As part of the World Kindness Movement, it presents simple, positive ideas aimed at promoting a sense of meaning and fulfilment in both the giver and receiver.

They've even done surveys in kindness revealing that ‘participating in regular, small acts of kindness is beneficial to your health, longevity and well being.' Benefits listed in ‘The Healing Power of Doing Good' by Allan Luks and Peggy Payne as mentioned on the site, include better weight control, stronger immune system, reduction in pain, relief from arthritis and asthma and reduced cancer activity.

In looking around the site I discovered a ‘kindness checklist' that shows ways to be kind to the earth, one another and yourself. There's kindness quotations, stories, a list of kind things to do and even a ‘Certificate of Kindness' to award yourself or someone else for a kind deed.

This revolution in kindness doesn't just stop at the individual. You can find a list of how to's if you're interested in starting your own Kindness Group and resources for schools who want to become involved in a program that connects students with their peers in other countries with the view to exchanging stories and suggestions related to kindness.

So let me know if you decide to start your own Kindness Epidemic. I want to be infected!!

Some answers are what you'd expect. ‘To be a professional ballet dancer' smiles Maria Macarena of Paraguay. I want to go to Disney World' replied Patrice Athanaze from Dominica in the Caribbean.

Some wishes give me more of an understanding of different cultures such as 15 year old Te Ariki from Rotorua, New Zealand who wants to be ‘the ultimate pig hunter.' In contrast, a same age boy, Mattias Jehlbo from Stockholm, Sweden wishes to be the one who finds the cure for HIV/Aids.

Many are simple dreams, yet seemingly impossible to fulfil. Six year old Brandon Jefferies from Belize in Central America wants his papa back home, while the dream of teenager Ella Janvier of Haiti is to ‘Fly away.' When asked where to she replied, ‘Anywhere but here.'

I feel joy when I read ‘For everybody to be as happy as me' from six year old Karlotta Bhjaltadottir from Iceland and sadness when 12 year old Indonesian Eki Mustakim wants ‘To get enough money from begging to become a shoeshine boy at the airport.'

13 year old Daniel Soltero works a Rag and Bone Cart with his brother in Uraguay and said, ‘What is the point of dreaming?'

Let's remember the point of dreaming; to inspire us to create a better world. And let's make our dreams big, bold and beautiful enough so we can fulfil the dreams of the children in it.

But of course the conversations that ensue about a particular piece that has touched a chord with the lavatory lingerer is well worth the wait.

This week I'll share one of my favourites. Attributed to Nelson Mandela, it was written by Marianne Williamson in her book ‘Return to Love.'

If you've not read it before, take it slow and feel the words resonate. If you've heard it before, may it serve as a reminder of your greatness.

Perhaps you will cut it out and place it on your toilet wall, to inspire the next visitor.

Our deepest fear
is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve this world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God
that is within us
It is not just in some of us - it's in everyone!
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear
our presence automatically liberates others!

Fearing rejection, “If I ask they may say no,' we often keep our needs to ourselves. Something I've come to learn is that when we don't ask, it actually robs people of the pleasure of giving.

Take our forthcoming book sale for example. I'm teaming up with Maleny group Friends of Ebenezer to raise funds for orphans in Africa. I volunteered to gather the books together and in so doing I needed to ask people to donate them.

It's proven a great exercise in asking and a reminder that people really love to help. Some actually thanked me for giving them the opportunity to clear some space. Others asked if I'd like ‘more stuff' which I've gladly accepted for a forthcoming Ebenezer Garage Sale.

I now have a garage bursting at the seams with people's generosity…all because I asked. Perhaps there are areas in your life where you've decided not to ask - when you need help at home, with transport, with the children, with a new business.

We often don't ask for help because we believe the task is onerous. I was moaning about doing my tax to a friend when she grabbed her diary and insisted on a date for us to do it together. Turns out she loves doing figures!

I encourage you to ask. If the answer is no, that's great! Ask someone else, or ask in a different way, but keep asking. Oh and if you have some spare books….would you like to donate them to our sale??

