Hope Phones

I was watching Good Morning America yesterday while I was getting ready for the day. They have a lot of great stories day to day, but this one about Hope Phones kept popping into my head all day today.

Hope phones takes your old phone and uses it to help save lives in developing countries.

Josh Nesbit, a Standford University, volunteered at an AIDS clinic in Malawi. While there he reported to abcnews.com that;

"This particular hospital was serving about a quarter million people, spread a hundred miles in every direction. So you literally had patients walking 60, 80, a hundred miles to access care. Basically one nurse would get onto a motorcycle and drive 10 hours a day trying to track down patients,"

He figured that if these people had the ability to text or call for help a lot of lives could be saved. He worked on software to get his idea in gear. But still didn't have enough phones for the high demand. This turned into Hope Phones. Josh says; 

"I was hit with this statistic, that we're discarding 500,000 cell phones every single day. That means half a million phones are going into trash cans, and desk drawers daily."

 

That  looks something like this!

Each phone is worth between $15 and $50. Nesbit realized that by recycling  just 1 percent of those phones, he could raise money to buy new phones for a million health workers.

Nesbit Says, "Your old phone will turn into two or three phones for health workers. Every one of those phones will connect another 50 to 100 families to emergency services and essential services."

With the money from old phones in the United States, 50 million people in Africa and across the globe can get better healthcare. 

The best thing about this is that the shipping for the phone you send is totally free! It is paid for by sponsors related to HopePhones. All you have to do is go to HopePhones.org, click the red Donate Phones button, follow the directions, print up a shipping label and put it in the mail. You have just helped save lives all over the world! Simple as that!

You can also set up a collection campaign at your school, corporation, town, etc. If you decide to do this, you fill out a quick form at HopePhones.org and they will send you all of the collection materials-free! The materials include a poster, collection box, shipping box for all the phones you’ll collect, and prepaid shipping labels.

HopePhones has a FAQ's part of the site that answers all of the questions that I had. Such as, does the phone condition matter? What happens to the phone once I send it in? And how do I delete information on my phone before sending it in?

I have three phones that the kids play with once in a blue moon or they get just put into a drawer when the are in the way. Why not send them to a better place? I will be sending mine in tomorrow. You can put yours to good use too. It only takes a few minutes.

 

photo courtesy of act.mtv.org

photo courtesy of pih.org

*all italicized comments courtesy of abcnews.go.com

How To Lead A Happy Life

  My previous post on being happier has got my brain trying to work in a different way. I mean, I have a lot to be happy for. But when something so sad happens to you, it's hard to get back to that happy person you were before.

  I like to just grab books off the shelf at the library that look interesting to me. Sometimes I read the whole book when I get home, sometimes I just browse thru it. I picked up this book called "The Experts Guide to Life at Home" created by Samanthe Ettus.

It gives lots of information that would be good for a first time home buyer or someone who might need something light to read and still learn something. I was suprised that they had a section on How to Lead a Happy Life. It is the very last section of the book and I wanted to share some of what it said because it really made sense to me and feel it can make sense to anyone. Maybe it can steer me, and maybe you, in the right direction towards happiness.

Every section of the book is written by a different expert in the subject that is being presented. The section on lead a happy life , is written by Alexandra Stoddard who has written twenty four books. On of which is called Choosing Happiness.

The first part says "Happiness can be self diagnosed. ...you can increase your set point of happiness by 50%. Here's how:

1. Live in the Moment. ...Focus your energy on what is true and positive in all that you think, say, and do.

2. Take responsibility for your personal happiness. Begin today to never blame anyone for your sadness....Don't make excuses...Outside circumstances should not define you.

*This one really hit home with me. It made me think about all the times I say "well so and so did this to me, so and so did that to me." Well, that shouldn't define my mood. Whatever the situation is or was, doesn't mean that I have to blame them for my mood. I am in control of my own happiness and my thoughts. Why should they be to blame for how I am feeling? I do understand feeling hurt in a situation, but you can move beyond that and learn from it.

3. Value your lasting happiness as your greatest accomplishment. Happiness comes first-everything else follows. Ask yourself what will elevate your mood. It could be more sleep...reading more, take a class, or go on a spiritual retreat. Do what feels good. A happy life must include a careful balance between serving the needs of other and taking time to nurtue your own mind, heart, body, and spirit.

4. Identify what you love. Write down words that make you smile. Record what you enjoy doing, food you like to eat, your favorite music, colors, places to visit, people you love, writers, and poets who inspire you....Incorporate more of them into your life every day.

