Feel Good Friday, August 22

 

There’s so much craziness going on in the world.  Wars.  Racial and religious tensions.  Crime of just about every imaginable flavor.  It’s overwhelming sometimes. 

But, when it all seems hopeless, it’s refreshing to know that we’ve got a leader we can turn to for a needed dose of wisdom and inspiration.

Sadly, I don’t typically turn to elected officials for that much-needed boost, but I can always count on Kid President.  Making the rounds this week is his back to school message, and I was glad to see it, because the world definitely needs to show a little more awesome.

If you’re not familiar with Kid President, you really should check him out.  I’d vote for him (and his staffers) for real, but I wouldn’t want to ruin them!

Feel Good Friday, August 15

 

You know what this Friday’s feel good is all about?  I started my three day weekend!  It’s such a simple thing, you would not think that would bring me such a feeling of euphoria, but it really, really does. 

So, Brian and I made a short road trip, had a nice dinner, and then strolled around a quaint little town.  Perfect way to spend a day.  Tomorrow we’ll explore a little more and see what there is to see.  I have to say, I do not miss work at all!

Feel Good Friday, August 8

 

I am convinced that eventually people will come to recognize that we’re all more alike than different, and that everyone should be judged individually on their actions not on which segment of society they fit in to.  But though I firmly believe this will come to pass, I often despair that it will happen so slowly that I will not get to witness even the earliest waves of enlightenment.

Because of this, I love to read a story about a place called Latta, South Carolina, a tiny little town full of old fashioned conservative values in a state that seems to have little respect for the rights of its gay citizens.  But that’s not what makes it a good story.  No, what makes it a good story is that even with all their “traditional values”, Latta was still able to come together and fight for a member of their community when their police chief was fired for having the audacity to be gay.

Now, we all know that people’s belief systems don’t do a complete 180 overnight, so I think we can safely assume that there are a lot of folks in Latta who still believe that romantic couples ought to be made up of a man and a woman, so their show of solidarity in standing up for the police chief because of who she is rather than any group she belongs to  is outstanding.

It’s those sorts of actions that will ultimately lead to that happy future I was talking about it earlier, and I think that definitely qualifies for Feel Good Friday.  Congratulations, Latta, on finding a way to get your chief back.

If you’d like to read more details about a town doing the right thing, you can find the story here.

Feel Good Friday, August 1, 2014

 

Saw this on my feed last night and just had to share.  Makes me want to change banks, even though my bank is really fine; apparently there’s still room for improvement.

At the end of typically long and draining weeks, I’m always glad to have something funny and relaxing to come home to.   Hope it helps you, too.

 

Feel Good Friday, July 25

 

At the end of a very long and stressful week, I know I need just a minute of feel good.  If you do, too, take a minute to watch this video.

Not only do I love the message, but I especially love that it’s trying to get kids to spread the message.  I’ve reached the point in my life that I’ve begun to believe that it may be too late for many of the “adult” generation to learn the simple truth that we are all—every single creature on this planet—dependent upon each other for survival, and we should be coming together to find ways to share this world and celebrate the differences that make the world exciting.  Instead, we focus on those differences as a bad thing, and we’re slowly tearing our world apart, through both hatred and a scramble to be the first to claim and control some of the limited natural resources we have  at our disposal. 

And if it’s too late for the adults to recognize these things and try to do something positive in the world, then I worry about who’s going to teach the next generation how wrong this approach is, and I despair that we’ll find ourselves on a never-ending downward path.   So, when there’s an initiative that wants to use children to share a positive message about the inter-connectedness of the planet, I’m all for it. 

By the way, if you want to get your own young people—whether they’re your kids, students, church group, whatever—drop by the We Are All Connected site, and learn how to make your own video.  Who knows, maybe even some of the not-so-young people will prove that it’s not too late, and want to get involved, too.  Let’s follow the lead of the kids.

Feel Good Friday, May 9

What makes me feel good today? Graduation! A fun memory with my school friends and family there to celebrate with me. Yep, that's definitely a feel good moment.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Morning Glory Dr,Norman,United States

Feel Good Friday, May 2

 

Nope, not particularly feeling good today.  I’m in a funk and ready to get out of it, but I don’t think it’s quite time.  Consequently, I haven’t really been spending much time on Facebook, and even when I have been, not much has really struck my fancy.

However, even though I didn’t dwell on it too much, I have to admit that I loved the idea of a kid taking his great-grandma to prom.  I have no doubt that she will cherish that memory for as long as she lives, and I hope that he will, too.

Feel Good Friday, April 25

 

I have to say, it’s really been quite a while since I’ve really felt like much of a personal Feel Good Friday, but I’m feeling it today.  But what can you expect when you spend a day hanging with PTK buddies at the convention and then spend a few hours at Walt Disney World?  WDW may not technically be “the happiest place on earth” according to the Disney folks, but I would beg to differ.

