This week:

I dedicate this week’s blog with deep blessings and gratitude to my beloved Dad Phiroze who passed this week, less than a month shy of his 90^th birthday. His work as a physician (healer), his love of reading (scholar), his joy of music (artist), his gift as a great teacher (educator) and love of sport (sportsman) live on forever…

This handwritten note was in Dad’s wallet:

Happy National Volunteers Month:
Do invest your discretionary energy in purposeful causes that elevate humanity!
Strategic volunteering is a powerful lever in making our world a sweeter place.

5 Powerful Types of Music That Increase Your Productivity, According to Science:
Music has a subtle way of entering our lives and changing the way we feel. It permeates through empty corners and fills our rooms with substance. It can help you relax, make you well up in tears, or feel alive.
But can it make you more productive? Pick your fav and enjoy the wonder of music to transform us!

https://medium.com/@melissachu/5-powerful-types-of-music-that-increase-your-productivity-according-to-science-ced665c3087c?source=email-825f64e43327-1555336019906-digest.reader——1-49——————9a29550f_33ee_4dbb_842b_615b47b4bf1d-1&sectionName=top

 

8 Ways to Read the Books You Wish You Had Time For:
With all that garbage reading, who has time for books anymore?
https://hbr.org/2019/04/8-ways-to-read-the-books-you-wish-you-had-time-for?utm_source=Heleo+Newsletters&utm_campaign=9b698b9c83-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_85eb2ca8d0-9b698b9c83-217021249&mc_cid=9b698b9c83&mc_eid=126341bf5f

 

On Student/Teacher Relationships:
Sometimes teachers don’t understand the importance that their relationship with each student has on that student’s identity and sense of belonging.

Emotional control, social and relationship skills are learned behaviors that must be taught and practiced by all students.
Enter—the teacher!
The ones that know how to counsel and conduct; the ones that respect, care about and show concern for, the character development of their students. The ones that create a positive learning environment and show that they care are most likely to have their students reciprocate and show respect for them and their fellow classmates.
Enjoy the rest of Dr. Ed’s April Blog…
April Blog Relationships

Thanks to those who light the lamp and lead the way from darkness to light.
We must pay it forward for them…
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

Asato ma sad gamaya | tamaso ma jyotir gamaya | mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya

“From what is not, lead me to what is; from darkness, lead me to light; from death, lead me to what is undying.”

–Brhadaranyaka Upanisad

This week:
Why do we venerate action and vilify reflection?
Here’s a reason to revisit this social conditioning…

Scientists Show How Gratitude Literally Alters The Human Heart & Molecular Structure Of The Brain:

Gratitude is a funny thing. In some parts of the world, somebody who gets a clean drink of water, some food, or a worn out pair of shoes can be extremely grateful. Meanwhile, somebody else who has all the necessities they need to live can be found complaining about something. What we have today is what we once wanted before, but there is a lingering belief out there that obtaining material possessions is the key to happiness. Sure, this may be true, but that happiness is temporary. The truth is that happiness is an inside job.

• The Facts: Scientists have discovered that feelings of gratitude can actually change your brain. Feeling gratitude can also be a great tool for overcoming depression and anxiety. Furthermore, scientists have discovered that the heart sends signals to the brain.
• Reflect On: Every time we struggle with depression, why are we constantly encouraged to take prescription medication when mindfulness techniques actually show more promise?

https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/02/14/scientists-show-how-gratitude-literally-alters-the-human-heart-molecular-structure-of-the-brain/?fbclid=IwAR2fwHsmQmeA_lXRoweh6jF7lqUTUtyq-eWcf260ulnCnhYvZYH6YB8HROA

How to Cultivate Peace of Mind According to Seneca:

15 Pieces of Stoic Wisdom for Inner Peace

What kind of life do I want to live? What truly matters to me? How best can I go after it? What type of person do I aspire to be?

https://medium.com/@nickwignall/a-mind-unconquered-15-bits-of-stoic-wisdom-to-cultivate-inner-peace-a7eeab194679?source=email-825f64e43327-1554733927211-digest.reader——0-49——————790f86fd_5ff5_46ce_a5f8_ddccc13ef925-1&sectionName=top

