Simple acts of kindness can make a big difference especially in times of uncertainty.
Don’t forget to be kind to yourself too!
5 Benefits of Kindness
Elevation of dopamine levels in the brain, which makes us feel good.
The feeling of emotional warmth, which leads to a healthier heart.
Reduction in inflammation, which can slow the aging process.
Reduction of emotional distance, which helps couples feel more bonded.
Contagiousness that often sets off a pay-it-forward ripple effect.
WORLD KINDNESS WEEK
Spread kindness all week-long during World Kindness Week. Each year during the week of November 13, stay positive, spread joy, and make the extra effort to be kind to everyone.
“I’ll Never Forget That Kindness”: 34 Of The Nicest Things Strangers Have Done That They Still Remember Today “That simple moment stuck with me. I genuinely believe she saved my life.”
Gig Alert for Friday November 7th 6-9pm Drivin the Bus @ Aquarius Bar and Grille, Quivira Way, San Diego
If you want to connect with community, convive with kindred spirits, consume some live music, and fall into fall then see you Friday evening at Aquarius.
All I want for my birthday is a little more kindness and good trouble!
No Bystanding. Now is the Moment for Allyship, Advocacy and Agency!
Historically, 80% of San Diegans have reported strong confidence in the social sector with 81% of residents having benefited from the services of a nonprofit in the last year. Yet 80% of organizations reporting an increased demand for services, with 38% or residents seriously thinking about leaving our county- the least affordable city in the US. And this was all pre-January 2025.
Fast forward the tape to March 2025 and the confluence of the sudden, disruptive current administration’s ending of the historic coexistence between the social sector and the government, while targeting:
DEI (65%)
Immigration & Citizenship (56%)
Arts and Culture (43%)
Gender and Sexual Identity (40%) &
Science & Research (34%)
And this represents a clear and present danger mandating a call to (open) arms if we intend to meet the moment both for the near-term survival of many nonprofits, as well as, with an eye toward the long-term impacts and implications for societal wellbeing.
We must concurrently attend to the fierce urgency of now and play the long game so the at-risk nonprofits and people they serve can thrive, sustain themselves, and retain their sense of psychological safety and dignity!
This burden of proof does not just fall on nonprofits.
Funders, corporations, and foundations must meet this moment with Allyship, FiscalSupport, Advocacy, stand up and be counted on to serve as a Voice for those who can’t, or are afraid to stand up for themselves.
This is as fundamental to the American ethos as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and today might better be “framed” as the Declaration of Inter-dependence!
Let’s neither miss the opportunity nor waste this crisis.
No bystanding, we need upstanding.
We are here for you and your mission is our mission.
Love,
Neville
Why Is the U.S. Falling in the World Happiness Rankings? Blame a Kindness Recession This year, the U.S. sank to No. 24 in the World Happiness rankings. What do the likes of Finland and Denmark have that we don’t? More kindness. Mar 22, 2025 Another year, another occasion for Finns to celebrate. For the eighth year in a row, the Nordic country took the top slot in the World Happiness Report rankings, followed by its neighbors Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. Where did the U.S. land? One slot down from last year in a decidedly mediocre No. 24.
International Day of Forests arrives amid concerns over Trump’s sweeping logging agenda The world celebrates International Day of Forests on Friday, but President Trump aims to expand American logging and roll back reforestation efforts.
Can you look at these 9 photos and not smile on International Day of Happiness? March 20 was International Happiness Day — a day that the United Nations had dedicated to the celebration of joy. We asked photographers around the world to share a picture that can bring bliss.
A partial solar eclipse will reconnect us with something far greater than ourselves and remind us that “only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars!”
I am not sure what this energy will bring to the birthday fest, but I promise we will be “all in”!
Come commune, connect, and celebrate with us as I celebrate another journey around the sun!
This week: “To Fall Seven Times, to Rise Eight Times. Life Starts from NOW!”
Healthy Fruits You Must Have for Your Health
12,600-Year-Old Art that is the Discovery of a Lifetime
Caring Employee Saves a Life
10 Mind blowing Optical Illusions that are Fun!
Summer A Peel to Consider
These Are The Healthiest Fruits For Your Body That Have The Most Benefits, See What They Are As a general rule of thumb, a colorful palate is a healthy one. Fruit does a lot more for your body than just tingle the taste buds. From your skin down to your cells, these fruits will make you feel like you’ve finally reached that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
12,600-year-old painting that’s 8 miles long discovered in the Amazon Rainforest Unearthing prehistoric art is exciting at the best of times, but when that art consists of eight miles’ worth of ice age paintings, it becomes the discovery of a lifetime. Researchers in the Amazon rainforest uncovered an extraordinary “canvas” made up of drawings of mastodons, giant sloths, and other extinct beasts, which is up to 12,600 years old. The ancient artists used the red pigment ochre to create the monumental artwork, which spans some 13 kilometers (eight miles) of rock.