We really did only have a few hours, so our park visit was limited to Main Street USA and Fantasyland, but it was still a good time.  We got to walk around and enjoy a nice afternoon/evening, rode It’s a Small World, saw both the Main Street Electrical Parade and the Wishes fireworks show, and Tigger waved at me and then blew me a kiss.  Oh, and we had some really tasty ice cream to end the day.  If that kind of day doesn’t make you feel good, I just don’t know what will.

 

Feel Good Facebook Friday

 

Yep, it’s a two-fer today; the feel good this week comes from Facebook.  Nice when that works out.  Anyway, a day or two ago, there was a story that popped up on my newsfeed all about a teenage girl who dreamed of being a model for her favorite clothing line.  Nothing unusual about that; I’m guessing far more seventeen year old girls have that dream than don’t. 

Two things do make this story unusual, though:  1) this particular seventeen year old has Down Syndrome, and 2) she actually got to model for them.

People following their dreams, businesses making dreams come true—does it get more feel good than that?  Not really, no.  So if you haven’t done it yet, go ahead and click the link and read the story.

Feel Good Friday, February 14

 

Three-day weekend, baby!  Need I say more?

Valentine’s Day was a simple affair of after-work dinner and long conversation at Chili’s; it was nice.  And, this weekend, we’ll see Winter’s Tale in the fancy-schmancy seats at our favorite theater, though we had to wait until 9:00 Sunday to find a showing that still had any seats.

And, I’m actually feeling much better on this Feel Good Friday.  Still not 100%, but it’s an amazing difference even since yesterday.  Yay.

And that’s it.  Enjoy your weekend, and your extra day, if you get it.

 

Feel Good Friday, February 7

 

Man, I’m glad this week is drawing to a close.  I have class tomorrow, so I can’t say it’s officially over yet, but I know I’m officially over it. 

But, even after an incredibly hectic and stressful day at the office today, I had a feel good moment for myself, in the form of a nice piece of mail waiting for me at home.

I know I officially graduated almost two moths ago, and there was definitely a strong sense of relief then.  But, it’s still nice to finally have the hard-copy representation of the work.  I think I’ll have to take it—and my other one—and have them framed somewhere and hang in my office.  That will be another feel good moment.

Then, on a less personal note, I want to share with you a video that will surely bring a smile.  It’s two life-long friends—they’re a hundred years old, so “life-long” for them is a really long time. 

Anyway, they’re cute, and funny, and they either make you glad you’ve got a friend like this one or wish that you did.  Enjoy.

 

Feel Good Facebook Friday

 

I probably should be embarrassed by the fact that a fifty year old woman such as myself plays some of those silly games over on Facebook.  Or maybe I should just be embarrassed to admit that a woman of my age actually gets on Facebook regularly.  But, truth is truth, so I’ll just own the fact that I waste more time on that particular social media site than any grown woman probably should.

In addition to browsing through my newsfeed and looking at people’s photos, sometimes I like to take those personality quizzes everyone’s always posting.  Of course, they’re pretty simplistic, hardly deep, scientific tools.  And sometimes, you have to wonder about the accuracy of the results when you can tell from each individual answer what the final selection will be.  For example: “Which Big Bang Theory Character Are You?”  I try not to let the fact that I can recognize each character in their particular answer, but who knows what really influences an answer choice? 

But sometimes the final choice has a broader range of options, so you don’t even really know what all is up for grabs, much less what your final answer will be.  Those kind are a little more fun, even though you really still can’t put too much stock in them.  

Still, regardless of how accurate they may or may not be, they’re still kind of fun, and it was precisely one such quiz that led to today’s post, because it did make me feel good.  Because you see, today I took a quiz for “What Career Should You Actually Have?”  And, scientific or not, here was my result:

Here’s hoping this is one Fecebook quiz that gets it right!

Feel Good Friday, January 17

 

The first feel-good moment today (sort of) was completing my paralegal certification tests.  I have to wait until March for results, and I’m fairly certain I will have to retake at least one section of the exam, but it’s a huge relief to have it over with even if it’s only for the moment.

But, other than that, the story to share with you today might seem a strange candidate for Feel Good Friday, because it begins with an attempted suicide, but it was an aborted attempt, and it seems to be a story worth sharing.

It seems that six years ago, a despondent, ill young man was standing on the wrong side of a bridge railing, and just about ready to take a plunge when a total stranger can by and talked him back to safety.  Now that young man has not only gotten help, but has gone on to give help to others, and he’d like to find the stranger who saved him and made it all possible.

