This week Awesome Stories brings you kindness, water purification, justice, mindfulness, museums and climate restoration.
Kindness in Action
Pictures often move me more than words. My favorite photo and story are shown to the right, but several of the 35 photos in this collection moved me to tears and give me hope for the future. Maybe you played along with the compassion games. If not, it’s never too late to add more kindness to the world. Let’s spread the words, deeds and energy of kindness throughout our lives. 🙂
Clever Aussies
Australian students have come up with a simple and effective way for people in less developed areas to purify their drinking water. The students designed a system, under direction of their engineer professors, that uses UV(A) radiation from the sun to generate oxygen radicals in the water. The oxygen radicals then actively kill the pathogens. The simple design uses reflective material to direct sunshine and UV radiation into a clear tube filled with water. This increases the generation of oxygen radicals that purify the water passing through the tube.
Crystal Bridges: Epic Search
Our little corner of Arkansas is in the news thanks to the latest exhibit at Crystal Bridges Museum. Truthfully, I’m not a big fan of Walmart, but thanks to the money and vision of Alice Walton, Bentonville, Arkansas is now home to a world class art museum. For the latest exhibit, the curators spent 9 months traveling the country looking for undiscovered talent.
Dignity, Discipline and Justice
Restorative justice asks who was harmed, what are the needs and obligations of all affected, and how do they figure out how to heal the harm.
Restorative justice is a great idea that seems to be growing around the country. Oakland has some of the worst crime facing their city, and yet their school district is having success with restorative justice (RJ). Rather than punish kids for misbehaving, the hallmark of RJ is bringing people together to listen, be heard, show respect, and create healing and justice. RJ also helps reverse the trend for growing use of punishment and criminalizing our youth rather than teaching and nurturing them in schools. The process has worked so well in the pilot schools that the Oakland district has made RJ the new standard for all their schools.
Restoring Mother Earth
This video offers a bold new vison of restoring our grasslands, of which 2/3 are turning to desert and accelerating climate change problems. Please watch Allan Savory’s simple and profound solution to many or our environmental woes. I believe this story needs to be told and shared. Thanks!
Mindfulness and Children
Mindfulness isn’t just for adults and Buddhists anymore! 🙂 Thankfully, the power of mindfulness is being offered to more and more children with wonderful results. Carolyn Gregoire has written about the importance of mindfulness for children. Her research suggests that mindfulness can help with a range of challenges facing today’s children. Unfortunately, stress and disorders are growing for children, but mindfulness helps as an intervention strategy to allow more relaxation, better sleep and focus. Mindfulness has even been shown to help with Autism, ADD, ADHD cancer and self actualization in children. There are Mindful Movements and Mindfulness Schools popping up around the country.
writing to freedom 
I always enjoy your “Awesome Stories” posts. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Thanks for connecting. I hope my stories add to your joy! 🙂 blessings, Brad
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As always, an inspriring collection of stories Brad. The video about the deserts was particularly thought provoking. I am a vegan and one of my concerns is the enviornmental damage caused by the mass of livestock. The video showed a remarkable turnaround in conventional wisdom. The planet is indeed a complex organism! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Peace and blessings
Robert
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Agreed on the complexity Robert. It’s good to keep an open mind. This seems like a worthy approach. Thanks for caring and playing your part.
blessings, Brad
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so much GOOD to share and so much for us to think about… thank YOU my friend
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Thanks Annette, Your enthusiasm is fun, and a wonderful benefit to sharing these stories. And I like to uplift myself too. XD
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Hi Brad! Wow…mindfulness schools for children! Yes! Why should this be something that we continually move far away from as we age from childhood to adulthood….to hopefully one day start the walk back…if we can help children be aware…be in the exact moment they are in….just imagine what will happen on this earth. Just imagine the way the ideals of nations could change. I’m a believer, Brad. Great batch of stories 🙂 ❤
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Interesting way to view the journey Lorrie. I think as adults we are mostly learning how to return to our natural joy and innocence. Children start there and slowly learn new ways, sometimes life enhancing and sometimes not. Currently many of us need help letting go of faulty programming. XD Thanks for your loving friendship and support! 🙂
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I remember reading that article about restorative justice in Yes! magazine (really recommend it–every single issue is worthwhile!). An interesting side note is that Fania Davis, who wrote the article and directs RJOY, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and was very close to two of the girls who were killed in the 1963 church bombing by the KKK.
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Thanks for the background info Heather. I had skimmed the website, but didn’t realize the connections. And good reminder to revisit Yes! magazine. Thanks! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Kindness – A Life Project at Du Coteau High School and commented:
Awesome stories indeed…
Thanks, Brad!
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Great collection of Awesome Stories, Brad. I loved the Kindness in Action photo collection despite the fact that they all seemed to capture the sad state of our world throughout history. A great reminder that, amidst chaos, every single individual still has the opportunity to make a positive impact — Thank you!
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Agreed on the photos being a mixed bag, with an inspiring theme of people reaching out in kindness. Have a beautiful weekend. 🙂
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Wow, that photo collection at the top of this post, Brad…it’s going to take me a while to recover enough from looking at them to read the remainder of this week’s stories. So powerful. Who the heck captures these types of images? Just wow…
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Wow back Julie! I agree on the emotional power of these photos. I love how you took the time to be with them. Too often we rush our experiences. I’ve had some reminders to slow down and savor lately.
Savoring Sunday. XD
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I especially love the story “kindness in action”, as you say “Pictures often move me more than word”. Thanks for sharing the light of Kindness and Generosity dear Brad :-)♥
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Thank you Frederic. Your words move me and I appreciate you in my world. Os
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An interesting set of stories. I particularly like the idea of mindfulness for children. I wonder if it would help with disorders like ADHD.
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I see your catching up with the stories Cynthia. I’m with you on the mindfulness for children. I know a woman locally who has taken the training to bring it into her classes. That’s a good question about ADHD. I just Googled the question and it seems to be a tool for treating ADHD. 🙂
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Brad this was indeed a delightful read.. I got captivated in the photo’s of how our basic instincts are to protect each other.. We are all human at the end of the day despite what our various differences are portrayed to be.. Most of us have love in our hearts.. Great Post and I saved the video to watch later.. It too looks to be one to watch.. 🙂
Many thanks
Sue
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Thanks for diving in Sue. I agree, we naturally want to connect and help each other. Sometimes emergencies or dramatic events help to remove our limiting ideas. Then love can shine. 🙂
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