Friday, May 23, 2008

Spreading Hope!

While reading an issue of "skirt!" and going to the website http://skirt.com, I discovered the website hopeREVO.com. "Hello. This is the Hope Revolution. It began one evening when I decided to hide encouraging notes around New York City and inadvertently inspired other people who heard about it to do the same in their cities." Wow. This is so up my alley. I adore receiving handwritten notes or finding a library book with a note left inside. When my oldest daughter was a stay at home mom, she would come over to my house and use the computer, give the children a change of pace and sometimes, if they would sleep, she would use the jacuzzi.
Being the OCD person that I am, I always knew when they had visited while I was at work. I started leaving notes that might be a reminder of something or a really bad "poem" and Michelle would respond by leaving me notes or a really bad "poem". The note writing took place in an ordinary spiral bound notebook. Imagine my surprise when checking the note of the day that my other daughter left a note to us. It said, "I want to play too" Heather would frequently leave messages in Spanish. I don't read Spanish. I treasure that notebook so much. I think letter writing and note writing has become a thing of the past and I miss them very much. Teenagers do not sneak notes in class anymore, they text message. Remember the middle school notes, if you like me check yes or no? I sent my husband a note like that recently and he loved it! I love e-mail, haven't gotten the swing of text messaging, do not pretend to know all the abbreviated shortcuts for words, however, I still miss the joy of going to the mailbox and finding a card or note from a friend. I have gotten a wee bit slack in this area myself. I love, love the idea of leaving notes in menus, library books or some secret location. We never know what impact a simple, anonymous act of kindness will have on someones day. At the hope revolution website, you can download some samples of notes to leave or create your own. I suggest going there and reading about it and checking out the gallery. There was a project sending "hope notes" to girls in Rwanda. I wish I knew about that in time. There is no better way to improve your life than to brighten someone else's day. You can "be a light in the world no matter where you find yourself." Below are a few suggestions from the hopeREVO website, I am sure you can think of many more! Join me in spreading some cheer and hope through your city. Who knows, maybe I'll find a note myself!!!

No one can take the place of you.
You can be surprised by something wonderful.
Do something hopeFULL.
Go slowly and enjoy the journey.
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
Do not waste today.
You are here.
It's ok to frolic.
Listen with an open heart.
Believe in your own happiness.
" I can do no Great things. Only small things with great Love." Mother Teresa

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've inspired me. Really, you have. About a year ago I bought a journal with the sole purpose of writing notes to my husband, sometimes about things that were bothering me and sometimes about things that I appreciated about him. The hope was that he would read what I had written and reciprocate. The way he would know that I had written something was if the journal was on his side of the bed. I'm sorry to report that I only wrote in it once and that I never gave it to him to read. How sad is that? When I finish my computer stuff, I'm going to get that journal out and write him a few sweet nothings.

By the way, I got this idea from my daughter Carrie who calls it an interactive journal. Often they'll write something they're kind of upset about, and the other person has a chance to read it and think about how to respond ahead of time. Once when I was with her, she wrote Rich a sweet note, and we (including all three children) rode to his worksite, rode around until we found the car, and she put the journal and some brownies on the front seat of the car. When he came out and saw the evidence o her trip, he was touched.

Anonymous said...

One Valentine's I did a journal like that for Chris. Everytime he did something adorable, I would write it down. Well, the problem was I was scribbling in the journal all the dang time and he finally cornered me to find out just WHAT I was doing.

I ruined my own surprise. Good times!

Alona said...

These things are one of the reasons that I love DOVE chocolate candies. There are many more reasons but my favorite part as I enjoy the sweet treat is reading the note inside the wrapper.
Sometimes it seems, that note was just what I needed at that moment.

I love notes as well. That is a great idea to have an interactive journal.

campbell said...

What a great post! I love notes too. But I do not send them to people like I use to do it. A year ago when my grandfather passed away I went out to Utah for the funeral. After the funeral I went to visit my grandma to say good-bye. When she was busy on the phone I wrote you a little note and stuck it on her refrigerator. Did you know that she just talked to me a couple of weeks ago and said she still has that note on her refrigerator. (that was over a year ago)
Now I need to do it more often to my hubby. I use to be real good but have got out of the habit. Thank you for the reminder. Great post.