We often don’t think in terms of what “the other” experiences on a daily basis. What is a day like for someone dealing with chronic pain, for instance? Or someone who has just lost his or her mother? Or job? Okay, how about this: what is it like to be the tallest man in the world and never have a pair of shoes to wear?

Being tall isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be as Igor Vovkivinskiy can attest to. The 7-foot, 8.33-inch man is the tallest man in the United States and considered by many to be a giant of a man in more ways than one.

Vovkivinskiy is a man with a big heart both metaphorically and physically. His actual heart is double the size of the average man’s heart. In spite of his kindheartedness, he has been struggling to find adequate footwear his whole life.

He suffers from constant pain because of deformities in his feet which are the result of the 16 surgeries he’s been forced to have over the last five years. Since his teens, he has been unable to find shoes in a store that fit him. It has been so long since he could buy shoes that he isn’t even sure of the size.

Currently, the only pair of shoes he owns is a pair of clogs which provide no traction, no support and no protection from the elements in Rochester, Minnesota where he has lived since age 6. The shoes cause pain to his feet, legs and back.

So Vovkivinskiy devised a plan to come up with the money to pay for custom-made shoes. He created a Facebook page and a website for fundraising and began asking for donations to cover the cost of the shoes. People have delivered an outpouring of compassion and cash. Vovkivinskiy has raised over $37,000 to cover the cost of his shoes.

Read more about a tall man and his new shoes!

The longer I wrote about positive news - or simply the concept of positivity - the more I realize the importance of gratitude. It can turn just about any situation around. The next time you’re steaming mad about something or someone, take a moment. What is good about your life right now? That person you’re so angry at - how have they contributed to your life? What small, incidental experience occurred today that made you smile inside? Maybe the bloom of a flower or a bird singing a cheerful tune? Maybe a wave from a neighbor that made you feel a little more connected to your community?

Write out your gratitude list. Write out your positive news. I know you may have heard this suggestion time and time again. But there’s a reason why: it works. It shifts your energy from the negative to the positive.

Because guess what? There are tons of things to be grateful for! I’m grateful to write for this blog, for instance. It has changed me on numerous levels.

Whether metaphorically or literally, singing is a beautiful way of expressing yourself. So let your heart sing out or sing your favorite song proudly. Let these quotes inspire you to sing today. Sing like you just don’t care.

My heart is like a singing bird.
Christina Rossetti

I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe’s singing until somebody told me that it wasn’t a joke.
Spike Milligan

Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.
Rudyard Kipling

Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much.
Zora Neale Hurston

My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil’s mind, and behold, all things are changed!
Anne Sullivan

No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?
Bertrand Russell

Nothing I have done professionally will top the feeling I got when singing with John Farnham at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Olivia Newton-John

Singing is the love of my life, but I was ready to give it all up because I couldn’t handle people talking about how fat I was.
Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/singing_2.html#ixzz1nmobtYjx

Young adults gain knowledge and compassion when part of charitable projects. Their self-confidence increases as well as their sense of community, which has staying power for a lifetime. This story shows how students and communities work together to help needy families, and interestingly, help themselves:

Normally, the day before Thanksgiving on the campus of Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C is found to be silent. All the students are at home with their families and enjoying the holiday break. However, that is not the case in the basement of the next door church. Faculty, staff and parents have gathered to volunteer their time to feed the needy.

Inside the basement, folks worked diligently all day long making Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to feed about 50 people that are older and live nearby in the lower income dwellings. The meals are a welcome sight and are a blessing to those that receive them from the volunteers from the school. The holidays are not the only time that this charitable work occurs. Volunteers help feed the needy twice a week all year long in a project founded in 2001.

The project, started by Robert Egger is called the Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) and it uses resources that are both available and left over. They use the campus kitchens, the leftover food and volunteer students to help prepare and feed the hungry. The program has taken hold and spread to 28 colleges and 3 high schools.

Read more at Amazing News.

I usually pass on gifts during the holidays. I don’t like the excess and frankly, the things I need are beyond a ribboned box. But like anyone else, I still feel a thrill when a gift is given to me. Curiousity, thrill, the wonder of the unknown.

Here are some sweet quotes on gifts this holiday season - or any season of the year!

You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.  ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

What is bought is cheaper than a gift.  ~Portuguese Proverb

A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.  ~Thomas á Kempis

The only gift is a portion of thyself.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.  ~Seneca

We do not quite forgive a giver.  The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays

But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith’s.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Gifts,” Essays, Second Series, 1844

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.  ~George MacDonald

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.  ~Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur

Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.  ~Author Unknown

A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.  ~Author Unknown

If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving.  Take what you are given, not what you want to be given.  Give what cannot be taken.  ~Idries Shah

Celebrities often seem out-of-touch with the world around them, draped in excess and entitlement. But many are making sound contributions to their communities, such as Jon Bon Jovi, who opened up a “pay what you can” restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Soul Kitchen is a new restaurant opened in Red Bank, New Jersey, by Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea. The establishment offers a “pay what you can afford” payment model, and serves wholesome, gourmet food made with fresh ingredients grown in the restaurant’s garden, and other local produce.

On the website, they explain that Soul Kitchen is “A community restaurant with no prices on the menu; customers donate to pay for their meal. If you are unable to donate you may do volunteer work in exchange for your family’s meal.”

But as NJ.com reports, this is no soup kitchen serving up desperation and gruel. “The décor is upscale. Patrons don’t wait in line — they are waited on.”

Read more.

