interested locals join me in this effort.

In case you are not familiar with America’s Second Harvest, they “are in effect, a clearinghouse that sorts the food, stores it, and efficiently matches it to [their] recipients by need. [They] act as a distributor and central supply point for donated foods.”  Because their projects include “sorting and repackaging food at [their] warehouse, assisting with special events and preparing mailings,” there are ways for individuals, families, and groups to participate.  You can learn more about them at their website.

If anyone is interested in joining me, please let me know and I will make all the necessary arrangements.

Happy New Year!

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi

Those who know me personally most likely know that I am currently serving as the President of the Suncoast Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

The STC is a “professional association that advances the arts and sciences of technical communication. Its 20,000+ members include technical writers, editors, graphic designers, multimedia artists, Web and intranet page information designers, translators and others whose work involves making technical information understandable and available to those who need it.”

In my current role, I’ve been working to heighten the awareness of how each of us has within us the ability to impact the lives of countless others around us and in our community. To strengthen our ties to the Tampa community, I’ve proposed a community service project that’s been received with a great deal of enthusiasm by my fellow communicators.

Reach Out and Read®, the organization we have chosen to support, is a “…national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud in pediatric exam rooms across the nation.” In an attempt to promote pediatric literacy, the Read Out and Read® model trains pediatricians and other clinicians in a three part effort:

1. “At every well-child check-up, doctors and nurses encourage parents to read aloud to their young children, and offer age-appropriate tips and encouragement. Parents who may have difficulty reading are encouraged to invent their own stories to go with picture books and spend time naming objects with their children.”
2. “Providers give every child between the ages of six months and five years a new, developmentally appropriate children’s book to keep.”
3. “In literacy rich waiting room environments, often with volunteer readers, parents and children learn about the pleasures and techniques of looking at books together.”

Some of the reasons we have chosen to support Reach Out and Read® include:

1. As professional communicators, we recognize that reading is one of the keys to a successful future for all children.
2. Reach Out and Read® has been consistently recognized for its excellence by Charity Navigator, having received the highest ranking awarded by that organization.
3. Reach Out and Read® was awarded the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence by the Independent Charities of America.
4. The Reach Out and Read® model provides a very concrete method for directly impacting the lives of the children in the Tampa area both in an immediate way as well as an ongoing basis.

Because of the final point above, our concept is to raise funds in a multi-year effort allowing us to both donate immediately as well as ultimately establish a self-sustaining fund from which donations will be made on an ongoing basis.

We are currently working out the details that will encompass both individual fund raising efforts as well as corporate sponsorships and I know that we will successfully see this to fruition. The seeds that we will plant in the coming months and years will touch untold lives and have far-reaching and unimaginable impacts. I am extremely excited to watch this process unfold.

Just imagine what may be possible from something that started as a simple thought.

“How can I make a difference?”

The slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things. - Thomas Aquinas

I recently attended a basic shamanism workshop put on by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.  The course was designed to impart the knowledge needed to take the “shamanic journey” that’s often associated with healing among indigenous cultures all over the world.  I plan to make several posts detailing my experiences in the workshop but it seems appropriate to begin with a few definitions and some background information regarding shamanism. 

First of all, let’s address a few definitions and some basic concepts.

• An internet search of the term shaman seems to indicate that the term was “…derived from the Tungas language of Siberia, it is a generic term for healers and spiritual leaders in tribal societies. Traditional shamans induced trance states through drums, dancing, ingesting hallucinogens, self-mutilation and deprivation and virtually any means by which one might achieve an altered state of consciousness. While in such a trance, the shaman crosses over into another world to get information for his people such as the cause of illnesses and other misfortunes. The shaman is the peoples’ link to the spirit world.”
• Considering the preceding definition, the concept of shamanism can be considered the practice of the shaman as he or she carries out the work brought to them by the tribe.
• The shamanic journey is the activity which takes place while the shaman is in an altered state of consciousness
• The shaman will journey to one of three spirit worlds depending on the work or information the shaman is seeking.
  • The Lower World is where a shaman will go to meet power animals or other spirit guides.  The Lower World is accessed via a hole in the earth such as a hole created by a burrowing animal or a natural hole like a spring or cave.  It’s important to note that the shamanic Lower World cannot be equated to the concept of Hell as eternal damnation is not the purpose of the Lower World.
  • The Middle World is the world that is most like what we know as the physical world.  This world is accessed by the shaman for the purposes of obtaining information needed in our physical existence, like the location of lost items.
  • The Upper World is where a shaman will travel to meet teachers and other helping spirits.  The Upper World is accessed via an upward movement such as a stairway, escalator, or elevator.  During the upward journey a barrier, like clouds, is usually encountered and must be passed through to enter the Upper World.  Additionally, just as the Lower World cannot be equated to Hell, the Upper World cannot be viewed as Heaven.  The concepts of Heaven and Hell belong to modern religion and are not part of the shamanic traditions.

