Excuses are always easy to come by. We have great imaginations and we’re quick thinkers. But people (and animals and institutions and organizations) need your help now! This article got me motivated - hopefully it will do the same for you!

The next time we find ourselves falling into these six negative mindsets, we should repurpose them as motivational tools instead.

1. I have no time/I’m so incredibly busy.
This is the most common excuse people give when asked why they do not volunteer. First of all, if we were all really as busy as we pretend to be, we would barely make it to the bathroom on a daily basis. Get started by picking apart your week. How many hours do you watch TV? Can you donate two of those hours to your community? Consider starting small. Pick one Saturday, Sunday, or evening a month to volunteer. Look at your priorities and evaluate how you spend your time. How much of your week is dedicated to giving back to your community?

2. I’m so tired after working 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.
Getting out of your apartment, interacting with others, and actually doing something besides watching America’s Next Top Model marathons on VH-1 every weeknight will reenergize you. You’ll become more centered and cultivate a greater sense of purpose in your life. It’s like working out; we all complain we’re too lazy and tired to work out, but once we get in the habit of it, it becomes an invigorating part of our lifestyle.

3. I don’t have anybody to go with me.
You know that girlfriend who always says you never have time for her? Bring her. Bring your mother, bring your partner, or bring your pessimistic coworker. Think of it as an opportunity to reconnect with your favorite people in a way that doesn’t include spending money. Better yet, do it alone. You’ll definitely meet other fascinating individuals with similar interests. My friend Sara met her fiancé when volunteering at Houston’s Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. If you’re in a new city and looking to meet new people, volunteering is an amazing way to make connections.

4. I don’t care about helping other people; nobody helps me.
Take this opportunity to affect your karma. Karma is the belief that, for every good or bad thing you do, something good or bad will come back to you. If you start helping others, maybe somebody will notice your unique radiance and help you. If it worked in the days of ancient Hinduism and Buddhism, it will surely work today.

5. Tell the homeless to get off their butts and get a job.
I can’t convince you in one sentence that it just isn’t that simple for a homeless person to pick up and get a 9 to 5 job. Why not volunteer at a shelter and meet some homeless people? Ask them how they became homeless. I bet your attitude toward homelessness will change.

6. I can’t make a difference; I’m only one person.
Yes. You. Can. In the words of renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

It is abundantly clear that we have no real excuses to not volunteer. Now all we need is to identify how to get started.

Shelby Jennings, an avid volunteer since childhood, turned her passion for serving up some love to her community into a career. She moved to Washington, DC from San Diego, California in order to work for the Corporation for National and Community Service. She lent us her expert advice on how to start volunteering. “Find a place where you will use your skills, learn new ones, or learn about a new issue. Figure out not only what you want to get out of it, but also what you want to give back—this will help you sustain your efforts. Commit yourself to a timeline—stick to it. Also, if you have a particular cause or organization you’re interested in, just ask!” Shelby also advocated volunteering in fields that you’re interested in working in as a resume builder or in a position where you could build skills that could help you get a job in the future.

Sometimes the sheer number of organizations that need volunteers can be daunting. A simple three-step process to figure out the best way to commit ourselves to helping others can help ease any overwhelming feelings.

1. Choose causes that make you excited.
If you love to travel, volunteer with an international organization; if you love to garden, find an environmental organization; if you adore spending time with kids, volunteer to tutor students. There is an abundance of need for your expertise, time, and love all over your community.

2. Find events that match your needs.
After you have selected the type of organization you wish to volunteer for, choose a specific opportunity that fits your skills, interests, and schedule. Once you find a non-profit that fits you, go ahead and introduce yourself.

3. Surf the Internet to find out what’s out there.
Volunteermatch.com is an incredible Web site to start your volunteering endeavors. They have an immense online network of organizations eager for your help. It is incredibly simple to register and begin your search immediately. If you register with an organization through VolunteerMatch, an automatic email will be sent to that organization notifying them of your interest. They will then contact you and you will be on your way. A great feature of VolunteerMatch is the ability to be a virtual volunteer. The Virtual section offers volunteer opportunities from your home or desk. That means you can volunteer using your computer, Internet connection, phone, and/or fax.

1800volunteer.com is another outstanding Web site to embark on your quest for volunteer opportunities. You can start by searching for volunteer opportunities that match your interests. Next, you create a free account that enables you to easily sign up for volunteer opportunities. And finally, you can start volunteering!

Volunteer centers will hook you up! The best part is that pretty much every city has one. Google your city’s volunteer center, call them up, tell them you’re interested, set up a meeting, and you’ll be on your way. They are knee-deep in your community and keenly aware of the opportunities available to you.