Winning the War on Poverty by David Brooks

The Canadians are doing it; we’re not. According to recently released data, between 2015 and 2017, Canada reduced its official poverty rate by at least 20 percent. Roughly 825,000 Canadians were lifted out of poverty in those years, giving the country today its lowest poverty rate in history. How did Canada do it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/opinion/canada-poverty-record.html

Neuroscience shows that 50-year-olds can have the brains of 25-year-olds if they sit quietly and do nothing for 15 minutes a day:

• Neuroscientist Sara Lazar found that people who practiced meditation had more gray matter in the part of the brain linked to decision-making and working memory: the frontal cortex. While most people see their cortexes shrink as they age, 50-year-old meditators in the study had the same amount of gray matter as those half their age. Participants in the study averaged about 27 minutes of the habit a day, but other studies suggest that you can see significant positive changes in just 15 minutes a day…

Read more…

Thanks this week go to all who practice gratitude, cultivate peace, work hard to eradicate poverty and venerate reflection.

Please pay it forward!
Love,
Neville

Do you believe in the power of inclusion, the determined, and the potential to move humanity forward?

Silent Killers Hidden in Plain Sight:

I remain concerned about what is now regarded as a whole new category of disease and cause of death; “Diseases of Despair” that are plaguing modern society.

Longevity rates in the US have dropped in the last two years for the first time in decades, not because of the scourge of gun violence which remains a critical topic in our social consciousness that we need to address proactively and systemically as modeled powerfully and decisively right now in New Zealand (see last article below) but because of staggering rises in suicide rates, depression, overdoses from the opioid crisis, and other drugs/alcohol.

Diseases of Despair: Anomie is a psychological imbalance that leads to prolonged despair, lethargy and yearnings for self-annihilation. It is caused by a collapse of societal norms, ideals, values and standards. It is, in short, a loss of faith in the structures and beliefs that define a functioning democracy.

This week we focus on some things we can do about it…

 

A Psychotherapist Goes To Therapy — And Gets A Taste Of Her Own Medicine:

“I think that therapy at any age, it helps people to relate better to themselves and to the people around them,” she says. “It helps them to examine the way that they live their lives and take responsibility for what’s not working and also for what they can change.” 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/28/707561940/a-psychotherapist-goes-to-therapy-and-gets-a-taste-of-her-own-medicine

How To Raise Boys:

Because what it means to be a “man” is changing, as are the ways that parents are raising boys to become men. So who sets that standard? What do we expect of boys today? How do we define what kind of men we want them to be? And are there any traditional notions of masculinity worth keeping?

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/20/705220601/how-to-raise-boys

Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper: News and Views for a Meaningful Life:

“Isn’t it amazing that we are all made in God’s image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people?”  — Desmond Tutu

I’VE BEEN THINKING…

Sometimes you are lucky enough to take a trip at just the right moment…

I have been in Abu Dhabi this week for the Special Olympics World Games and, everywhere I’ve looked, I have seen the good of humanity.

Athletes from all over the world have traveled here with coaches, parents and volunteers. They have gathered together because they believe in the power of sports, the power of inclusion and the potential to move humanity forward.

Within this community, I find myself enveloped in goodness. I find myself surrounded by people who are giving themselves to others and who speak about unity, tolerance, respect and love. Those are the values that matter to them. These are the values that matter to me.

The Special Olympics World Games have been soul-lifting for me because I’ve met people of different nationalities and faiths who are committed to building a more inclusive world together. These are people who believe in a world where we lift each other up, not tear each other down. These are people who believe in a world of positivity and possibility. These are people who believe in a world where discrimination does not exist, and where the word disability is replaced with determination.

All of this has brought me hope this week as I have absorbed the tragic news out of New Zealand. It’s also brought me hope as I’ve digested the stunning story of wealth, corruption and deceit behind the college cheating scandal in the United States.

News stories like these can really get you down. They can make you feel like the world is really dark. But when you get involved with something like the Special Olympics, it can remind you that there is light in our world and that most people are good.

