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.
It doesn’t mean you should turn off the news — which I have a tendency to do. We should also stay informed.
Know what’s going; on but don’t let politics, the news or the current stock market sink your psyche.
This doesn’t mean to be tone deaf or to turn the other cheek. It means stay even, stay civil, and shoot your shots if it’s aligned with your values.
Want to protest? Do it. Want to use this teaching opportunity for your kids? Do it. Want to reach out to someone on the other side to understand their POV? Do it.
We all lose when we lose ourselves in the chaos. We all lose when we’re humanrude, humanharsh or humancruel.
How will you show up? Why will you show up? Where will you show up?
If and when you do… stay humankind.
Jason Mraz- My Kind:
This song will lift you up and bolster your spirits!
Confucius had it right when he advised “before you go off to seek revenge it’s best to dig two graves.” Getting brilliant at forgiving those who have wronged and hurt you delivers these benefits to you as a leader, producer, and person:
—you avoid becoming a resentment collector, full of negativity and cynicism.
—you protect the energy needed to get big things done.
—you live in the present and pursue a richer future rather than staying stuck in the past.
—you free up a ton of creativity that would be consumed grumbling about what someone did to you.
—you remain peaceful and helpful instead of obsessing about being mistreated.
A few of the forgiveness rules that have been super useful to the clients I mentor:
1.Forgiveness isn’t condoning the behavior. No. It’s more about understanding that everyone does the best we can based on how we think. And, as Maya Angelou observed: “If they knew better, they would have done better.” How they behaved made sense to them at the time (read that twice), even if their actions were foolish and hurtful. So, practice the master skill of letting go.
2. Let success be your confident reply. Staying bitter and stagnant is a violent defeat. What I suggest is to try and use what someone did to you as soil for your growth and fuel for your winning. Let any pain you suffer actually purify you by processing through it so that you become emotionally richer, internally stronger, and personally wiser. And, as best as you can, exploit this newfound clarity, creativity, and maturity to build glorious fortunes of success, beauty, and inner freedom. Let an even more beautiful life be your elegant response.
3. What’s yours can’t be taken from you. Mom taught me this one and I wrote about the lesson in-depth in my latest book The Wealth Money Can’t Buy. What she taught me is that what’s meant for me can’t be taken from me and if something didn’t work out the way I wished it would have, it just wasn’t meant to be. Allow people to be on their own path and know that what unfolds for them is none of your business. Do your best and trust—with deep faith—that life has your back. And that what appears is always for your fortune, never for your failure.
4. Keep Death Close [KDC]. Reflecting on how short life really is and the fact that in 100 years, everyone alive today will be dust will give you perspective. A mistreatment that seems so big will begin to look small. You’ll see the value of moving on and letting the hurter deal with their karma. And you’ll be energized to “stick to your knitting” by doing what you know to be right, making excellent daily progress and remembering that good things inevitably happen to people who do great things.
Pets increase life satisfaction as much as marriage or close friendships: In a world where happiness often feels like a moving target, we constantly seek what brings true contentment.
People turn to careers, families, friendships, pets, and even meditation or travel in the hope of feeling joy and fulfillment in life.
A crow’s math skills include geometry: Crows in a lab were able to distinguish shapes that exhibited right angles, parallel lines, and symmetry, suggesting that, like humans, they have a special ability to perceive geometric regularity.
Missing toddler who walked 7 miles through Arizona wilderness led to safety by a dog: The rancher traced the boy’s steps and discovered that Buford, an Anatolian Pyrenees who normally patrols his land and wards off coyotes, had escorted the 2-year-old for at least a mile.
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!
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! 