We all lead lives full of commuting, conference calls, and social engagements. But imagine how much better we’d feel if we dedicated just a few hours out of our hectic schedules to causes that truly need our help. Some people are driven by selfless ambition. Some are on a quest for social equity, or want to bring a sense of purpose and fulfillment to their own lives. Others view the opportunity to volunteer as a chance to give back to their community. However we find the motivation, volunteering has the potential to improve our lives and the world around us.

By Shyla Batliwalla for Divine Caroline

Source: Gimundo.com

Years ago, I frequently attended a movement class in Philadelphia held by Manfred Fishbeck and Group Motion. He still holds weekly movement classes and they are pure transformation. Live musicians supply the rhythms while a group of strangers move and dance and laugh and express. By the end of the night, you feel free, light and back to your core self.

You don’t need to know how to pirouette or tap; you just need to know how to move. We all know how to, though we often convince ourselves we’re cursed with “two left feet.” The truth is, movement is there at your disposal at any time.

So turn on some music. Close the curtains. And allow yourself to express yourself through YOUR form of dance. It doesn’t have to be right or pretty, just authentic. It can be slow, it can be erratic. Just let your body do the talking. After 10 minutes, evaluate how you feel. I’m going to lay money on “better. Much better.”

Photo Source: Jessica Florence at Flickr

Self-control…ah. What’s there to say about this elusive concept? Apparently, plenty. Read on:

Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.
Charles Kingsley

By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.
Grenville Kleiser

God is waiting eagerly to respond with new strength to each little act of self-control, small disciplines of prayer, feeble searching after him. And his children shall be filled if they will only hunger and thirst after what he offers.
Richard Holloway

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.
Calvin Coolidge

It’s okay to be a fat man. It’s prestige and power and all of that. But fat women are seen as just lazy and stupid and having no self-control.
Camryn Manheim

Punishment may make us obey the orders we are given, but at best it will only teach an obedience to authority, not a self-control which enhances our self-respect.
Bruno Bettelheim

Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence.
Franz Kafka

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control; these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.
Irving Babbitt

The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center.  So does a person.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/self-control.html#ixzz1I67oDsYR

No, Charlie Sheen did not invent the idea of winning. Winning is a concept that is personal and powerful to all of us. And Sheen may be on to something when he instructs us to just say “winning” and we’ll feel better. Here’s what others have to say:

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Vince Lombardi

Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.
Vince Lombardi

Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
Oscar Wilde

By letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
Lao Tzu

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.
George Orwell

Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
Ross Perot

There is nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever.
Alfred Hitchcock

You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe - Winning!

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/winning_3.html#ixzz1HRn2U0Ep

Like many cities, this school district is in serious financial trouble. But this school has come up with a solution: branding and marketing their trademark hippo.

Watch this video showcasing one school’s ingenuous ideas.

One School Works around Budget Cuts in Creative Ways

Its not much of a stretch to see that singing produces a sense of pleasure and happiness. And not to worry - you don’t have to be a pro to experience those same feelings! Many people stop singing as they grow up, usually because they had one horror story. “My choir director told me to keep quiet because I was ruining the song.” “My mother said I must have the same tone deafness as she does.”

These words stick and keep us quiet, sometimes for a lifetime. It’s unfortunate, because something as simple as singing can free our minds and our souls. It can release old pain and build our sense of confidence. Choir singing in particular can have multiple positive effects.

Here’s some facts to back-up this claim:

All types of singing have positive psychological effects. The act of singing releases endorphins, the brain’s “feel good” chemicals. Singing in front of a crowd, a la karaoke, naturally builds confidence, which has broad and long-lasting effects on general well-being. But of all types of singing, it’s choral singing that seems to have the most dramatic effects on people’s lives.

A study published in Australia in 2008 revealed that on average, choral singers rated their satisfaction with life higher than the public — even when the actual problems faced by those singers were more substantial than those faced by the general public [source: MacLean]. A 1998 study found that after nursing-home residents took part in a singing program for a month, there were significant decreases in both anxiety and depression levels [source: ISPS]. Another study surveying more than 600 British choral singers found that singing plays a central role in their psychological health [source: ISPS].

But why? Could you just start belting out a tune right now in order to make yourself feel happy?

It’s possible. Some of the ways in which choral singing makes people happy are physical, and you get them whether you’re in a chorus or in a shower — as long as you’re using proper breathing techniques during that shower solo. Singing can have some of the same effects as exercise, like the release of endorphins, which give the singer an overall “lifted” feeling and are associated with stress reduction. It’s also an aerobic activity, meaning it gets more oxygen into the blood for better circulation, which tends to promote a good mood. And singing necessitates deep breathing, another anxiety reducer. Deep breathing is a key to meditation and other relaxation techniques, and you can’t sing well without it.

Physical effects, while pretty dramatic, are really just the beginning. Singing causes happiness for other reasons that have less of a biological basis.