It’s also a reminder that the way we spend our time, and the people who we surround ourselves with, can change our perspective. You may not be able to travel to Abu Dhabi to see this, but you can still see it in your own community. After all, there are organizations like the Special Olympics doing this kind of life-changing work in your own backyard.

Through the Special Olympics, individuals with intellectual disabilities are stepping into a world where they are treated like whole beings. Many who traveled here are getting health screenings for the first time. They are reveling in the things the rest of us take for granted, like being able to see, hear or have our teeth checked. All of this makes my heart feel full. It fills me with hope and optimism and a belief that things can get better.

Of course, the news out of New Zealand has reminded me yet again that hateful and divisive words still have power, especially when they are uttered in the public space.

My guide here in Abu Dhabi is a Muslim man. He told me that his heart pounded as he watched the New Zealand news on his phone. “Violence in a place of prayer?” he said. “Why? Why?” I looked at him and, for a moment, was unsure what to say. Then, I used the words and the message that everyone else here is using.

We are here to build a world based on love, inclusion and acceptance of everyone. We are here to show the world a different way. I told him that I stand with him. I said that I am his friend and that I am sorry so many people in his faith lost their lives while in prayer this week. I told him that we should collectively condemn this kind of violence and that the best way to do so is to carry forward in a different way.

During times like these, we must remember why we are here. We must remember what we all have in common. The vast majority of us—the good of humanity—are individuals trying to build lives filled with love, family, honorable work, and a belief that things can get better. That’s true no matter who you are, where you live, or what faith you believe. The vast majority of us want to make things better. We must not lose sight of that.

So, on this Sunday, I will visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I will visit not just as a sightseer, but as a human being standing in solidarity with my Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.

I will also stand with my Irish brothers and sisters around the world in honor of my Irish heritage. And, I’ll stand by those in the intellectual disability community, who are referred to at the World Games as “the determined.”

I’ll stand with everyone who vows to wipe out hate. As New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, “we utterly reject and condemn” this kind of violence. It has no place in our world.

Together, we can build a world based on acceptance, inclusion, faith and tolerance. We can use our words and actions to move humanity forward. We can, and we will, find a new way forward.

Love,

Dear God, thank you for this awe-inspiring, beautiful life you have created and given us. Help us do a better job of treating each other with respect and remembering that we are all in this together. Amen.

Thanks this week go to Meg M, Cathy S, Maria S, as well as NPR for being a rich source of important stories and subjects.

Stay positive, stay informed and please pay it forward…
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.” – Dalai Lama

This week:

104 Year Old Music Teacher Playing Beethoven:
Ah the joy of music…
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=442220766516793

MARCH MADNESS With Character Comments with Dr. Ed D:

Love never fails. Character never quits.
And with patience and persistence, dreams do come true.
– “Pistol” Pete Maravich, LSU and three NBA teams
(Perhaps the greatest creative offensive talent in history)

As many of you know, this is March Madness month.  The term is believed to have been created by Henry V. Potter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association in 1939—the year of the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament—Oregon beat OSU 46-33.

For the first 12 years of the men’s tournament only eight teams participated.  In 2001, a 65-team tournament format was created.  Credit  television—it put the tournament on the national map.  Now the tournament breaks into four regions of 16 teams.  The winning teams from those regions comprise the Final Four.

The NCAA held its first women’s basketball tournament in 1982.  The women’s tournament started with 32 teams, expanding to 64 teams in the 1994 season.  Today, the women’s format echoes the men’s. The women’s final championship game is played the day after the men’s game.

The tournament is a“gamblers paradise.”  According to the American Gaming Association, fans wagered more than $2 billion on March Madness Brackets for the 2015 tournament.  One stat-group estimated that last year American companies lost about $1.9 billion in wages paid to unproductive workers spending company time on betting pool priorities. MM generates big bucks for gamblers, businesses, and athletic programs.

The excitement is on the court watching the talented young women and men give their all for their school.

“A team isn’t a bunch of kids out to win.  A team is something you belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn.”

(Gordon Bombay, The Mighty Ducks)

A question generally asked is “does participation in sports build character?”  As I look at it, it’s a “jump ball” or a “tie” game—a debatable issue.  I’m on the “it does” side.  Heywood Hale Broun (American author, sportswriter, commentator) noted: ”Sports do not build character, they reveal it.”