Is there enough trash to build a viable house? This woman uses resourcefulness and ingenuity to prove it can be done.

House Made Entirely out of Trash

The shopping onslaught has begun. But that doesn’t mean you have to be sucked in! There are some GREAT organizations out there, so when you buy a gift, you help the world. I love shopping at 10,000 Villages, for instance. Its a wonderful feeling to know you’re helping small craftspeople around the world. It gives shopping a whole other feel:

1. 10,000 Villages Online Store: One of the world’s largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), 10,000 Villages offers gifts and accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans from 38 countries. Your purchases help improve the lives of tens of thousands of artisans worldwide. [Shop 10,000 Villages]

2. Best Friends Animal Society Online Store: There’s no reason to shop at the big box pet stores for the animal lovers in your life this holiday season when you can purchase collars, treats, and toys directly from one of the best animal charities in the United States. [Shop Best Friends Animal Society]

3. CARE Packages: CARE has a very unique holiday gift program that allows you to compile care packages to send to women entrepreneurs and girls worldwide. As a group or as an individual, CARE Packages can help send girls in Afghanistan to school for a year, or help expectant mothers in Peru safely deliver. It’s fun and you’ll be bringing hope to girls and women around the world. [Send a CARE Package]

4. Concern Worldwide Gifts: When you buy Concern Gifts, you support Concern’s work in 25 countries worldwide – bringing food, clean water, good health, education and a higher standard of living within reach of more people. Although Concern is based in the U.K., their gift program also accepts U.S.-issued credit cards. [Shop Concern Gifts]

5. Feeding America Tribute Gifts: With poverty and food insecurity at record levels in the Untied States, it’s practically your patriotic duty to donate to Feeding America!  [Give a Feeding America Tribute Gift]

6. Jane Goodall Institute Online Store: You don’t have to be primate activist to shop at the JGI Online Store. Their store also offers jewelry, African art and music, and clothing. That said, there’s also some great gifts for the primate activists in your life.  [Shop the Jane Goodall Institute Online Store]

7. Kiva Cards: Starting a $25, Kiva Cards change lives. You can purchase Kiva Cards which then can be redeemed by your gift recipient to fund a loan of his or her choosing. A microfinance nonprofit working to uplift entrepreneurs out of poverty worldwide, this is great holiday gift for those subscribe to the belief of giving a hand-up, not a handout. [Buy Kiva Cards]

8. Save the Children Gifts of Joy: From ornaments  handmade in India to the sponsorship of a girl’s education in a developing nation to providing health snacks at school to children in the United States, Save the Children has put a together a great online catalog for giving this holiday season. [Give a Save the Children Gift of Joy]

9. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Online Store: If you have a family member or friend who supports saving the whales and dolphins from slaughter with direct action and activist intervention, then Sea Shepherd is a great choice for a holiday gift. The nonprofit behind Whale Wars, their online store also includes numerous items ideal for skaters, surfers, and other ocean-loving hipsters. [Shop Sea Shepherd]

10. Special Olympics Tribute Gifts: An excellent choice for the athletes in your life, Special Olympics Tribute Gifts enable those with intellectual disabilities to experience the power of sports to create champions. [Give a Special Olympics Tribute Gift]

11. Women for Women International’s Gifts That Give Back: Women for Women’s gifts enable you to empower women to rebuild their lives after the ravages of war. You can purchase everything from looms to farming supplies to books, rulers, and pencils which are then given in the name of your gift recipient to a woman in war-torn country.  [Give a Women for Women's Gift That Gives Back]

Source: NonProfits.org

While we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving all over the world, we all acknowledge the importance of gratitude. Or sitting down with our friends and families and sharing a meal. Feasts are a time to acknowledge the plenitude of our lives as well as give pause to others less fortunate.

Here are some quotes on Thanksgiving in particular, which hopefully can be appreciated by all cultures.

A lot of Thanksgiving days have been ruined by not carving the turkey in the kitchen.
Kin Hubbard

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.
Irv Kupcinet

Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more: Peace in the hearts of all men living, peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving.
Joseph Auslander

Even though we’re a week and a half away from Thanksgiving, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Richard Roeper

From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be that no life lives for ever; that dead men rise up never; that even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.
Henry Van Dyke

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.
Jon Stewart

I love chicken. I would eat chicken fingers on Thanksgiving if it were socially acceptable.
Todd Barry

If you think Independence Day is America’s defining holiday, think again. Thanksgiving deserves that title, hands-down.
Tony Snow

It is now common knowledge that the average American gains 7 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
Marilu Henner

It’s like being at the kids’ table at Thanksgiving - you can put your elbows on it, you don’t have to talk politics… no matter how old I get, there’s always a part of me that’s sitting there.
John Hughes

It’s so warm now, and Thanksgiving came so early - is it just me, or does it not really feel like Ramadan?
David Letterman

My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.
Phyllis Diller

Whether you are for or against the Occupy Wall Street movement, one thing can be agreed on: people have the power to make change globally. If you believe in what these groups are doing around the world, help them in whatever way possible. Here are some suggestions.

We cannot go on expecting solutions to come from the political and economic elites who ride in limousines with security guards. They are not exposed to the impacts of their policies, so the feedback loop has been broken by the concentration of wealth and power in a few hands. This is why so many people are out in the streets demanding a transition from the dominant system (guns and money) to a new system that will give social justice and environmental restoration a higher priority than corporate profit-making.

By Kevin Danaher – Co-Founder,  Global Exchange