Jonny Benjamin was the young man, though he’s not certain about the stranger’s name.  maybe it’s Mike, but Jonny understandably had a lot on his mind in their moment of contact, and he may not be remembering it correctly.  Not only does it seem like it would be a really cool thing to put the man together with his savior, but I love the fact that there was a stranger willing to notice someone in need and actually do something about it.  We all like to think that we’d do the right thing in such pivotal life moments, but I can admit that I’m not confident I wouldn’t be too wrapped up in my own self to even recognize that a pivotal moment was at hand. 

So, congratulations to the stranger who made such a difference six years ago, and good luck to Jonny Benjamin in his search.  Maybe if enough of us tell the story, the two will be reunited.

 

Feel Good Friday, December 27

 

Oh, it’s the very best Feel Good Friday in a while, because it’s totally and selfishly about me.  After a long and exhausting day at the office, I walked out the door knowing I wouldn’t have to walk back in for three whole weeks.  That’s right; it’s vacation time!  How could you not feel good about that?

Of course, the last week of my “break” will be spent taking my certification exam, and good portions of the preceding two weeks will be spent studying for said exam, but, still, I don’t have to go to work.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I have a job, and it’s even a job I (mostly) enjoy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not ready for a bit of a break. 

So, yes, I’m worn to a nub at the end of this day that seemed like it might never end, but I haven’t felt this good in a while.  So, I’m going start my vacation by going to bed early and sleeping late and basically just having a totally relaxing weekend.  I hope you can do the same.

Feel Good Friday, December 13

 

I think you probably would have to have been living under a social media rock to miss these things I want to share with you, as they seem to have been everywhere this week, but I think they’re worth sharing again.  Especially on a day that saw both a man arrested for plotting to blow up an airport, and another school shooting.  It’s definitely a day for wondering what the world is coming to, and I think there are far too many of those lately, so it’s nice to be reminded that decency and goodness still exist in the world.

This first video is an excerpt from What Would You Do?, and really does help to restore my faith in humanity, though the haters have already pointed out that most of the people didn’t do anything.  It’s still nice to know some of them did.

And this second video could easily be labeled a self-serving publicity stunt, but I don’t care.  It makes me feel good.  And, more important, it made a lot of people feel good, first those involved, and second, the millions of people who’ve watched and shared.  Advertising stunt?  Sure.  But so what?  In fact, I hope this airline reaps some benefit from it, because this sort of fun and kindness should be rewarded.

 

I hope you enjoyed those, and here’s hoping to an upcoming week filled with more feel good moments than not.

Feel Good Friday, December 6

 

I’m glad people share things on Facebook; it exposes me to things I might not ordinarily see or know about.  But, just as often, clicking on a link from Facebook causes me to click on another link, then another, and another.  The Internet really can be a time suck, but more times than not, I run across things that make it worthwhile.

Such was the case a day or so ago when I wandered through one of my favorite spots, Upworthy.  I don’t remember now what originally led me there, but I do remember the story of Mushy, a high school student in England struggling to overcome a stammer.  This is the original video I saw:

But this video had a link to Mushy’s “full story”, and after seeing these few minutes, I knew I wanted to see more.  It turns out that he was featured on a reality TV show called Educating Yorkshire.  Typically I’m not much of a fan of reality television, but if all eight episodes of this show were as good as Mushy’s episode, I might be persuaded to reconsider my view of the genre.  Oh, and I love that Mushy’s teacher was willing to try something he saw in a movie; that’s a man after my own heart!

If you enjoyed the five minute condensed version, and if you’ve got half an hour to spare, you can see more of Mushy here:

Feel Good Friday, November 29

Really, this should probably be “Feel Lazy Friday”, since lazy is absolutely what I’ve been today.  My day’s agenda looked like this:  sleep in, move from bed to couch, eat some leftovers, nap, watch football/play on computer, eat a bowl of cereal, watch more football, and I think I’ll probably end it with an early bed time.  I’m not really a stranger to lazy days, but this one was pretty extreme, even for me.  But I guess extra days off work are the perfect day for that, especially when we’re about to move into a whirlwind few weeks, so I’m not feeling too bad about it.

But, there’s something else to make you feel good, besides my incredibly carefree and unproductive day, and that’s this video by a cute kid.  In all the words that we say day in and day out, there are some that just aren’t used enough, and Kid President would like to remind us of the things we say more often.

Enjoy, and if we ever get together, the corn dogs are on me.

Feel Good Friday, November 15

 

The first stop in today’s Feel Good Friday happened in the copy room at my office.  Late in the afternoon, I was just going about my business, mailing off a settlement agreement and such, when our intake manager—who also happens to be our senior partner’s wife—walked in and asked if I had plans for the weekend.  I thought it was just typical Friday afternoon chatter until she said, “Could you go to the game?” and handed me a pair of tickets to tomorrow’s OU game.  Dang good seats, too.  I’m not sure how I got to be the lucky one, but I’ll chalk it up to clean living.  Or something.  Whatever the reason, I will accept it gladly.  Though I did tell her she’ll spoil Brian, letting him sit in such good seats. 