The second question that usually follows is “what do you mean by character?”  This question suggests that those on either side should, at the very least, be on the same page in defining what character is and what it means.

“A person of character,” writes Lickona and Davidson (Smart and Good High Schools-Integrating Excellence and Ethics for Success School, Work, and Beyond), “embodies both performance and moral character.”

They note that “performance character” is not the same as performance (an outcome), but has certain qualities needed for the further development of one’s potential toward excellence, such as, effort, diligence, perseverance, and self-discipline.  “Moral character is relational, encompassing such qualities as integrity, justice, caring and respect.”

I have been using this definition.  Character is about behavior, about how one acts. It is about the choices that one makes.  It is about relationships (empathy, compassion, fairness).  It is about virtues (respect, responsibility, honesty) that inform the choices one makes.  Character, in sports, is about providing student-athletes opportunities to study, clarify, reflect, decide, practice and act on such virtues as respect, responsibility, perseverance, honesty, empathy, grit, discipline, loyalty, perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship, and leadership.  For student-athletes it is about sacrifice, commitment, and competition.

The game winner:  “Good character on and off the field or court should be nurtured; bad character should be corrected.”

Many believe that the purpose of sports in schools, at all levels, should be to help participants learn the lessons of good character.  My “three-pointer”:

The best way to promote what is best about sports with young athletes is to engage in these kinds of practical activities that encourage sportsmanship and other virtues, so that the old adage that “sports build character” is not just a cliché, but an accurate description of what happens on the field.

(Craig Clifford and Randolph Feezell, Sports and Character)

Well-organized sport character education can provide powerful contexts for the teaching and learning of good moral habits.  For character education programs to succeed, athletes need both thinking and reasoning programs, role models, a supportive environment, and the strong moral/philosophical commitment of community members, parents, coaches, teachers, students, boosters, and the media.   (Jennifer Beller, ERICDIGEST, ORG.-ED477729 – 2002)

 A sport experience can build character, but only if the environment is structured, and a stated and planned goal is to develop character. This kind of environment must include all individuals (coaches, administrations, parents, participants, etc.) who are stakeholders in the sport setting.    (Joseph Doty, Journal of College and Character)

 Let the games begin and the low seeds win!

 Overtime:
Ten years ago my colleague CJ Moloney and I created a course titled “Character and Athletics” which is offered every semester.  In the course, students examine their personal character development through:

• experiences in athletics,
• investigating and critiquing programs that are designed to enhance the character of athletes,
• discussing/debating historical and current issues that promote or negate character development and ethical behaviors,
• and, exploring the role of athletics as a catalyst for social justice.

Then we developed a Character and Athletics Course offered by USD’s Professional and Continuing Education.  The course was designed for K-12 teachers, coaches, camp counselors and other athletic leaders interested in cultivating an ethical athletic culture focused on positive leadership, community building, and respect for diversity.  For more information:
https://pce.sandiego.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=43658224

Ed DeRoche, Director, Character Education Resource Center, University of San Diego, March 2019 Blog

“An Educated Citizenry Is A Vital Requisite For Our Survival As A Free People”
– Thomas Jefferson

If you are local…
Restoring Respect’s 8^th Annual Conference: Restoring Civic Literacy
April 17, 2019
REGISTER TODAY!

REGISTER TODAY!

Thanks this week go to Arman S-B, Ed D, Carl L and all of you living into creativity, character and civility!
Please pay it forward…
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

“If you have come to help me, you are
wasting your time. But if you have
come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us walk
together…”
— Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal woman, in response to
mission workers

This week:

While this week’s missives are comparatively long and heady, they contribute context, create concern, and cultivate civility- all worth attending to at this moment on the global stage…

“An Educated Citizenry Is A Vital Requisite For Our Survival As A Free People”
– Thomas Jefferson

White Nationalist Rhetoric Heard Today Echoes America A Century Ago:

“He writes that what is judged extremist today was once the consensus of a powerful cadre of the American elite…”

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/14/703535343/white-nationalist-rhetoric-heard-today-echoes-america-a-century-ago

 

The Strongmen Strike Back!