5. Be inner directed What makes you happy could make someone else miserable. Don't look around at what others are thinking or doing to help yourself become happy.

6. Never feel guilty. ...Guilt is easy to feel but useless and negative. Postive thinkers are clear thinkers.

*This is one that I will definantly have to work on. Being a stay at home mom you are always doing for others. So when I take time for something for myself, in my mind, that is taking time away from the others in my life. But in reality how can I be happy when I am always doing for others and never nourishing my own spirit?

7. Choose happiness. Choice by choice, step by step, you can walk toward a greater awareness of what truly creates your genuine happiness. By making a commitment to lead a a happy life now, you will light your path...Look for the good....always seek sunlight.

The time and place to lead a happy life is now and here. Say yes to the invitation and you will be rewarded with personal transformation.

I will leave with these words that are part of my mantra lately. To me it is about the energy we surround ourselves with.

Positive energy in, Positive energy out. Negative energy in, Negative energy out.

These words will be a starting point for me. I am going to copy this and read it as much as possible to remind myself of the steps I should be taking to become a happier me. If these words have helped you. I would love to hear about it.

New Year, New Me??

I'm back! I needed a little hiatus. I felt as thought I was becoming Internet obsessed! It was actually kinda nice because I went into my hermit mode for a bit. A mode I have mentioned before. One that I just focus on my family and really, nothing else. That is not bad at all, but I tend to not want to go anywhere, talk to anyone or really do anything. Maybe it's just the ups and downs of being a woman, or maybe it is just part of what I need to go thru to feel normal again.

I have found that I feel as though the thought of the new year bringing new and joyous things is all in my head. We have been conditioned to believe that a new year will wipe the slate clean and everything we have done or has happened to us in the past year will magically disappear. I feel a bit cheated by these thoughts because it isn't really true. Well, it's half true. I say that meaning I still have a positive outlook that things will magically be different, yet half know this isn't true. I guess that is what they call hope. The hope that things will get better or be different. Yet, you can't just hope things get better and expect them to get better. You need to put some push in that tush-get your butt in gear. Nothing will just come to you magically and be different. If you want something to be different you need to start making things different.

I have begun to take more deep breathes. Especially when I am angry or upset. Also, when I just want to hold back the tears because holding back those tears isn't doing me any good. I take a deep breathe and it makes me feel a lot better. I was watching a video chat at momtv.com with Jamie Roth from Intuitive Encounters and she showed how to do a true deep breathe. Both your chest and your stomach should rise at the same time while taking as deep a breathe as you can thru your nose. Do as many times as needed. It not only relaxes you but gets oxygen to every part of your body, especially your brain. This is a small start to a more relaxed me.

The new year also brought my mom's birthday. I felt as though I did a really good job on her birthday. Although I didn't want to talk to anyone and my husband and kids were so great to me that day. I literally tried to bake my blues away. I made tons of banana bread and muffins and bread. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but I didn't cry and held myself together and felt like I did good. Then came the next day. I was grouchy, tired, had a migraine and just wanted to eat all of those baked goods all day! I never realized how pushing thoughts and feelings you are supposed to have can really effect everything about you. From that I learned that you cannot push true feelings aside. No matter how sucky they are. They are meant to be felt. You know that gut feeling you get or that voice in your head that you hear when you just know something isn't right? Don't ignore this. It is your true self talking to you. I did and look where it got me.

Sometimes I feel like I am at a constant struggle to be my true self. But how can you be your true self when you are constantly evolving? Why not be open to being a new person tomorrow or comfortable with the person you are today? Self love is something I have always been a strong advocate for, but lately I have been approached by female conversations that are so relatable to not feeling capable of self love. It made me question myself and how happy us ladies are. We are being pulled left and right by family, work, friends, chores-when is there time for us? I was watching Oprah and Goldie Hawn was on. They were talking about happiness. They pointed out that if you have 10 minutes of alone and quiet time you can significantly improve your happiness level. I am for real going to do this! I do not have a time when there isn't some other noise going on besides maybe being in the shower, but it doesn't count because there is always someone barging in needing something! This may be a big start toward self love for woman everywhere. It will give you time to think about who you can truly be. Even if it is 10 minutes a day to just sit and think. That may be just what we all need.

I still have the spark of new beginnings in the back of my mind but I am still clouded by the past year. I will see thru that fog soon. And I will be doing the above to make my way thru it.

Food For Thought