Day 7 - all the small things.

Life holds so many simple blessings, each day bringing its own individual wonder.

~ John McLeod

Appreciating the little things in life allows every day to be a good day. This is what I have found. When I have the worst morning, fighting with family and feeling upset, a random compliment from a stranger makes my day. (An elderly lady told me I had great fashion sense, and that she loved the black bow on my beret :) ). Or seeing a really happy lady get on the bus, even though you could tell she had been rushing and now has to go to work.

It is sometimes so easy to forget how beautiful every day is. I know how corny this is probably sounding, but just take a minute to yourself each day, and reflect on the little things that made getting out of bed worthwhile.

I found a website called 'gives me hope' (http://www.givesmehope.com/). Its slogan is "FML for Optimists". I love it. It makes all the small things in life so meaningful. I found a few really nice ones:

"Last month, we visited my grandmother. She has a strange case of Alzheimer's.

When she denied being married, my grandfather looked up. We could tell this killed him inside.

Instead of getting angry, he stood up, walked over to her bed and asked her out again.

His love for her GMH. "

&

"I saw an old Catholic priest being helped up the church steps by a young man.

At the top he turned to the young man and said "God bless you."

The young man smiled nervously and said "I'm Muslim."

The priest smiled back and said "Allah bless you then."

Their religious tolerance GMH."

&

"My 10-year-old sister ran in the Special Olympics this year.

We thought she got 2nd place, until the awards ceremony where they told us that the little girl in first was disqualified for running too fast.

After receiving her Gold Medal, my sister went to the little girl and gave her the medal, and said she'd earned it.

Thoughtful little girls GMH."

I really like this website, because it shows how people really do appreciate the little things. You can see the little things in life that give people hope to keep going. Some of the circumstances on the website are so upsetting, yet the things that give these people hope are so inspiring. Because even in the worst times, they manage to hope.

I really like how it is the complete opposite of FML (f*** my life). Sure, the website is funny for laughs, but it makes every little thing that goes bad seem so important and when people say it in real life, I wish they would realize how lucky they are and to stop complaining about such trivial things.

Because it is complaining about such little things that make our days bad and makes people unhappy. Yet it is the appreciation of the little and simple things that can uplift our spirits and allow us to enjoy the day and feel as though we love life.

It is actually a trick that some pyschiatrists use: at the end of the day, you write down three good things about your day, and three things you are looking forward to for the next day. Whether you need a pyschiatrist or not, I think this can work for anyone.

On a personal note, I feel like such a crazy activist at the moment. I am pretty sure that most of my friends now think I am about to start tying myself to trees. I am constantly talking about poverty, or bringing out my ethical shopping guide or wearing slogan shirts. And although there is nothing wrong with that, I have always been one about balance. But I feel so guilty nowadays, indulging in myself, or enjoying too much, because I know I have this responsibility and this committment to the world. And I know I shouldn't feel guilty, but I do.

On a dollar25 note, I think my stomach has shrunk. Because I am never really hungry anymore. I just know I need food, or I start to feel dizzy. My bananas that I bought were about to become overripe, so I made some banana bread out of them. I had some leftover money in my budget for this week. I actually got the recipe from Richard Flemmings blog, extremepovertydiet.com, and it tastes amaaaaaaazing.

Speaking of Richard Flemming, he was actually my inspiration for doing dollar25 for a month, and apparently he is doing it now for three months, so good on him!! Seeing such amazing people doing such meaningful things really inspires me.

Anyway. I recommend randomly complimenting a stranger, because you never know whose day you could make.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.

~ Ghandi

Day 6 - "can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?...

...i could really use a wish right now."

How do we get through our darkest hours? How do we move past despair and depression? How do we manage to get up in the morning, even though we would prefer to sink into our own world in bed?

Hope. Belief. Faith.