Authoritarianism has reemerged as the greatest threat to the liberal democratic world — a profound ideological, as well as strategic, challenge. And we have no idea how to confront it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2019/03/14/feature/the-strongmen-strike-back/?utm_term=.324abadc306c

 

Nothing Matters. But That’s Not What Matters:

Life is empty, I realize. But what is missing from it?
I ascertain: nothing is missing. All the ingredients for a good life are within reach.
But it’s not enough…

https://medium.com/@maartenvandoorn/nothing-matters-but-thats-not-what-matters-50a34bc9de20?source=email-825f64e43327-1552915942646-digest.reader——0-49——————7adc04c8_69e7_448d_b870_6eb9c2df7b0b-1&sectionName=top

 

Anger Can Be Contagious- Here’s How To Stop The Spread:

Even if you’re not aware of it, it’s likely that your emotions will influence someone around you today…

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/697052006/anger-can-be-contagious-here-s-how-to-stop-the-spread

 

If you are local…
Restoring Respect’s 8^th Annual Conference: Restoring Civic Literacy
April 17, 2019
Hope You can join us and be the change we wish to see in the world…
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-respects-8th-annual-conference-restoring-civic-literacy-tickets-57213645554

Thanks this week go to ALL OF YOU for caring!
Please pay it forward
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

“If you have come to help me, you are
wasting your time. But if you have
come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us walk
together…”
— Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal woman, in response to mission workers

This week:

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us walk together…”
— Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal woman, in response to
mission workers

Follow Up from International Women’s Day…
Empowering Women is Critical for World’s Economy, Says Lagarde…

Takeaways:

• Increased emphasis on women’s empowerment beyond the important ethical considerations, “represents a missed opportunity in the pursuit of macroeconomic stability and inclusive growth”
• Adding one more woman in a firm’s senior management or corporate board while keeping the size of the board unchanged is associated with an 8–13 basis point higher return on assets
• “If banks and financial supervisors increased the share of women in senior positions, the banking sector would be more stable too

By the by…
In finance services:
Only 2% of CEOs are women
Only 20% of Board seats are filled by women
Bias at best. Discrimination at worst!
Glad to be part of an organization bucking that trend and modeling fairness and diversity!

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2019/03/07/empowering-women-is-critical-for-worlds-economy-says-lagarde/

Love,
Nev
(not a communist, not a trade unionist, not a Jew-though my peeps are sometimes referred to as the “Jews of India”, not a women, and sure as hell NOT giving up!)

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then… they came for me. ..And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
–Rev Martin Niemoller, January 1946

Greta Thunberg, schoolgirl climate change warrior:
‘Some people can let things go. I can’t’
One day last summer, aged 15, she skipped school, sat down outside the Swedish parliament – and inadvertently kicked off a global movement…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/greta-thunberg-schoolgirl-climate-change-warrior-some-people-can-let-things-go-i-cant?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

and now Greta is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/14/greta-thunberg-nominated-nobel-peace-prize?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Teens Pull Off Incredible Rescue of Boy Dangling from Ski Lift:
What makes a hero?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/watch-teens-pull-off-incredible-rescue-of-boy-dangling-from-ski-lift/vi-BBUeZNv

If You Are Local…
Impact Measurement Workshop for Nonprofits and Social Enterprises in the San Diego community
Here’s an awesome chance for organization’s to audit, build, and understand the impact their team is creating, as well as kick start their impact measurement journey or “re-spark” it if they have already begun their process.
Individuals from all types of industries, will get to see what the value of Impact Measurement is, where along the spectrum of measurement they are currently, and learn practical skills for what to do next!
It will be at DeskHub in Little Italy and it’s free!
Impact Measurement is firmly built on the foundational belief that teams can’t improve what they aren’t measuring. To really achieve our aspirational mission’s we need to identify the critical mission steps to keep us on path.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/impact-measurement-workshop-for-nonprofits-and-social-enterprises-tickets-58405283776?ref=estw

 

Thanks this week go to NPR, Ron M, Reem F, and Change Agents Everywhere!
Please pay it forward…
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us walk together…”
— Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal woman, in response to
mission workers

This week: Protecting Our Planet, Honoring Our Women, & Transforming Every Community Through Literacy

World Wildlife Day March 3^rd 2019:

Learn about the 15 Biggest Threats to the World’s Oceans and what we can do to help save them…
https://www.newsweek.com/world-wildlife-day-2019-oceans-pollution-global-warming-1349026

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2019:
#BalanceforBetter

A balanced world is a better world. How can we help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Local Company Learning Upgrade Transforms Community & Supports Social Mobility Through Literacy!

