Welcome, Kate!

Blogger. Volunteer. Style superstar. All around good egg. Everyone, this is Kate. Kate, this is Everyone.

We’re thrilled to have her join the tiny Altrooist team. Kate will wear many hats – not beanies, sombreros and fedoras, but blogging, tweeting, making friends, PR, marketing and whatever else comes her way. She’s crazy talented like that. She also has great feet. See?

SprizeeCam™

The most excellent toes of Kate.

Want to know more? Keep checking back because Kate will be Queen Kindness Blogger ’round these parts. Seriously. I’m making her a crown out of felt and daisies as I type.

tagged: kindness

Tea time!

"kindness, grace, compassion" by Twojangles

Isn’t tea great? Calming. Smells good. And then there’s the little bits of wisdom that come along for the ride. Like this one captured by the Midwest’s own Twojangles, tea drinker and photographer extraordinaire.

She kindly agreed to answer my 5 questions – over a cup of chamomile, no doubt.

1. What caught your eye that made you stop and take this picture?

The photo is part of my daily inspiration photo project. Each day I challenge myself to capture a moment or element that inspires me, and this certainly does. I really love the sentiment.

2) Pick a color for kindness:

Orange.

3) What’s your favorite way to be nice?

I think for me, it’s about taking the time to really pay attention to and connect with others.

4) Who is your kindness hero?

Without question, my parents.

5) Pick one word to describe your best intentions:

Heart.

squirrely assistance

People who help squirrels are good people.

10 tips: how to be happy

Last week I twote a quote from Anne Frank.

Tweet tweet!

I’ve always been fascinated with sameness. Not in hair-dos or car choices but in the overarching sameness to how we live our lives, the things we pick to matter the most and our shared quest for Happy.

But Happy can be elusive. And while I don’t have it figured out yet, there are a few things I’ve learned from life and from others that can make Happy a more routine visitor and less of a mysterious stranger.

1. Think that not being happy isn’t all that bad. Try to appreciate the ebb and flow of happy to unhappy. There will always be ebb and flow.

2. Don’t compare yourself to others. Happiness based on being better-off than someone else is only good until someone comes along you feel lesser than. Base your happiness on the stability of you and your character.

3. Get comfortable with change. Fighting it will cause more unhappiness than is necessary.

4. Do good. The best way to be happy is to make others happy.

5. See the good around you. Our radars can easily be tuned to notice more bad than good. Catching a few newspaper headlines as you walk by a box or a week of nightly news can throw your radar out of whack. The good is all around you. Readjust as necessary to see it.

6. Smile. This could also be called: Fake it ’til you make it.

7. Meditate. Having some quiet time will keep you centered.

8. Get 8 hours of sleep. It’s hard to be happy when you are cranky.

9. Eat lots of local fruits and vegetables. It provides connection to your community, climate and farmers. Food is strangely powerful.

10. Foster community with your friends, family and neighbors. Feeling part of something is key to being happy. Make yourself useful, spend time with those around you, meet your neighbors.

What have you learned about being happy?

tagged: kindness

"Metta" by Laineybugger

"Metta" by Laineybugger

Metta meditation is beautiful. It’s about using simple phrases to shower well wishes on everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know. It’s about gratitude. And connection. When I saw this photo on Flickr I knew I wanted to include it here because Altrooist is about gratitude and connection, too.

The bracelet above holds this version of the phrases:

  • May all beings be peaceful.
  • May all beings be happy.
  • May all beings be safe.
  • May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
  • May all beings be free.

The photo was taken by Elaina, a lovely woman who lives in Middleville, MI. I sent her my five questions and she replied right away and with a big “ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!” which made me happy.

1. What caught your eye that made you stop and take this picture?

The meaning of the gift. Metta is a beautiful thing and I wanted to share that feeling with others. The Metta bracelet was a wonderful gift from a dear friend.

2. Pick a color for kindness:

I would say Pink is a good color for kindness, it makes me think of the heart.

3. What’s your favorite way to be nice?

My favorite way to be nice is to have patience, it is something I have had to work on. I hope to teach my children kindness and patience by practicing it every day.

4. Who is your kindness hero?

My kindness hero is my husband. He sacrificed everything for his children and reminds me of what is most important.

5. Pick one word to describe your best intentions:

Love

bloggy goodness: Operation NICE

Oooh! What a great find this site is! Operation NICE is not only well intentioned but well designed – a combo near and dear to our hearts. Her content is insightful, inspiring and makes us smile. Enjoy!

Operation NICE

www.operationNICE.com

tagged: kindness

"Be Kind" by Slight Clutter

"Be Kind" by Slight Clutter

Remember how I love Flickr? Here is another beautiful photo taken by a very talented photographer. This time it’s Slight Clutter, a professional photographer in Houston, TX. Her work is truly amazing. She has a couple deer photos that I could gaze at for days and days.

She was kind enough to respond to my request and below are her answers to my 5 questions.

1. What caught your eye that made you stop and take this picture?

I was walking around Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, enjoying a sunny day and looking for interesting things to photograph. I noticed this cluster of about six or seven trees showered in absolutely gorgeous light. I made my way about the “tree colony” in search of a unique compositional perspective, and it was at this time that I noticed that someone had written “Be Kind” on the trunk of one of my subjects. As someone who values kindness above all else in the grand human experiment, I was compelled to photograph the wise admonishment/suggestion/order. Interestingly enough, I had mixed feelings about the defacing of the gorgeous and giving tree. Ultimately, however, I figured that the tree didn’t mind…this once.

2. Pick a color for kindness:

Despite being the subject of frequent symbolism-based character assassinations (greed and envy come to mind), green is the color I’d pick for kindness. Something about the generosity of nature — the cool green grass between summer toes, the protective green canopy during April showers — yep, green is a naturally kind-hearted color.

3. What’s your favorite way to be nice?

This is a hard one…so many great ways to be nice — a simple smile, a kind word, a timely hug…all go a long way. One of my favorite ways to be kind other than the usual suspects is to “see” people who, for the most part, walk among us unseen.

4. Who is your kindness hero?

My mom.

5. Pick one word to describe your best intentions:

Ongoing.

yes, yes it is.

ShaneTwote

Our CSS-wiz Shane was wowed by some good he encountered on a Seattle city bus. When you look, you see it. That’s my theory anyway and is part of the reason for Altrooist. You do some good, you feel good, you notice others doing good and suddenly the world seems a little nicer, a little smaller and whole lot brighter.

Follow Shane on Twitter here (he’s funny, we recommend it) and here is us.

bloggy goodness: Good Deed A Day

You know we love this.

You just know we love this idea a whole bunch.

www.gooddeedaday.wordpress.com

in excellent company

Mr. President is in the know.

Mr. President is in the know.

Like everyone else in the world we signed up for Twitter. And like everyone else in the world we went on a mad following spree. The first people to follow us back: me (uh, duh), Boo (our design super-star) and THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Yeah, I know he follows everyone ’cause he’s nice like that but I was still giddy to capture the moment.

Wanna get in on the action? You’ll find us here: www.twitter.com/altrooist