Remember when you were younger and you used to believe in fairies? And Santa? And the Easter Bunny? I sure remember. I remember always making a wish when seeing a shooting star. And when throwing coins into fountains. And when driving in tunnels with a train going by on top. And upon finding an eyelash. And remember how you could never tell anyone because otherwise it would never come true?

I always wished for the same thing - for everyone in the world to be happy. Whether that meant that they were fed, or loved - just happy. I always hoped it would one day happen, and I still wish for the same thing.

My mum told me that she wished for no more wishes. Because she thought people wished too much for what they wanted and for things they didn't need.

Do you believe in hallucinations? Silly dreams or imaginations?

~ Angels and Airwaves

Personally, I still always wish and hope and believe in the silly imaginations. Maybe it was a childhood thing that one should grow out of, but I don't think so. My favourite restaurant, an amazing Italian one, has a fountain, and every single time we used to go when we were younger, my sister and I always would badger my parents for change so we could throw it in the fountain and make a wish. I still do.

I think it is so important to have belief and hope and faith.

I know it is so cliche, but I just want to know: do you look at the glass half full or half empty?

I just think that it is so easy to fall into a cycle of cynicism. And to think that nothing will change, and things will always stay this way, and a group of such young people can make no change. It is so easy to say that it is not our problem. It is so easy to say we hate the human race and people will always cause unfairness. It is so easy to say that there is destruction everywhere. It is so easy to blame other people and to believe the worst - perhaps so we don't get disappointed.

I know in my life I have been guilty many times of lowering my expectations or expecting the worse and of losing belief, just so that I won't be disappointed.

I just think this is the worst way to think and live though - for anyone. It is so easy to be that way, yet we need to challenge ourselves. Sure, there may be a lot of unfairness and horrible people - yet if we live our whole lives believing the worst in people, where will this get us?

We need to understand that anything in this world is possible and we can make it happen - we just need to have that faith. Faith in ourselves, that we can make change and that we can do whatever we set our mind to. Faith in each other, that we won't let each other down and that not everyone is a bad person. And faith in the human race, that working together, we can do amazing things.

We need to keep on moving. Life can totally suck sometimes, but we need to remind ourselves of how lucky we are, and that we are surrounded by loving people and that if we just reach out, there is someone there. Just for our own internal health, we need to keep this faith, and believe that things will be okay, one day.

Because what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger.

Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.

~ Anonymous

As an entire world, we need to have hope and faith that we can make change, because we are so powerful, and we have the resources, so we just really need to do it now. We have enough food to feed the world 1.5 times over. We have the money. We have the ability to make change and to fix everything that needs fixing. Even if you don't entirely believe poverty can be ended in our generation, you can hope for it. Why not?

I believe we can do it.

dollar25 today was actually really okay. I ate more than I normally would! I went shopping yesterday for this weeks food, and I bought heaps of CARBS. So bad, I know. I bought 3 packets of pasta, 2 loaves of bread, 2 kg of bananas and 3 cans of baked beans. I actually have stayed full all day!

Breakfast: 2 toasts and a banana

Lunch: 250g of pasta, 2 pieces of bread, some baked beans

Snacks: A piece of bread and a banana

Dinner: 250g of pasta, 2 pieces of bread, some baked beans

I think I have narrowed down the challenge of this campaign for me. At the moment it is not about being hungry. The major challenges are:

- Lack of choice/freedom: I miss being able to buy what I want, when I want. To feel like something and to just get it.

- Flavours and taste: I think we underestimate how lucky we are. So much enjoyment can be had from eating tasty and flavour-filled foods, and I miss that. Enjoyment from plain pasta and toast only lasts for so long.

Confession: I had some really strong medication and the taste was making me almost throw up so I had 2 blocks of chocolate. The meds were costly so I couldn't throw them up. Sorry :(

Anyway. In the words of Bon Jovi, keep the faith.

And in the words of Albert Einstein:

Learn from yesterday,

Live for today,

Hope for tomorrow.