The words jumped off the email at me. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. Ten little words that were meant, it would seem, just for me.

We may call it coincidence, luck, attraction or divine intervention. However you look at it, I think it's kind of neat that we get that little message of hope or inspiration right when we need it. The trick is to be open enough that you don't miss it.

We can be so busy that we won't see or simply don't trust the signs of love, support or affirmation that are around us all the time. It could be a magazine story that you find while waiting in the doctor's surgery or a book sitting on the counter at the library. When I felt a little emotionally lost a couple of weeks ago, I looked up and found the shopping centre directory reminding me ‘You are here.'

If we trust enough to know that where we are in this very minute is exactly where we're meant to be, then everything that is in our lives right now is also exactly what is meant to be. The newspaper article that catches our eye, the page where our book falls open, even the graffiti on the toilet wall can all be signposts to lead us along our path.

Long ago I decided that it's not my purpose to question or decide where these signs come from, nor what they mean or what I'm meant to ‘do' about them. I'd rather just accept each gift with thanks and let it take me wherever it's meant to.

As for what's happened since reading that email quote? That story is for another day.

Here's my ten favourites:

1. A smile – it costs nothing and provides an instant face-lift.
2. A hug is wonderful in winter…or anytime really!
3. ‘Thank you' – two simple words that show you care.
4. ‘I'm sorry' – two simple words that can heal a wound.
5. ‘I love you' – three simple words that can open a heart
6. Appreciation - an anonymous note under a door or a windscreen wiper.
7. Listening - just close your mouth, turn on your ears and open your heart.
8. An honest compliment - you can always find something to admire in another.
9. ‘Go for it!!' – Offering encouragement, support and belief in someone.
10. Sharing a meal is more than just about the food - it's sharing your home

I'd love to hear your favourite ways to add some cheer and make a difference in someone's life.

Think about our recent run of rain and recall how many times it's come up in conversation and you'll know what I mean.

It's just rain! It happens! It comes, it goes and it comes again. Sometimes it comes in nourishing bucketfuls, filling tanks and dams. Sometimes it's a tad too generous, bringing severe flooding and even death. But it is what it is…rain!

We can choose to complain “I'm sick of this rain,” or joke sarcastically “I'm starting to grow webbed feet,” or just accept it…“Oh look, it's raining again!”

Sadly, some people let the rain and other people, situations or events effect how they feel. Why not instead choose to feel how you wish, despite those external factors that you have no control over.

One of my favourite books, ‘Loving What Is' by Byron Katie teaches us to love something (or someone) just as it is. “It's not the person or the situation that causes us pain” she says, “Rather, it's our wanting it (or them) to be different that causes us the pain.”

If we can learn to ‘love what is' in our life right now, then every day will be filled with sunshine…or rain!

©Arcadia Love 2008
www.themadwoman.com

October 12, 2002 was a black day in Bali. 202 innocent people, mainly young international tourists and Indonesians were killed and over 300 seriously injured by a bomb attack outside popular nightclubs on Jalan Legian Kuta.

Established only days after the Bali bomb blast YKIP was established. Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi or the Humanitarian Foundation for Mother Earth, YKIP is dedicated to helping the needy in Bali through health and education programs.

Its founders were business people, doctors, officials and volunteers who set up and helped to organise the Bali Recovery Group which coordinated the work of the NGOs in the first six confusing months after the blast.

All of YKIP's initial projects were related to the direct victims of the blast, however as most of their needs are now provided for, YKIP has turned its focus to health and education issues and to projects that improve the lives of the poor who live on Bali.

After tragedy comes healing, after despair comes hope and after the darkest moment of the night there comes light once again…if only we can open our hearts enough to let it shine on and through us.

For more information on YKIP, visit http://www.ykip.org/

‘The truth will set you free' said one person and Mark Twain wrote ‘If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.'

