Awesome Stories 267

/ April 2, 2016

This week Awesome Stories brings you staying grounded, sufficiency, land art, mother of orphans and shoes for kids.

Staying Grounded in a Campersimple living, Awesome Stories

Daniel Norris is an unusual young man. Despite early success in baseball, he chooses to live simply in a van for much of the year. After winning a $2 million dollar contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, he bought a 1978 VW camper. He banked most of the bonus and lived in the VW on a self-imposed budget of $800/ month. He cooks his own meals, doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs. He grew up with simple values like kindness, play and preserving nature. The van seems to be his place of solitude and centering to balance the intensity and scrutiny of major league baseball. Read the whole story here on ESPN. I admire that he knows and lives his values so strongly. Kudos Daniel!

Transitory Artnatural sculpture, Awesome Stories

Andy Goldsberry is a Scottish sculptor and environmentalist who creates ethereal art out of whatever natural materials are available. I like the way he enhances and collaborates with a natural setting with highlights of sticks, rocks, feathers or other materials he finds on a site. Here is a collection of his fascinating outdoor sculptures.

Living in Sufficiency

When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, it frees up immense energy to make a difference with what you have. ~ Lynne Twist on sufficiency

This article by Lynne Twist offers an interesting perspective on living from the sense of sufficiency. The truth is that I need to practice this more. Too often I make choices from a sense of lack, limitation and a sense of needing more. Lynne reminds us that we free up immense energy and resources when we operate from a sense of sufficiency. We learn how to make the best use of what we do have, organically growing our skills and resources. I love her vision for a cultural shift where we learn to be masters of giving and sharing rather than the accumulation of stuff.

Mother of Orphansmother of orphans, Awesome Stories

Sindhutai Sapkal is a remarkable woman who has not only risen above her circumstances, but turned his life around by giving others what she most needed. Sold into marriage at 10 years old, then pregnant and abandoned at 20, she started begging to support her daughter. In the process, she discovered other orphans who needed help. Gradually her begging and compassion grew to adopt all the orphans she met. At 68, she has won numerous awards, runs several organizations and has cared for over 1400 orphans. She feeds, educates, marries them and helps them as a mother would, earning the name “Mother of Orphans”. Her daughter runs another orphanage, and she “adopted” her abusive husband after he came back and asked for forgiveness.

Gotta Have Sole

Nicholas Lowinger is a caring young man who was inspired to provide shoes for the homeless people in his town. Even at the age of 5, he was bothered by the difference between his fancy shoes and kids who didn’t even have shoes. By the time he was 12, Nicolas had started a foundation to provide shoes to kids in shelters in Rhode Island. Since then, Gotta Have Sole has provided about 45,000 pairs of shoes to shelters in 43 states. Way to go Nicolas!

What’s bothering you in the world? It might just be a clue about your work in the world. 🙂

 

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25 thoughts on “Awesome Stories 267”

  5. I’ve been following the Daniel Norris camper life for a couple years now ~ I’ve admired the way he lives and I always wondered if I was making millions would/could I do the same? Such a brilliant way to experience life and to stay so true to oneself…I love it.

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  8. Thanks for sharing more awesome stories Brad. I love that quote and article from Lynne Twist. I recently finished her book The Soul of Money for the second time. Such a great read and gets you thinking about money in a whole different way. Blessings, Lisa

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