Only Positive News

The space shuttle Atlantis has completed a job well done.  While docked at the International Space Station for about a week, the astronauts spent three spacewalks successfully attaching solar wings to the space station that will eventually help generate one-quarter of the station’s power (there will be another pair of wings added by 2010).  They’ve undocked from the station, orbited around the space station to check out their work and will return to Earth on Wednesday morning.

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Some people have no problem living with guilt.  They go on living as if they had never done anything wrong.  For others living with guilt is not that simple. Guilt nags at the mind and at the soul.  One Logan, Utah man had that problem.  As a child, he would steal candy in his backpack with his friends.  Shawn Seamons and is friends would steal more candy than he and his friends could eat in one week.  “I think we would just stash our backpacks full of candy, and just have an afternoon of sugar high and absolute fun,” says Seamons. Joanne Hansen, the owner of The Island Market where they stole their candy, never even knew that the kids were the candy thieves she had been battling.  The guilt weighed on Seamon’s mind for six years until yesterday when he came into the store and wrote a $200 check for Hansen.  He felt that he needed to pay her back for the years of candy that he and his friends had stolen.  “They would’ve never known. I know,” says Seamons and that is why it makes a difference.  Seamons could not bear to live with the guilt of knowing that he stolen candy from the store and paying Hansen back helped him to relieve some of that pressure.

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A 10 year old caramel-blonde cocker spaniel who had been relinquished by his owner four months ago has found a new “leash” on life.

Whiskey was cast in a New York based production of Annie out of a group of 11 other shelter dogs.  He posed for pictures and licked his 12 year old co-star, Marissa O’Donnell.

He will understudy the role of Sandy, the dog that befriends the orphan Annie.  The main dog filling the role, Lola, was also found in a shelter.  The choice of using otherwise forgotten dogs adds a new depth to the performance of a story that chronicles a lonely girl and her adoption by a billionaire.

The shelter has said that they hope that this role will help find a new home for Whiskey, and his son Cocoa, who were given up when their owners could no longer care for them.

It would be a charming and beautiful parallel to the play for the dogs.  The publicity should be a step in the right direction.

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Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, of Vancouver British Columbia, decided to make their diet compliment their already green lifestyle — especially when they found out that most of the food that North Americans eat travel an average of 1500 miles before reaching our plates.

They made a commitment to only eat food from within a 100-mile radius of their home for an entire year.  Sure, they ate a lot of potatoes and spent a lot of time exploring their 100-mile radius to find the foods they’d enjoyed eating before this change, but they also learned a lot about how people eat:

 First of all, eating locally means eating or preserving fresh food and avoiding meals from the box and other pre-packaged items.  Secondly, they discovered that there are a lot of foods available locally once they learned the seasons and about seasonal foods.  Third, they also realized that eating locally means avoiding many of the preservatives and added sugars and fats that other foods “offered” them.

After their one-year experience they did incorporate some of their favorite foods back into their diet such as olives, beer and chocolate, but their experience has made them more committed to eating locally as much as possible.

Overall, Smith and MacKinnon were forced to answer intriguing questions involving self-sufficiency and how North Americans spend their time and have a lesson that everyone could learn a little from.  The best part?  This idea of eating locally and self-sufficiency has spread and people all over North America are giving it a try — some for a few weeks and others for just one meal, but either way it sure does raise awareness.

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Finally, something proactive to stop drunk driving before it starts… Nissan Motors in Japan is thinking about installing different features to make it more difficult for drunk drivers to even start their cars.  One of the options is using a breathalyzer that requires drivers to blow into a straw-like tube and if they are intoxicated, the car will not start.  Another option would be to make the drivers enter a personal identification number before starting their car (something that might prove difficult for people who’ve had too much to drink).  The good news is that if it’s happening in Japan and it’s successful these technologies will likely spread to other parts of the world.

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David Woodhouse, 58, left his family in the U.K. for Australia in the 60’s.  34 years later he has returned to donate his kidney to his 37-year-old son, Mark.  Mark decided to track down his father after becoming very ill and suffering from kidney failure.  Mark, with the help of the Salvation Army, was able to track his father down to New South Wales, Australia. 

Mark had been on a transplant waiting list for a new kidney for 3 years.  He has a wife, Jane, and a 5-year-old daughter, Holly.  When asked to donate his kidney, David did not have to think twice.  He flew back to the U.K. and prepared for the surgery with his son.  The transplant was successful and reunited the father and son.  David said that there was not a day that had gone by that he had not thought of his son and he was happy to be able to insure that his son would be able to watch his daughter grow.

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Three years ago, he was lauded as a hero.  But today, he continues to help others, though not in means most people would consider brave or noteworthy.

Michael Travis, along with two friends, pulled a man from a fiery tanker about to explode in September of 2003.  He received nationwide recognition for his heroism.

These days you’ll find him looking for new places within Detroit for vegetable beds.  He’s working as the co-director of Urban Farming, whose goal is to reintroduce growth to the inner city, while producing edible goods for others.  The harvested produce is donated to area food banks and homeless shelters.

His day to day work is a new brand of heroism: living and working to improve the lives of others, while bettering the urban area he calls home.

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In Hutchinson, Kansas, an Applebee’s bartender named Cindy Kienow received a $10,000 tip on a $26 dollar bill.  The customer was a regular at the Applebee’s and left Cindy the tip on his credit card.  As a bartender, you have the opportunity to meet a lot of regulars that come in and to apparently have a major impact on somebody’s life.  Kienow believed that the customer was just happy that she spent the time to talk with him and get to know him. 

 
After the restaurant verified the charge and taxes were taken out, Kienow received a check for $6,300.  Kienow has worked for Applebee’s for over 8 years and her loyalty has apparently paid off. Kienow says that she got the impression that her customer wanted her to buy herself something special and she is considering buying a Jeep that she had been thinking about. 

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There aren’t words enough to express the intense sorrow felt in the wake of the 9/11 attacks five years ago.  Some people felt the grief more deeply than the rest of the country.  They lost immediate family: children, parents, spouses.

But even after tragedy, the human spirit perseveres.  This month, a book written by four of the victims’ widows will be released.  Pattie Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi and Ann Haynes collaborated on a work entitled Love You, Mean It.  It details how friendship gave them the strength to carry on with life, making them more aware of others around them.

Despite the overwhelmingly horrific loss of their spouses to a terrorist attack, these women embody the best of humanity, opening up their lives and hurt to others so that they too can overcome what life may bring.

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Whether you’re down in the dumps because of recent events in your life or you just feel like you need to do something different to change the way you think about yourself (and in turn how others view you) here are some habits everyone should adopt to boost their self esteem and confidence.

* Start a “Pick-Me-Up” File:  Get a box and fill it with all sorts of things that make you feel good about yourself.  Receipts from purchases that you saved long and hard for or that were rewards for meeting a goal, a checklist that you completed, pictures of yourself accomplishing great things (such as making your kids laugh or the first day of your new job).  Use this box as a something you can go to and sort through when you need a “pick-me-up” as a reminder of all the great things you do in your life!

* Make it a habit to encourage yourself.  Positive thoughts lead to more positive thoughts and actions which will help you feel  better about your self. 

* Look for the good in other people.  Yes, I know, you’re reading this to find out ways to look for the good in yourself, but to do so you’ll need to be more positive all around.  Looking for the positive in other people will help you have a more positive outlook on life in general which will naturally permeate to how you view yourself as well.

Try all three at once or do one at a time.  Either way, even if you make one small change in your life today, you’re on your way to becoming a more confident person.

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