Source: Discovery Health

Bella Voce Choir in Brooklyn, NY

Often we think our problems are infinitely complex and unsolvable. But did you ever think the solution is only a gesture away? A movement away? An inch away?

Walk away from your desk (well read this first!), move around your office or room. Go outside, take a deep breath. Better yet, take a walk.

Our problems can gather weight the more we sit and mull. Often they need some air, some lightness, some movement.

So if you’re feeling stuck, try a little experiment today: just move. Get up and move around. Stretch, breathe, give your mind a break.

Now this is the important part: when you sit back down to work, notice any differences.

It’s important to break routines in order to break open answers!

Listen to Bob Marley’s Get up, Stand Up

We all need a little crazy. Not too much, obviously, but just a touch offers up freedom, expression and id-driven creativity. So what do some of the experts have to say on the topic of craziness? Let’s read on:

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
Albert Einstein

The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.
Eminem

I would imagine that if you could understand Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy.
Mitch Hedberg

You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.
Jimi Hendrix

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.
Rodney Dangerfield

Pound’s crazy. All poets are. They have to be. You don’t put a poet like Pound in the loony bin.
Ernest Hemingway

The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.
Sigmund Freud

If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.
Hunter S. Thompson

I like someone who is a little crazy but coming from a good place. I think scars are sexy because it means you made a mistake that led to a mess.
Angelina Jolie

If we weren’t all crazy, we’d just go insane.
Jimmy Buffett

You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/crazy_2.html#ixzz1FSS7LEhO

A trusted therapist I know said to me a few days ago:

“I think that many people who are suffering feel considerably worse simply because they’re suffering.”

“What?”

“Well, we fear feeling badly. We feel out of control when we’re depressed or anxious. We then struggle internally. How can we ‘fix” this? How can we make this go away? When we can’t, on top of feeling depressed or anxious, we feel like losers.”

It got me thinking: how could you embrace feeling badly instead of running from it?

1. Have a Dark Day. Instead of trying to “lift yourself up by your bootstraps” (which seems impossible anyway, doesn’t it?), create a day based on how badly you are feeling. Do it up right. Eat dark food, drink dark teas. Play the saddest movie ever known and cry unabashedly. When people ask you how you’re doing, say “Not good.” Feel the freedom in being honest with the space you’re in.

2. Make your Goal List Easy. In this day and age, we’re often overwhelmed by the things that need done in one day. And then we have long-term goals looming overhead. Why not make it a list that a child could do? Include: “Talk to as few people as possible today.” “Wash and dry my favorite blanket then hide under it.” “Watch an episode of an old TV show.”

3. Dig a Little Deeper. Most of us think that the problems we’re suffering are based on what’s happening now. Allow yourself the freedom to look into your past, as if you’re strolling down a very familiar lane. No need to painfully revisit it; simply stop and look at your past like an old movie. Make a few quiet observations. Include good times too.

4. Play in the Dark. Think of the Addams Family. They had fun with their dark side. What can you wear today that showcases your misery? What depressing songs can you sing? Could you draw a sketch of that sad you, overamplified and cartoonish? What we resist persists. Today, embrace it, draw from it!

Perfection isn’t everything. Sometimes it’s too much! This beautiful choir embraces their imperfections and focuses on singing from the heart. And apparently, it’s really paying off. Today (and the rest of your life) venture into imperfection, embrace it. “Singing” from the heart is much more important.

They haven’t been nominated for anything, but the fifth-grade chorus members at Graniteville, Staten Island’s P.S. 22 are Oscar winners.

The chorus will perform at the 74th Academy Awards show, having been informed of the honor by co-host Anne Hathaway, who came to the group’s December concert to announce the news in person.

The kids are already YouTube sensations, racking up more than 27 million views to videos posted by their choirmaster, Gregg Breinberg. The chorus has performed at the White House, and Beyonce and Stevie Nicks are among its fans.

Breinberg leads his troupe of 10-year-olds through exuberant covers of songs from Eminem, Alicia Keys and indie faves the Freelance Whales.

“It’s an emotional experience, it’s a passionate experience,” Breinberg, himself a force of nature whose energy matches that of his pupils, told The Wall Street Journal. “There is a certain sound that you get by not singing properly, and I look for that sound. That’s a sound that I love.”

The 65-member chorus will sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” the 1939 Oscar winner for Best Song, as well as another piece.

The invitation to sing on a broadcast watched by millions is multiple dreams come true — if a trip to Los Angeles to appear on TV weren’t exciting enough, many of the kids have never been on an airplane before.

“I was really happy because I never thought it would really happen,” chorus member Aisha Okeowo told the Journal. “I wanted to be an actor when I grew up, and I didn’t know it was going to be that fast.”

The Academy Awards will be broadcast at 8 p.m. EST Feb. 27 on ABC.

MUST WATCH VIDEO OF CHOIR!