Brummet's Conscious Blog

Kindness Explained  * Written by Vijaya Jayaraman, with extensive editing by Lillian Brummet You can act kindly only when you think positively; it's an expression of your thoughts and you cannot fake it. Kindness comes from the heart! The thought becomes your words.  "If you cannot speak kind words, better to be silent".  This quote from Bhagavad Gita {Ch 17, verse 15} emphasizes the importance of thinking before speaking. Consider how easy it is to be kind to someone if you already have a preconceived positive notion about that person, but your kindness vanishes when you have a negative thought about the same person. A mother's love is the ultimate kindness. She is the symbolic epitome of kindness and we all learn what kindness is through her. Kindness is expressing love without expecting anything in return. If we can emulate that very same love to everyone around we would be in a wonderful world! Kindness is expressed in the same way whether it's directed toward...

-- Recommended Resources --  Theme of the day - Finance / Economy... A new year begins and we are faced with new opportunities to make a difference with both our investments and our charitable donations... among other actions we can take.  I'd like to start our day off with a discussion presented by Audrey Choi re:  Investing in the change you want to see in our future: sustainable, community-minded, environmentally savvy policies, etc. http://www.ted.com/talks/audrey_choi_how_to_make_a_profit_while_making_a_difference There are a lot of issues out there, locally and globally, that present themselves to us on any given day - yet as an individual, we find ourselves forced to make difficult decisions as to what we can get involved in. Well, the same difficult decisions are being faced by larger business officials, organization management staff and our governments as well. Here is one resource that may ease the decision making proces...

-- Finding Effective Charities --  Many of us feel a little bit sceptical about giving to charities - A lot of questions commonly fire off rapidly as we are considering whether to give. "Is it really helping?", we ask ourselves, "Is it the best use of my donated dollars? How much is actually going to the cause and not going to producing magazines or recruiting more donors? How does this affect me or my family or my community?" I truly believe many of us give in all kinds of ways - we participate in community fundraisers, charity drives through local businesses, calls for donations from our churches or announcements in our newspapers. We might drop our spare change in collection jars at the counter. The school our children go to might need help. We might leave our bottles and cans at the depot for the staff to donate the proceeds to a variety of programs, projects and charities they offer for their patrons to consider supporting. These are everyday activities...

6 Ways to Know If You Should Donate To An Organization * Richard Brody joins us to offer practical advice, helping us manage our funds better, and to have confidence that where we are donating to is the best use for our hard earned money. Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, and Director of Development, as well as a consultant. He has professionally run events, consulted to over a thousand leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for over 30 years. Rich has written three books and well over a thousand articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website: http://plan2lead.net and LIKE the Facebook page for leadership planning and non - profit improvement: http://facebook.com/Plan2lead Every individual has several options and choices, when deciding and determining which not-for-profit organizations, to support, both financially and in terms of his time, energy and resources. This should, therefore, translate to these g...

    -- Quote of the Day --    “It is not enough to limit your love to your own nation, to your own group. You must respond with love even to those outside of it – This concept enables people to live together not as nations but as the human race.”  ~ Clarence Jordan  -- Making a Difference -- Today I'd like to broach the concept of the individual's ability to make a difference...  It really is surprisingly easy to have an impact every day, often several times a day.  For instance, we can clean up litter when walking the dogs, visiting the parks, or taking our evening stroll. We can take some time to speak kindly, using positive energy, positive words with the elderly as we pass them by - simple things like just complementing their coat can really brighten their day. We can help shovel the driveways for those who are injured or elderly or busy in the neighborhood - not for pay, but just because.  ...