Domino’s Pizza Employee Delivers Pizza To The Same Trailer Every Day, Then She Stepped Inside After 11 days without hearing from the man they are used to delivering to every day, the employees decided to take matters into their own hands. It’s a good thing that they did because the man’s life depended on it.
Try not to have your mind blown by these 10 optical illusions: Optical illusions are fun and intriguing, and we don’t always know why they happen. Here are some of our favorites. June 29, 2024, We all love an illusion. They are fun, intriguing and can mess with our head. There are many kinds of optical illusions, and science cannot always explain the reasons they play tricks on human perception. What we see in our minds is the result of our brains receiving information from our eyes and filling in the gaps. And they don’t always get it right.
Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to try a digital detox, so I will catch you on the flip side.
Meanwhile do know you are enough, beware of compassion fatigue, enjoy the poem and humor, and consider unsubscribing from everything that doesn’t feed your soul.
Joy is non-negotiable!
Love,
Neville
“Enough” by Andrea Gibson:
Last night I painted a purple tree on my bedroom wall
I woke up this morning in a pile of leaves
The color of a million different faces
Thinking of that hand
That planted the seed
Of the family tree
That grew us all
And how each one of us
Will one day fall back to the ground
This morning
I was listening to my heart pound
Knowing with every single beat
That a thousand other hearts
Were falling asleep forever
On a day they never thought they would
And I know there are tribes of aborigines
That decide how and when they’ll die
After a hundred years or so
They walk into the desert alone
Offer up their breath
And within two minutes
Soar into a death
As beautiful as their life
And I was thinking I
Will probably never be enlightened enough
To decide how I want to die
So this morning
I decided how I want to live
What I want to give
What kind of song I want to sing
Now I’m no longer
Looking at my days like they’re a cup
Calling them half empty or half full
When they’ve always been enough
They’ll always be enough
To fill me up
If I stop thinking so much
And start drinking them up
Until I get so drunk and high on my days
I’ll be walking up to strangers and saying things like
“Hey, I know Jesus was born in a manger
But I woke at dawn today
To watch the earth’s horizon
Give birth to true rising sun of God
And I can’t stop singing hallelujah”
Can you believe we’re here?
Can you believe there are gods somewhere praying to us?
I want to be that nut on a bus
Who’s really a prophet
Telling everybody
“Smoking is bad
Stop it
You might be an opera singer some day
And how are you gonna hit the high notes?”
I wanna live like those high notes
That rise from the throats of old ladies
When they see little babies
Riding in shopping carts
I wanna start somebody’s heart like that
Taking ninety years back
So you’ll have sworn
You weren’t born
Until you saw me
Planting roses
In all the sidewalk cracks
So when you trip
You’ll fall in love
With someone you thought you hated
And now look at what that love has created
Look
There’s a sky
On her faded blue jeans
With a flock of birds
About to fly to my words
And my next line’s
Gonna rhyme with her eyes
And she’ll wink
And I’ll think I’m as beautiful as him
I wanna live my life
Like it’s a little league game
I don’t care if I win
Just wanna watch some little girl
Get her very first hit
Watch her father cheer so hard
He spills his beer
And decides to quit
I wanna split some woman’s
Tired eyes open
Wake her with her own sunrise
So she knows
There’s reason to be hoping
She’ll say
“There are stingers in my heart
But I’m sure that I’m a queen”
And that night
She’ll vow to swarm
Until every angry car horn
Is reborn a song
Of let there be light
Every angry war cry reborn
A song of let there be life
I wanna build the timid teenage boy
A microphone that will
Echo his rhymes
The same way
They echo in his shower
When he’s home alone
I wanna write poems
In the tone
Of your mother’s eyes
When she whispered your name
For the very first time
Poems that will make you go home
Pick up the phone
And call her
While I call mine to say
“You know those lines
On the kitchen wall
Where I grew
Taller and taller and taller
Put a couple more there won’t you?
Cause I’m growing up here”
No longer looking at my days
Like they’re a cup
Calling them enough
From now on
They’ll be overflowing
Since now I’m knowing
It’s up to me
To fill them up
The big idea: is compassion fatigue real? Can we really maintain our levels of empathy in the face of an increasingly brutal news cycle?
Unsubcribe from everything to start controlling the tech in your life:
Does the number of unread messages in your inbox leave you lightheaded? Do your thumbs ache from tiny-keyboard typing? Have you forgotten what your real-life friends look like without an Instagram filter? It’s time for an intervention:
Happy Soul Food Friday! 