Join me in celebrating the Grand Prize winners of the Adult Literacy XPRIZE, a San Diego-based org that is doing such important work in our community.
Attached are a press release and front-page articles that were in the news recently.
So proud to say I have been a small part of this journey as they now get the recognition and support they so well deserve to scale up to help millions of low-literate families!
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190208005329/en/Teams-Tie-Grand-Prize-7M-Barbara-Bush

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/technology/sd-fi-xprize-barbara-bush-learning-upgrade-20190216-story.html

Stay quadruple bottom line focused:
People
Planet
Profit
Purpose

Congrats to Team Lobo and gratitude to all that make our world better through their hard work and positive energy!
Pay it forward.
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

This week:

Did you watch the Oscars last weekend?
For many a 3 hour + show is pushing it, so here are my favorite highlights with the “why” behind my choices from a soul-filled perspective- all in under 15 minutes.

As Jason Carbone, reality show innovator and UCSD Alum shared recently at a UC San Diego Triton Leadership Conference keynote, it is an existential imperative that we save the art and craft of storytelling as it is essential aspect that defines our humanity.

Today’s consumers of media find themselves in a pitch battle between story and spectacle!
The constant accelerating quest to create the next “watercooler moment” keeps raising the stakes and leaving us wondering which ‘reality’ will prevail- authentic human story or the over-the-top spectacle that titillates but lacks substance, meaning and value.

1. In the midst of Hollywood’s biggest night Lady Gaga and Bradley Coopers duet of Shallow, subordinated all the glam and sparkle and distractions in the background as the two artists disappeared into each other with a command performance that is definitely worth (re) watching! Experience the art, the artists and the creative process merge into a moving meditation of mastery…  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVx-zvCjUZU
2. Olivia Colman’s Acceptance Speech for Best Actress in a Leading Role is as genuine and moving as it can get! You couldn’t script this, and if you did it certainly wouldn’t land like this… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy8z_Tq_VHo
3. Rami Malek’s Acceptance Speech for Best Actor speaks to every artists struggle with their identity as they try to figure out who they are. Making this even more poignant as Rami himself is an immigrant and first gen American who plays Freddie Mercury- a gay man and an immigrant who lives his life unapologetically…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy4GL6RtVOk
4. Spike Lee’s Oscar Acceptance Speech for BLACKkKLANSMAN while politically charged and not necessarily well delivered, provides rich context for this nation’s struggle against racism that is his lived experience, with a great grandmother who was a slave and a grandma that was a college graduate and saved social security checks to pay for Spikey Poo’s college education. It made me go back and watch, Do The Right Thing this week and it blew my mind! Make the moral choice between Love v. Hate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTo3XYm33WU

Nike- Dream Crazier: While this was actually an Ad that ran during the Oscars it speaks compellingly to gender inequality. “So if they want to call you crazy, fine, show them what crazy can do!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpJ19RJ4JY

Well done is better than well said!

Gratitude to artists of life who speak truth to power and elevate humanity in the process!
Here’s to the artist in you. Now go out and live your masterpiece…

Pay it forward, there is no going back.
Love,
Neville

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In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then… they came for me. ..And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
–Rev Martin Niemoller, January 1946

This week:

Creating A Positive Workplace Culture – A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way:

Research shows positive environments produce positive benefits specifically to engagement, relationships, health and the bottom line

Does your company promote a positive work culture? Do you consider yourself a person who acts with kindness and positivity? Today’s high stress work environment is taking a negative toll on our overall well-being. We spend more time working than we do anything else. It is becoming more important now to pay attention to how we treat each other whether at work, home or at the grocery store. As a team and culture specialist, how we interact at work has consequences on our well-being

