Resolution #1: Pay It Forward

I promised Oprah I would pay it forward after our trip, and it’s the resolution I’m most excited about.

I just finished reading Cami Walker’s 29 Gifts, which was life-changing and something I’m going to implement starting on March 1. Basically, Cami was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years ago and was feeling bitter, angry and in pain. One of her spiritual teachers, Mbali Creazzo, had suggested she “Give something away each day for 29 days.” She was wary but ultimately decided to try it. The results – all around – were astounding.

I’ve already started this on a smaller, more informal level but am absolutely enthralled with this idea. If you want to join me in this project, you can read more about it on the 29 Gifts website and leave a comment here. We’ll post something about this again the last week of February, but I know this is going to be a transforming experience for anyone who participates and I highly encourage you to consider joining in.

While we were in Australia, I bought a piece of Aboriginal Art because it reminds me so much of why we started StyleSubstanceSoul.com. It says, “In these works the older women, wearing red ochre for ceremony, are teaching the younger woman about the laws of living for women. These lessons are passed on in song, ceremony, and storytelling. There are three groups, gathered around ceremonial ground paintings where the stories are told in ochre, feathers and sand.” I love that everything is represented in threes – Style, Substance, Soul — and that it’s all about women helping women. I’m convinced that’s the only way the world is going to change.

Although we’re using the internet rather than ochre, feathers and sand, StyleSubstanceSoul.com is getting ready to start its own large-scale giving project. We’re still working out the details but we really believe that with the help of our readers – who continue to show us over and over again that you truly lead lives of passion, compassion and ACTION – we can all make a difference in the world. And if you are involved in specific charitable projects you need help with, please tell us about them.

Let us know how you’re paying it forward and practicing random acts of kindness – those are our favorite stories because they inspire others to do the same. I recently practically knocked over a woman innocently waiting on line at Starbucks because I saw our local fire chief ordering his coffee and I was determined to buy it for him! He had brought his whole department over to our house one Sunday morning when our smoke alarms went off and wouldn’t stop even though, thankfully, there was no reason for them to have gone off. He spent a long time with us and had his guys bring in their ladders and adjust our system for us. Ever since then, we’ve been bringing cookies over to the fire house for the holidays, and I try to treat the chief to his coffee when I run into him.

I really should’ve treated the poor woman behind him that day, too!

This post originally appeared on my former blog, StyleSubstanceSoul.