Moving on to the workshop, I was, first of all, quite surprised at the size and makeup of the class.  I had been expecting a small handful of mature gentlemen with more grey hair on their faces than on top of their heads.  I was shocked to find that of the 20 individuals in attendance, I was the one with the least amount of hair!  Further, both genders were adequately represented and the ages ranged from 22 on up.  This was a very diverse and interesting group covering occupations from computer programmer to teacher.

The weekend workshop was an absolute blast and when all was said and done we experienced several wondrous shamanic journeys.  Stay tuned for the continuing story of how this workshop unfolded in future posts.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. –Mahatma Gandhi

Have you ever felt a “nudge” to do something that you didn’t do but later realized you should have?  I’ve recently had a couple of those experiences and in both cases found out that a lot of good could have come had I only followed that little voice that was telling me, in very specific terms, what I should do.

I was driving to work the other day when I noticed someone who seemed to be having car trouble on the side of the road.  As I approached, I got the distinct impression that this was a new friend of mine from work.  As soon as I passed, I immediately started rationalizing by thinking to myself, “Nah, that wasn’t him, he works an earlier shift than I do and he would have been at work long before now.”

I realized as soon as I walked in the door at the office and he wasn’t at his desk that I had rationalized my way out of an opportunity to help my new friend.  As he relayed the story to me the following day, his statement that, “The entire day went wrong,” struck home as I knew that he might have had a very different day had I listened to my inner voice and stopped to help.

Over time, I have learned to trust these moments of “knowing” but I will admit that while I have learned how powerful these messages can be, I am still working on learning to give completely in to them.

How about you?  Have you been holding yourself back from really following that inner guidance? Imagine what may be possible if only we take that extra few moments and completely give in.

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. -Marian Wright Edelman

I’d like to propose a question to you. If by spending only one hour out of your week, you could make a difference on a global scale, would you take that one hour to do so? Furthermore, if I said that you only had to make a firm commitment to do this just once, would that ease the decision for you?

Well, here’s your chance to do just that. Simply spend one hour of your time and help create global change.

For those of you in the Tampa area, this is a very special event taking place on 7/17/07 @ 7:11 AM EDT. Donna Moldovan, the proprietress of Mind, Body and Spirit located at 13141 N. Dale Mabry, is coordinating a local gathering for a group meditation that represents a “…global attempt by the inhabitants of this planet to send our Love to the center of mother earth to help her to restart her heart (so to speak) to counter act the effects of global warming, pollution, and many years of man’s neglect.”

Fire the Grid is the website that kicked this off and you can obtain more information there including where to seek out a gathering should you happen to live somewhere other than Tampa.

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.  -Sally Koch

The Tampa Law of Attraction Meetup Group that I organize recently held a showing of a new video based on Law of Attraction called “Pass it on”. One of the concepts that came up in the video was the need to be of service to those around you. As I’ve said before, my intention for the meetup group and this blog is to be of service to all those who pass my way.

It would seem natural to wonder just how much impact a small act of service can have. After all, in my case, I’m just doing things that I would do anyway like writing and organizing social events. Just how much impact can something so small have?

Well, just as if the Universe knew I was wondering , I was sent this short video that tells the story of Johnny, a grocery bagger, who clearly demonstrates how, when it comes from the heart, one small act of service can reap overwhelming results!

Enjoy the video and then take a moment to think about what small thing you can do to be of service!