This month’s theme: RESILIENCE
Reflections
Thoughts from Our Founder – We have just come off of an incredible WORLD KINDNESS WEEK as we celebrated Life Vest Inside’s 9th Annual Worldwide Dance for Kindness and launched our first ever Kindness Challenge and Digital event featuring over 50+ speakers and performers! Thank YOU to all who participated and took part in the festivities.
Missed a talk you were excited to hear?! Not to worry, ALL the talks will be uploaded to our YouTube channel so you can enjoy these incredible speakers time after time. Read More >>
Reflections by Bella Yang (LVI Intern) – I used to think about diligence exclusively in a “work” context — working hard in school, going the extra mile at a job. Over quarantine, I had time to re-conceptualize my relationship with “work” and broaden my definition of diligence. Read More >>
Articles of the Month
What Makes Some People More Resilient Than Others – Resilience is substantiated by science and influenced by external factors that we may not even realize. Studies pertaining to the psychology of resilience can serve our conception of how we can build and compound our resilience.
Building your resilience – Imagine you’re going to take a raft trip down a river. Along with slow water and shallows, your map shows that you will encounter unavoidable rapids and turns. How would you make sure you can safely cross the rough waters and handle any unexpected problems that come from the challenge?
What is Resilience and Why is It Important to Bounce Back? – We so often forget about how much power we have over our lives and our circumstances. Remind yourself that you do indeed have the power to improve your resilience and build your competence and confidence in yourself.
“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.”
Emory Austin
“I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.”
Maya Angelou
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
Khalil Gibran
“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.”
Jodi Picoult
Act of Kindness
Offer a helping hand or a listening ear to a friend that may be dealing with unexpected stress. Write them a motivational letter, take them out for a coffee or jump on a Zoom call. With the uncertainty happening all over the world, we all need a person we can unload on, that will hear us out without any judgement. Who knows, this interaction could change their entire outlook on whatever they may be stressed out about.
Make a commitment to push through no matter what. With the uncertainty happening all over the world and in our very own lives, we can at times feel beaten and want to simply throw in the towel. You are stronger than you think and YOU can overcome! Is it easy? No, sometimes it feels impossible. However, keep your eye on the goal and take one baby step each day to make that day better than the last. You may fall every so often as you climb up, continue climbing anyway. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what would you say to someone who was experiencing hardships like yours? How would you uplift them. Now turn that inspiration and hope on yourself.
Question of the Month
What have you learned about yourself in these challenging times? Share here or in the comments below.
Kindness Media
Photo of the Month
What does this picture make you feel and why? Share your thoughts.
Songs of the Month
Reminding us that when it feels like life is an uphill battle, we must “rise up, rise like the day, rise up, rise unafraid, rise up and do it a thousand times again.” This song illustrates the power and capacity of the human spirit.
What song do you turn to when to push you forward when you feel as though you’re about to lose the fight?
Videos of the Month
LVI Founder, Orly Wahba takes you through her personal journey of overcoming adversity through her childhood and adolescent years and how kindness played a huge role in developing her sense of self value and self love.
How communities can build their resilience to shocks, setbacks and disasters by anticipating risk, working together and adapting to new or changing challenges.
Books of the Month
Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back – Andrew Zolli and Anne Marie Healey – Provocative, optimistic, and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on why some systems, people, and communities fall apart in the face of disruption and, ultimately, how they can learn to bounce back.
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy – Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant – Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces.
Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead – Brené Brown – Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are.
Emily’s Gift: The True Story of Sherlock and Jackson – Ellen Shane – A moving tale of how the youngest Shane sibling tries to negotiate a puppy for her loving and pet-less family. It explores the various steps to pet ownership. From parental consent to understanding the responsibility of owning a dog, to selecting a puppy and properly caring for the new family member.
The Most Magnificent Thing – Ashley Spires – A charming picture book about an unnamed girl and her very best friend, who happens to be a dog. The girl has a wonderful idea. “She is going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing!” But making her magnificent thing is anything but easy, and the girl tries and fails, repeatedly.
Rosie Revere, Engineer – Andrea Beaty – The beloved New York Times bestselling picture book about pursuing one’s passion with persistence and learning to celebrate each failure on the road to achieving one’s dreams.