This month’s theme: ACCEPTANCE
Happening this Month
World Kindness Day is right around the corner on November 13th! In honor of World Kindness Day Life Vest Inside would love to invite you to take part in our World Kindness Day festivities! Take part in our virtual event on Monday, November 15th, join our global video collaboration and learn this year’s Dance for Kindness dance! Learn more at www.danceforkindness.com
Articles of the Month
Accepting Other People’s Differences – To feel comfortable with people who are different from us means that we must accept ourselves for who we are. Unfortunately, we often put up guards to protect ourselves instead of being open to those differences. Our mistrust of others is really fear, and then acting from that wariness only fuels suspicion back.
Empathy – Accept Others For Who They Are – Acceptance is the ability to see that others have a right to be their own unique persons. That means having a right to their own feelings, thoughts and opinions. When you accept people for who they are, you let go of your desire to change them.
“Acceptance is simply love in practice. When you love, you accept, when you lack love, you judge.”
Abhijit Naskar
“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.”
Jeannette Walls
“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.”
Ken Keyes
Act of Kindness
Take time to get to know other people by really listening to them rather than relying on a quick judgment. Assume the role of an explorer and be fascinated by their unique personal traits, background, culture, schooling, and life experiences. See the differences in others as an expression of their exoticness and beauty.
Question of the Month
How do you show acceptance of individual differences? Share here or in the comments below.
Kindness Media
Photo of the Month
How does this picture represent empowerment? Share your thoughts.
Songs of the Month
This song was a response to the hate and fear generated after the 9/11 attacks. Urging people to love one another, and questioning why so much hate exists in the world, a pertinent reminder that we should extend love to people of all races and religions.
We are all imperfect, and it’s precisely those imperfections that make us who we are, and we have to embrace them because there’s so much beauty in those differences. Life is worth fighting for. You are worth fighting for.
This emotional country ballad from 2014 is a motivational pep talk. It takes the perspective of someone who has been bullied for being different and who made it through.
Videos of the Month
A deaf girl comes across a boy who is paralyzed from the waist-down, but neither of them know about each other’s differences.
Why is it important that children are taught to respect each other’s differences? Mariana Chartier shares with us her experience in searching for respect and the values she has learnt, even if it is only at 9 years of age.
When you look around – your classroom, the playground, or even your family – does everyone look the same? You’re right, they don’t, but if you pay attention you’ll realize we are much more similar than you think.
Books of the Month
The Gifts of Acceptance: Embracing People And Things as They Are – Daniel A. Miller – offers insights, intentions, and strategies for practicing acceptance of parents, a significant other, children, siblings and extended family, coworkers, friends, and foes; of life’s adversities and the limitations of getting older; and, perhaps toughest of all, of yourself.
The Sun Is Also a Star – Nicola Yoon – It deals with racial/ethnic stereotypes, deportation, the struggle between one’s heritage and being a “typical” American teenager, the list goes on.
Someone: A Story of Acceptance – Jay Ostrowski – A playful story that teaches children (and adults) a valuable lesson about acceptance and connection. This book is a fun tool for teachers, parents, and caregivers to help children navigate social relationships. We can all learn from Someone about the importance of being open to Anybody and Everybody.
We’re Not So Different After All – Lissette Lent – This playful story of love and acceptance features the likeness of Lissette Lent’s own daughter, Maggie Hope, diagnosed with Trisomy 8 Mosaicism syndrome. It is told from the perspective of Maggie’s brother, Noah. He discovers that similarities they share really outweigh all of the sometimes scary and confusing differences.
A Family Is a Family Is a Family – Sara O’Leary – When a teacher asks the children in her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different in many ways — but the same in the one way that matters most of all.