But what if I'm not ready to confess ‘the truth' to my eight year old about Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy…or any fairies for that matter, in order to keep a little magic in her world? Some would argue that fairies are indeed real…just ask the Irish!

I prefer Andre Gide's take, ‘Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it' or George Bernard Shaw who said, ‘New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.'

So what about my friend who asks me to tell her ‘the truth' about her new hairdo…you know, the one that's cost her half a week's pay? My truth may be ‘it looks awful,' another friend says it's ‘fantastic.'

So if the truth is just my opinion, what I believe to be true, then perhaps I'll choose to follow The Buddha's offering: ‘Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

I'll follow my heart, my instincts and my sense of ‘rightness' and please, if you ask for my opinion, know that it may not be ‘the truth!'

When I first read Bryce Courtenay's magnificent epic ‘The Power of One' it was the title that first captured my attention. I remembered John(ny) Farnham singing about a lonely and sad number one, which I believe made it to number one on the charts.

One is the starting point when we learn to count, yet it's also an enviable place to finish - ‘She made it to number one!'

Recently I've come to realise another use for this tiny little number. One that holds more significance to me that any book, pop song, 1,2,3 or place in a race.

My friend Lenore Burton who runs a group supporting African orphans explained to me that it only takes the cost of one cappuccino a week to provide a child in Africa with food, clothing, shelter and an education.

I got to thinking. Perhaps there were other ‘ones' I could live without so that someone else could live. I found out that buying one less lipstick a year would provide books for a child in India.

One less meal, I discovered would restore the sight of a woman in the Pacific region, allowing her to see her young child for the first time. One haircut, just one less haircut per year would buy a bicycle for a man in Vietnam, enabling him to find work and provide for his family.

Start applying the power of one in your life. Remember, change begins with one thought, followed by one word, followed by one action.

As English writer Sydney Smith said “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.”

Consider the global priorities in spending in one year (in US dollars)

Cosmetics in the United States - 8 billion. Ice cream in Europe 11 billion. Perfumes in Europe and the United States -12 billion. Pet foods in Europe and the United States - 17 billion. Cigarettes & Alcohol in Europe - 155 billion. Narcotics drugs in the world - 400 billion. Military spending in the world in 2006 - 1 trillion, that's $1,000,000,000,000.00

What it would cost to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries?

Basic education for all - 6 billion. Water and sanitation for all - 9 billion. Reproductive health for all women - 12 billion and basic health and nutrition -13 billion.

It's easy to look at these figures and say, “Yes, but we don't spend that here in Australia.” The numbers may be different, but the disease is the same.

I'll know it's something I need to stay aware of in my own life; this need to fill up that empty space with food, TV, alcohol or more and more ‘stuff.' When we finally get it, that it's reaching out to others, listening, sharing, offering a piece of ourselves that will fill up that emptiness, not the next new TV, CD or DVD, new job, new clothes, new car or new house.

We already have enough money in the world to solve all the problems of the world. It's not the wealthy that are to blame, in fact more of the world's super-rich like Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and Richard Branson are spending millions on programs that make a huge difference.

It's about our priorities. What we see as important. If you feel that easing the suffering of another human being is important, then perhaps you'll figure that you can live without one cappuccino a week and give that money so that one person can live.

My home is situated between Maleny High School and Maleny Primary, so I'm often caught in ‘peak hour' traffic before and after school. In our spread out little community, I fully understand the need for parents to drive their children to and from school. Safety, convenience, peace from the constant “Mum, I can't walk…it's too far” are all reasonable excuses.

Even if we try and throw a line to our children like “In my day, I used to ride five kilometres to school, backwards, in the rain, with no helmet…or seat,” it often falls on deaf ears.

You could also try “In some countries, children walk 50 kilometres to and from school …every day.”

If that still fails to hit the mark, you environmentally conscious teenager may respond when you tell them that school rush hour traffic causes pollution, congestion and danger outside most schools. If more children were to walk to school, then communities would experience the environmental and health benefits associated with having fewer vehicles on the road.

