Sangha of Auspicious Companions

February 22, 2014

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12-Year Old Musician With A Big Heart

Aiden Hornaday was 8 years old when he picked up his brother’s dusty harmonica with no idea of how to play it. The next day, waiting for his mother at a restaurant, he took off his cap and started playing, and got 80 unexpected dollars in tips “just for taking his hat off.” That night, he decided to donate the $80 to fight intestinal parasites for African orphans, and the seeds of Aiden Cares was born. Now 12, Aiden has raised over $60,000 in 4 years. Aiden believes that everyone has something to give. “It’s one of the greatest rewarding things ever; and you get more from it when you help. Blessings just come – it’s amazing.” { read more }

Be The Change

Be a role model and share the joy of giving with a young person in your life.

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February 21, 2014

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Cancelled Wedding Turned Feast for the Homeless

Willie and Carol Fowler’s daughter was getting ready to walk down the aisle. The wedding venue, food, and decorations were all in order. But forty days before her big day, she canceled her wedding. Willie and Carol were left with a fully paid event — but no guests. What they did next was an unscripted act of radical kindness: they invited 200 homeless people as their honoured guests. The event, which spontaneously turned into “The First Annual Fowler Family Celebration of Love”, offers a wonderful example of how this family transformed a negative into a positive in the spirit of service. { read more }

Be The Change

In the words of Mother Teresa, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Create smiles by “feeding” someone today, whether it is by sharing a meal, a compassionate ear, or a hug!

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February 20, 2014

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A PhD Student Turned Fruit Picker For Her Community

“There’s a lot of people who say the problem is so big, nothing we can ever do will fix it,” Sarah Ramirez says. “Well, if we all took that position, nothing would ever get done.” After getting her PhD from Stanford and becoming Tulare County’s epidemiologist, Sarah noticed troubling trends of diabetes, obesity, and food insecurity in her community. She also noticed that much fruit in the region went unharvested because it was deemed unsellable in local grocery stores. Sarah decided to give up the prestige of a high-powered career to start a grass-roots effort she runs with her husband out of their trailer park home. Sarah rescues produce from commercial fields and people’s backyards, holds weekend “food labs” (classes to teach people how to incorporate more produce into their diets), and has started a community garden. The improving health of her community is evidence of the power of one person to impact positive change. { read more }

Be The Change

What community service activity have you been putting off? Resolve to get involved this week!

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February 19, 2014

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My Mother’s Last Words To Me

They say, a mother’s greatest gift is the love that she shares — unconditional in presentation, and with the capacity to permeate even our deepest wounds. When fear and adversity threaten our place, still a mother’s love is there. In this beautiful article, author Sohaib Alvi graciously shares his dying mother’s final words. And, in doing so, so brilliantly captures the essence of what it means to be a mother. { read more }

Be The Change

Find one way today in which to share that which embodies the beauty of a mother’s love – that which is selfless, caring and without expectation.

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February 18, 2014

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Daniel Goleman on the Art of Attention

“If you go to a restaurant these days, for instance, you see people sitting together, at the same table, staring at their video screens, their phone, their iPad, or whatever it may be — and not talking to each other,” says Daniel Goleman, author of “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence.” In his book, Goleman postulates that our emotional intelligence is directly tied to our own self-awareness — an awareness of our mind, our emotions, and that of those around us. “That’s become the new norm. And what it means is that the connection is being damaged to some extent — threatened by the fact that we’re together, but we’re not together. We’re alone together.” { read more }

Be The Change

Just for today, turn off those phones and walk away from that computer screen. And when someone blesses you with the gift of their presence, honor it with the attention that they so very much deserves.

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February 17, 2014

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Smart Phone? Why It’s Time For A Kind Phone

Looking onto the screen of his smartphone, Ted Smith, sees far more than advancements in technology and design — he sees the faces of the many people whose lives are impacted by the decisions made during the manufacturing process. Each year, millions of tons of discarded American electronics are being ship to India, China, Pakistan, and other developing countries — where they are sold at auction, and then painstakingly dismantled for the small scraps of gold, copper, and palladium. Day laborers are paid meager wages to perform this task, and in the process are exposed to deadly substances such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. But imagine, if these phones were designed with conflict-free materials, and encased in a shell free of toxic materials? Read more about a new ‘benign-by-design’ smartphone — and Ted Smith’s efforts to champion more products of this nature. { read more }

Be The Change

Before making your next electronics purchase, ask yourself – what do you really know of this company? And, what steps are they taking to protect both the workers and our environment throughout the manufacturing process? Use this as the basis for your decision.

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February 16, 2014

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Tapped on the Shoulder…By A Whale

Bryant Austin is one of the few people on earth who can say their life was transformed by a literal tap on the shoulder from a whale. Austin is an experimental multimedia artist whose lifelong passion has been exploring the possibility of connecting humanity with the greatest minds in the water. His drive comes from a deep desire to understand over five million years of evolving culture and communication in the largest brain ever to exist on Earth. In this stunning interview, Austin shares stores of his extraordinary journey and mission to use photography to recreate the transcendent sensation one experiences floating an arm’s length away from the eye of an inquisitive whale. He explains how his experiences with whales have given him glimpses of the vastness of the cosmos, helping him to shift from his personal perspective of reality to a grander “earth perspective” of reality. { read more }

Be The Change

Today, experiment with stepping outside of your “human perspective” of reality to consider an “earth perspective” of reality. How would that change the decisions you make today?

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February 15, 2014

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Chai With Love

Meet R. Sekar, a reserved man who sells tea for a living in his little tea shop in India. With his meagre earnings, this man with a golden heart shows us that you do not have riches to help others. “I am happy with what I have and can do with even less. I do not need more. What will I do [with more]?” he asks. Read about how this big-hearted man touches the lives of those who visit his tea shop. { read more }

Be The Change

Today, practice thinking small. What is the smallest gift that you can give someone to make their day?

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