As for the next part of Feel Good Friday, I think you probably had to be living under a rock somewhere today to have not heard about this already, but I think it’s worth sharing at least one more time.

When I was a kid, I probably wanted to be Batman, too.  Fortunately, I never had a potentially fatal disease that would cause an organization to try to make that wish happen.  Miles Scott wasn’t lucky enough to avoid the horrible disease, but he was blessed enough to have the Make a Wish Foundation go all out to make his dream of being Batman a reality.  And he was even more blessed that so many thousands of people cared enough to help make his day extra, extra special.  And then we were all fortunate enough to get to be a tiny part of the day just by hearing about his exploits all over the Internet.  If you’ve somehow missed it up until this point, read his story here.

And the very best part about the story?  Miles is currently in remission, so maybe he’ll get to cherish the memory of this amazing day for a long, long time to come.  And if that doesn’t warrant our shout out for today, I just don’t know what does. 

Feel Good Friday, November 1

 

It’s time for another Feel Good Friday.  These long and exhausting weeks really need to take a little break, but at least it makes these positive finds even that much better.

But even if it hadn’t been a horribly long week that left me yearning for any sort of good news, I’d still love these pictures tonight, because it reminds me that I’m justified in believing in the good in people, even when there are some who are making me want to doubt it.

Click the photo to get to the rest, and enjoy . . .

Feel Good Friday, Just in the Nick of Time

 

I know I’ve flirted with the idea of a Facebook Friday theme here on the blog, and it will likely surface again, maybe even fairly regularly.  But today’s story to share didn’t come from Facebook, but rather from CBS Evening News.  And it was perfect timing, because I’d been thinking tonight that today’s theme needed to be “Feel Good Friday”.  Why?  Because I needed to feel good.  It’s been a long and tiring week, what with being sick all week long and still trying to drag myself to work and school.

But, more important, I had a spat with Billy tonight that really made me not feel good.  A glaring reminder that the people who mean the most to you can always hurt you the worst.  It will pass, of course, but in the meantime, I was particularly glad to see Steve Hartman’s story tonight and put just a bit of a positive spin back on my Friday.  I hope it will do the same for you.

I’m including the text of the article, but you really should do yourself a favor and watch the video.

Mich. middle school football team conspires for touching touchdown

By

Steve Hartman

(CBS News) OLIVET, Mich. -- Between classes, they schemed and conspired. For weeks, the football players at Olivet Middle School in Olivet, Mich., secretly planned their remarkable play.

"Everyone was in on it," says Nick Jungel.

"But the coaches didn't know anything about it," Parker Smith says. "We were, like, going behind their back."

We've never heard of a team coming up with a plan to not score.

"It's just like to make someone's day, make someone's week, just make them happy," Justice Miller says.

The play -- which was two plays, actually -- happened at a home game earlier this month. The first part of their plan was to try to get as close to the goal line as possible without scoring, even if it meant taking a dive on the one-yard-line, which it did.

The crowd was not happy.

"But us kids knew, hey, we got this, this is our time, this is Keith's time," Parker, the quarterback, says.

Keith Orr is the little kid in the brown jacket. He's learning disabled, struggles with boundaries -- but in the sweetest possible way. Because of his special nature, it's no surprise that Keith embraces his fellow football players. What is surprising is how they have embraced him.

"We thought it would be cool to do something for him," Parker says.

"Because we really wanted to prove that he was part of our team and he meant a lot to us," adds Nick.

"Nothing can really explain getting a touchdown when you've never had one before," says Justice.

Which brings us to part two of their play. If you didn't see Keith, it's because they were so protective of him, but he was in the middle of the rush.

When they crossed the goal line, Keith says it was "awesome."

"It was like, 'Did he just score a touchdown?'" Keith's mom, Carrie, says.

"Get your camera out!" his dad, Jim, remembers saying.

Keith's parents almost missed the moment, but they got the significance.

"Somebody is always going to have his back -- from now until the day he graduates," Carrie says.

She's right. When the football team decides your cool, pretty much everyone follows suit. Today, Keith is a new kid, although by no means was he the only one who was profoundly changed.

"Once I saw him go in, I was smiling to here," says Justice, a wide receiver, pointing to his cheeks. "Nothing could wipe that smile off my face."

Asked why it affected him so much, Justice turns emotional.

"Because he's never been cool or popular, and he went from being, like, pretty much a nobody to making everyone's day," he says.

Justice admits the play wasn't his idea, saying, "I would have not really thought of that."

He says it never crossed his mind to give Keith any glory.

"I kind of went from being somebody who mostly cared about myself and my friends to caring about everyone and trying to make everyone's day and everyone's life," he says.

Which may just make that touchdown the most successful football play of all time.

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