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/creating-a-positive-workplace-culture-a-little-kindness_b_59a43419e4b0a62d0987b0f0?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003&fbclid=IwAR2FpzPaaCSiVZs09tK5yp-7ClrWH9CkHisBUB6f08G7mO4MlIHEtIPELZ0

Students Learn From People They Love:

Putting relationship quality at the center of education and honoring the Power of Vulnerability where emotion is not the opposite of reason, it’s essential to reason…

https://vegnews.com/2019/2/12-year-old-activist-challenges-pope-francis-to-go-vegan-for-1-million

 

12-Year-Old Activist Challenges Pope Francis to Go Vegan for $1 Million:
A group of animal advocates, including actress Mena Suvari, Sir Paul McCartney, and young vegan activist Genesis Butler, urges the Pope to set an example by going vegan for Lent.
https://vegnews.com/2019/2/12-year-old-activist-challenges-pope-francis-to-go-vegan-for-1-million

 

What’s Going On In This Picture?
Amazing Images From Four Years of “What’s Going On In This Picture…http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/08/16/learning/images-from-four-years-of-whats-going-on-in-this-picture/s/VTS11-02-15LN.html?interstitial=true&prev=3&next=4&src=3

 

Thanks this week go to Marlaine M, Alan D, and leaders promoting kindness and positive culture everywhere!

Please pay it forward.
Love,
Neville

 

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned
here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and
the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
— Marianne Williamson

This week:

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? From Dr. Ed DeRoche:
The title of Tina Turner’s first comeback song after a hiatus that followed an abusive marriage and domestic violence.
February—the month of love and friendship; the celebration of Valentine’s Day, and the call for people of character to do something (cards, candy, cash)

A History Lesson
Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.”
Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines. https://www.history.com/topics

A Science Lesson
There is an extreme powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation…This universal force is LOVE….
Love is Light to those who give it and receive it.
Love is Gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others.
Love is Power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness.
Love unfolds and reveals.
For love we live and die.
Love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limit.
Love is God and God is Love….
From a letter by Albert Einstein to his daughter

A Question: What Is This Thing Called Love?
The title of a song written by Cole Porter that asks: “What is this thing called love, this funny thing called love? Just who can solve this mystery?
Psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson, author of the book Positivity, writes about “the science of happiness” and focuses on ten positive emotions – love, joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration and awe. She writes that these ten emotions give life to the “happiness habits” of building and maintaining strong relationships.
“Love,” she writes, “comes into play in a close and safe relationship. Love is the most common feeling of positivity and comes in surges. Love bonds us to those with whom we have the deepest connections. Love fosters warmth and trust with the people who mean the most to us. Love makes us want to do and be better people.”

Another Question: What is Good Character?
Our friend, character education guru, and psychologist Thomas Lickona answers:
It’s having the right stuff on the inside strengths such as honesty, respect, responsibility, caring, and self-control. Character is built, not born. We create our character by the choices we make. Good choices create good character; bad choices create bad character. Character is the key to self-respect, to the respect of others, to positive relationships, to a sense of fulfillment, to achievement, to a happy marriage, to success in every area of life.

Three Views of Character and Love
I found these quotes in my files. I do not know who the authors are.
Your character is who you are. To understand yourself is to know your character. To love yourself is to love your character.
People of character know how to love. They love unconditionally. They forgive freely. They lift up all people without prejudice or discrimination. You never really know the true quality of someone’s character until the road gets rocky…those, who truly love us, always stick with us; the losers fall off the boat quickly!

Practicing Forgiveness Even When It Is Hard:
This Grammy artist shares where that soulful spirit comes from.
Yes sometimes love means having to say you are sorry…
http://www.nprillinois.org/post/encore-brandi-carlile-practicing-forgiveness-even-when-its-hard#stream/0

Difference: The ONLY Thing We Have In Common:
Empathy for others and seeing the divinity in them, even when they don’t look, think or act like us is a noble human trait!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/parenting2.0/permalink/10156109544683061/

Thanks this week go to Ed D, Marlaine C & All Lovers of Humanity and Sentient Beings

Please pay it forward!
Love,
Neville

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