If you have a legitimate need to take the car to school, then read no further. If, however you'd like to consider trading your tyre rubber for some shoe rubber, then here are some great reasons to spur you (or them) on.

You can meet and make friends along the way. You cut down on pollution. You can chat with your children. You see more of your neighbourhood. You can put road safety rules into practice with young children. You can get fit. You make life easier for those who need to use the road. If you have littlies, then you'll find that strollers are much easier to park than cars. You save money and … it can be fun!

Hope - verb: ‘to cherish a desire with anticipation,based not in the past or the present, but in the future.'

We hope for the best or haven't a hope in hell. As a child we'd swear with a ‘cross my heart and hope to die' and if we haven't given up hope, then we may hope against hope.

I believe this little four letter word is what keeps us going. We hear of people who have lost hope, curled up into a little ball …and died. We know those who want desperately to have hope but, unable to find it, lose their ‘shine' and slowly fade away.

If hope is such a vital energy that helps people hold on, believe in the good, have faith and keep going, then where is hope to be found?

Truth is, hope is never lost. Sometimes it just appears in unexpected places. The secret is not where to look, but in wanting to find it.

Waking up every morning gives me hope. A young person happily carrying groceries to my car fills me with hope. Seeing my daughter and her school friends meditating… there I find hope.

My community with all its colour, energy and life gives me such hope. I find hope when I hear stories of people reaching out to those in need. I see it when barriers are crossed and people come to learn about each another, arriving together at a place of peace. Courageous people who are making a difference by sticking their necks out and following their passion; in them I find hope.

If we look for small signs of hope we'll find them everywhere. Just as if we give up hope, we won't be able to find it no matter how hard we try.

German philosopher and missionary surgeon Albert Schweitzer was a man who rekindled the human spirit of others. "Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid," he urged.

At age 30, he fulfilled his vow to dedicate his life to mankind and became an international symbol of humanitarianism, his name synonymous with altruism.
“Those among you who will be truly happy” he said “Are the ones who have sought and found how to serve.”

William James was a writer and philosopher, physician and artist, beloved by students for his zest for life. He knew that there is a ripple effect when helping others. He said, “There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.”

President John F Kennedy said, “One person can make a difference and every person must try” and from spiritual writer Gita Bellin, “Everything I do and say with anyone makes a difference.”

Courageous writer Anne Frank was able to find optimism amid the isolation and horrors of her life in hiding. “How lovely” she wrote “To think that no one need wait a moment: we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make a contribution toward introducing justice straightaway!”

In Ethiopia, only one in ten women give birth with any trained professional, such as a midwife or a doctor present. When complications arise, as they do in approximately 15 percent of all births, there is no one available to treat the woman, leading to disabling injuries like fistula, and even death.

An obstetric fistula is a hole between a woman's birth passage and one or more of her internal organs. This hole develops over many days of obstructed labour, when the pressure of the baby's head against the mother's pelvis cuts off blood supply to delicate tissues in the region. This hole results in permanent incontinence of urine and/or faeces.

The majority of women who develop fistulas are abandoned by their husbands and ostracised by their communities because of their inability to have children and their foul smell.

In the late 1950s, Reginald and Catherine Hamlin, were dedicated obstetricians practicing gynecology in Sydney, but were eager to help the women who needed them most.

They got their chance in 1959, when they set out for Ethiopia. “Neither of us had ever seen an obstetric fistula before” Catherine recalls in her book, The Hospital by the River.

Before the Hamlins arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethipoia's capital there was no treatment available for fistula victims anywhere in the world. Most women – and there were thousands – had suffered in silence for years.

In their first year the Hamlins treated 30 fistula patients. In 1974, they opened the doors of Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. It remains the only medical centre in the world dedicated exclusively to fistula repair.

Reginald worked diligently at the Hospital until his death in 1993. Catherine, now 82, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and continues to oversee the hospital and can frequently be found in the operating room performing the delicate fistula repair surgery she pioneered more than 40 years ago.