good deeds ~ finding the positives

let's face it, there have been horrible things happening all over the world lately.  japan, libya, yemen, even my own neighborhood.  a friend of mine lived in yemen for many years {he's now in syria} and his tweets about what his friends are going through and the dangers they face are powerful and heartbreaking, to say the least.  i still haven't heard if my friends from japan have found all of their relatives and friends yet.  we're all still holding our breaths for the workers {and the world, really} regarding the overheating nuclear plant, and now we are involved with the fighting in libya.  plus, there's been a dramatic increase in crime where i'm living.  sheesh!  thinking about what a turbulent past week it has been for the world makes me wonder, was this an especially bad week for everyone? are the legends of the supermoon true? or is this a perfectly average amount of world problems and i'm just paying more attention right now {by the way, ever notice how difficult it is to find GOOD news on the news channels/websites?
who decided terrible things are NEWS anyway?}?  

whatever the case, it's easy to get bogged down with all of this.  but something i've had to learn being a therapist, and sitting with people's pain hour after hour, is that you have to be intentional about embracing the good.  sometimes life doesn't hand you wonderfulness on a platter, but it's still there, good things are still surrounding you.  

so today, i thought i would do something a little different for my good deeds post.  today i was hoping we could all do a good deed for ourselves and each other by sharing all the positive things that are happening right now, either on the global scale, or in our personal lives.  i would LOVE it if you all took a minute to list in the comments at least one good thing happening right now {it doesn't matter how big or small you think it is - if it's good, then it counts!}. please also have a read through the other comments for some extra goodness.  i'm a strong believer in the power of positive thinking, and maybe with this focus on the good, we can make the world a little happier, a little brighter, and a little better.  even if it just lifts your mood on this monday, i'd say that we've all changed the world in a beautiful way.

{download your own free positive thoughts poster here}

i'll go first.  

things that are good in life right now are:

* i saw a young man help an elderly woman pick up things which had fallen out of her bag into the street.

* a beautiful girl {kristen bell} got down and dirty to help bring water to an african village.

* thousands of people braved the cold and heavy rains to run in the LA marathon yesterday, raising thousands of dollars for various charities. 

* last night i got to have a super fun girls' night with brandi & lillian at a beautiful restaurant whilst listening to gorgeous live music by one of brandi's friends. it was just what i needed!


now it's your turn!