Image Used with Creative Commons Attribution Permission - Flickr jade-rabbit’s Photostream

Time to slow down for a minute and consider how we affect others and what we can do to elevate each other. As we move though the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we come in contact with tens and sometimes hundreds of lives. Every contact, no matter how small is an opportunity to elevate friends, families, co-workers and strangers.

There are countless stories of people touching others in simple yet positive ways that later we come to understand impacted someone in a positive and sometimes life saving way. Think about the teenager that is considering suicide, the father that is considering divorce, the harried mother that doesn’t know what to do. Even a little touch, a moment of concern or happiness from someone can make a difference in their lives. If we stop the pain, even for a brief moment, the positive difference will grow and we will prevent others from taking drastic action.

And in this times of economic uncertainty, Don’t we all want someone to brighten up our day. So get out there and make a difference in someone else’s life, no matter how small the difference, it will have a positive impact. And with a little luck, the person that you elevate will elevate others and your impact will grow.

If you make a difference in 5 people’s live today and they impact 5 and they impact 5 people, your reach becomes 25 people. In a month you can impact 750 people. In a year, 9,000 people. And don’t stop at 5 people. Most of us come in contact with way more than 5 people in a day. Spread the Joy. Pay It Forward!

Simple Ways To Elevate Others Without Effort

• Smile at everyone you come in contact with
• Let that car merge into your lane safely
• Complement someone on their dress, smile, the help they gave you
• Declare what a great day it is to someone
• Say hi to everyone in the elevator, the hall, the store
• Thank everyone that serves you; waiters, the postman, everyone
• Hug your family
• High five someone at work
• Tell your kids that you love them
• Tell your spouse you love them
• Believe in and encourage the dreams of others
• Stop and let them cross the street, smile at them
• Say thank you to your kid’s teachers, send them a note, and take them a flower

Ten Small Commitments To Elevate Others

1. Visit a school (any school) and read to the class
2. Volunteer for elementary school chat and chew (book reviews)
3. Donate a book to a school
4. When you see someone in distress, take then aside as find out what is wrong, offer emotional support
5. Sit beside someone that is alone; on the bus, at the cafeteria, at assembly, show concern
6. Visit a nursing home and ask one of the patrons about their life, you may learn something in return
7. Write a letter to someone you care about thanking them deeply for the difference they have made in your life
8. Join Bookmooch http://www.bookmooch.com/ and put your used books to use. Find a Bookmooch charity http://www.bookmooch.com/charity and donate some points to them!

Now go out and make a difference in someone’s life and feel the joy and warmth that is returned. Encourage big dreams, encourage others! We may never know what impact we have had, but have faith, we can affect others in positive ways. We can make a difference. It doesn’t even take any money nor much time. Just start now!

Work Hard!, Play Hard!, Touch Someone’s Life!, Life Is Grand!

Follow Up

The day after I posted this article I got an email from a friend about how she was touched by positive words that helped her achieve greater happiness. You may want to read: Epilogue to - “Lives In the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear!”

This is a continuation of a series of posts about learning to draw using Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain concept. The last update was the simple profile post.

Last night I spent less than an hour drawing Bill. I still have more work to do on darkness and lightness. Given this is my first live profile I’m happy with it. I’m hoping to draw my family after the class is complete.

I’ll post the final version when its ready in a week or two.

This is a continuation of a prior Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain posts (Learning to Draw). See update 6 for my perspective drawing example.

So in the last class we practiced drawing a profile after learning some fascinating information about proportions and location of eyes, ears and more. Pretty cool stuff. Very Left-Brain information necessary to get the Right-Brain working artistically.

We practiced drawing a freehand copy of a profile called Madame X by John Singer Sargent .

Below is the image we used to freehand copy and then my copy. Still needs lots of work and you can see I moved a lot of lines around (the chin area especially) to try to get the proportion worked out.

The original Madame X by John Singer Sargent

And my Version

Tonight we are going to do live profiles of each other. Now that should be interesting.

This post continues the prior posts about Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - See update 5.

In update 5 I showed my first perspective that was done to learn some of the techniques. This example is our official perspective. I did this over 2 classes and a little at home. I probably have about 4 hours into this one.

It’s a corner in the speech center at the University of Richmond. Pretty complicated with lots of doors, hallways and trim work. I’m pretty pleased with this one with the exception I don’t have door knobs on the doors and there are some places where the proportion and angles could be a lot better. But all told, not bad for my first complex perspective.

I’m pretty excited about the process of learing to draw. I’m really looking forward to the process of the self portrait. If that comes out looking good, I’m going to draw my daughters after the class is finished.

Up next, we are going to learn to draw profiles.

I’ve tried for years to meditate effectively. Once in a while I’m effective at quieting down my brain, but usually the self speak goes crazy as soon as I try to get quiet.

Now the strange thing is I’ve been using self-hypnosis for 3+ years to achieve focus, reduce stress and achieve some of my personal goals. I was lucky enough to be trained by a certified hypnotherapist when I tried to use hypnosis for weight loss. Well the pounds did not shed, but I learned that, other than with weight issues, I was easily hypnotized. In fact the therapist said, you’d be great at self-hypnosis, let me teach you how. So with a little instruction and on the recommendation of the following book of self-hypnosis scripts I got started:

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Self Hypnosis for a Better Life

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Using the scripts in the book as guides and knowing what I wanted each session to accomplish, I set out to write my own scripts. Then I recorded them using audacity, a free audio recorder. No music, just my own voice. I put these on my iPod and had instant hypnotherapy wherever I went. Over time I improved the scripts and made them shorter.

I also practice self-hypnosis without the aid of audio. I now use my iPod versions only when I’m unable to get to a completely safe and quiet location. Otherwise I can go deep without the aid of my trusty and beloved iPod. As long as I’m not completely stressed out or hopped up on too much coffee (rare these days) I can play these scripts in my head and go deep fast. Usually an 8 to 12 minute session has me refreshed and able to focus again on life’s challenges.

Now to the meditation! Last Tuesday I started taking a meditation class at the University of Richmond, taught by Mark. The first thing he said was meditation and self hypnosis are one and the same thing. They both get you to the Alpha and occasionally Theta brain wave states . I thought wow that is weird, why didn’t I connect the dots before and understand this? So now after two classes with 4 guided sessions and some practice I can meditate really well using self-hypnosis. I get to the trance state and tell myself I will be there for a certain time limit and then suggest to myself that my conscious brain just needs to be patient and wait and not interrupt. After a few repeats of the suggestions my brain is quiet and relaxed. In fact I got in a 30 minute mediation early this morning using this technique. I’m so thrilled to be able to get this quiet. If you are having trouble meditating you might want to try using self-hypnosis to get you there!

After writing and posting this article I found a post on litemind.com on creating a mental sanctuary. That is in fact the technique that I used this past week to get to a meditative state. My sanctuary is a beach and is not a building divided into rooms. Since I love the beach I think for now I will achieve the same affect as the rooms with different mindful imagery.