One of my mother’s favorite sayings was, “There are angels among us…”

She would point out these angels whenever she came across them in her own life. Those people may have been family members, friends, medical staff, neighbors, and, of course, those people she would see on television, both well-known and lesser-known, doing good deeds, spreading kindness and making the world a better place.

This week our media has been flooded with tributes to the one and only Dolly Parton. I think many of us could agree Dolly was definitely an angel among us.

It is amazing to see people from all walks of life who she inspired - through her music, her philanthropy, and the countless hearts she touched along the way.

It was equally amazing to see the unanimous positive opinions about all of the good Dolly did throughout her life. Her Imagination Library alone has provided millions of books to children for free, sent directly to their homes, one a month from birth to age five. Just think about how that generous gift supports literacy.

So what lessons can we learn from such a special life?

Perhaps it's that she never let her own success distance her from where she came from, or from the people who needed a helping hand. She showed us that kindness can come wrapped in laughter, rhinestones, and a genuine love for people. And in the end, a life well-lived isn't measured by fame, but by how many people you lifted along the way.

I think I will continue to do as my mother did by focusing on the angels among us, remembering that each of us has the free will and the potential to make the world around us better.

And while we try to do that each and every day, also remembering the actions and the words of those who inspired us.

Here’s one of my favorites of Dolly’s, “Love is like a butterfly: as soft and gentle as a feather, many-colored and full of cheer.”

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Legacy.

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” ~ Shannon Alder

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Steve Hartman is sharing stories built around themes of kindness and character and the people who've mastered both. His latest lesson is inclusion.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Thoughts to ponder…

Church is not where Christians really need to be.

It’s not where the work happens my friends. It’s just our rest stop and our place to refuel.

It’s important but it’s not everything.

If all we do is stay in our little group closed off and pleased with our sameness we are not doing the work of Jesus.

The real work comes when we leave our churches.

When we enter the doors of a public school.

When we go to work Monday morning.

When were driving our cars or walking though Target.

The real work of being a Christian is in the real world, not in the pew.

It’s in offering a hand or some grace to that young mom in Target whose kids are loud and unruly and shamelessly begging in the toy aisle.

It’s in listening to that coworker who may vote differently than you ever would and just seeing them as a person or a friend.

It’s in standing up for the person others are gossiping about even when their life choices are not ones you would make.

It’s in inviting those who are standing alone into our conversation even if it makes you feel sweaty and awkward.

It’s in letting a random driver go in front of you in traffic even when you’re in a hurry.

It’s in striving to understand and love those that see the world differently and believe different things than we do.

In the Bible Jesus rarely stayed in groups that were like him.

He sought out those that were different. So often he walked alongside those the world saw as living less than perfect lives.

Those that needed him and his message of love.

We are to do the same. We are to love on those that are different than us. Those that need the message of love as well as those that already have it. Those that, like each and everyone of us, are living less than perfect lives.

Because if all we do is stay in our church walls and talk about how right we are, we are missing everything we are supposed to be learning there.

Out in the world my friends. That’s where we need to be.

That’s where we’re called to go.

Today we worship together, tomorrow we bring Jesus to our world.

From a Facebook posting written by Amy Betters-Midtvedt

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love this Facebook memory from eight years ago cherishing the memories of a wonderful summer vacation…

Mind/Body connections…

Start your day with 10-minute energizing morning yoga! Get a full body stretch with a beginner yoga flow for women over 50. This all standing yoga sequence will wake up your body, lubricate stiff joints and loosen tight muscles with gentle stretching exercises.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. This week as I looked through YouTube videos I found this treasure featuring a rare clip of Dolly Parton and her parents singing together. Here’s In the Pines by Dolly Parton...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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It’s been said that the final stage of healing is using what happened to you to help other people. Maybe that’s one reason I love to read autobiographies and watch documentaries so much…I'm drawn to the moment someone turns their worst chapter into something that lifts someone else.

Recently I came across another inspirational example of how overcoming the odds is totally possible: the story of Susan Boyle.

I’m sure most people who have watched Britain’s Got Talent remember the Susan Boyle story. Her appearance on that show in 2009 skyrocketed her to fame.

I personally remember the first time I watched Simon Cowell’s smirk when she introduced herself to the world stage. In that moment he definitely forgot the meaning of the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”

But once she started to sing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables every doubt disappeared. From that point on, her life changed forever. She eventually ended up selling over 25 million records worldwide and became one of the best-selling artists of that decade.

But as usual the road to fame has many bumps and her story had some of those. The greatest obstacle came in April of 2022, when she suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak.

The woman whose voice had once silenced a room full of skeptics couldn't form a sentence. It took many months of grueling rehabilitation before she returned to the stage.

Most people were unaware of her health challenges but when she returned, she did so in her own unique way, in a performance on Britain’s Got Talent alongside the current cast of Les Misérables, singing the very song that she first performed there years earlier.

It’s hard to watch it without shedding a few tears…for many reasons.

Her journey of resilience is a common one in the autobiographies and documentaries I have enjoyed over the years.

Sometimes we forget how frail the human journey can be, and it takes stories like Susan Boyle's to remind us that we are here for just a brief time - yet broken crayons still find a way to color.

Her life story is proof that a life can be interrupted, even silenced, and yet can continue to find its way back to something whole…maybe not unbroken, but no less beautiful for it. So why not support and love one another not despite the challenges we each face, but, more importantly because of them…

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Resilience.

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”~ Japanese Proverb

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Sometimes we all need a second chance. Steve Hartman finds stories about putting one foot in front of the other, even when the going gets tough. Join him “On the Road” with these stories about overcoming the odds.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Inspirational moments…

We'll never forget the moment Susan Boyle took to the BGT stage and stunned the world with I Dreamed A Dream.

Fourteen years later, she's came back to perform the song that changed everything along with the West End cast of Les Misérables!

What I am watching…

This past week we had a “movie night” at our church and since our book club had read The Book of Joy last year, it was decided we should watch the movie Mission: Joy - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times.

The documentary is a closer look at the friendship between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Tutu. The film goes behind the scenes at the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamshala, where Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama recount stories from their lives.

So many laughs and so much wisdom…If you get a chance to watch this film, you definitely should. It is well worth it!

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love this Facebook memory from seven years ago of my son embracing his love of reading…

Mind/Body connections…

Do I inhale or exhale? 3 quick tips to feel more comfortable and confident about breathing in yoga poses. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. This week, when I was baking one of my mom’s recipes, I played one of her old records. The memories flooded back (and so did the words). Here’s Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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This time of year brings with it a variety of emotions…anticipation, anxiety, hope and fear among them. The beginning of a new school year will do that.

We have all been students and some of us, if we were blessed enough to get the opportunity, were also teachers. There is something special about the chance to stand in front of groups of young people and open their eyes to new ideas and experiences.

Remember those wonderful teachers in your life? I certainly do.

But I often think back and remember a turning point for me during my teaching career and that was when I became a parent myself. For the first time in my life, there was another human being who was the center of my world and who I would do anything to guide and protect.

Once I became a parent I looked at my students with different eyes. I saw my son when I looked at them and when challenging behaviors would occur or perplexing moments popped up, I would try to find the understanding and patience I would want a teacher to give my own son.

Did I always succeed? Unfortunately, no - but I did try my best.

Memories are powerful and I am blessed to have many fond ones from watching my son grow up into the man he is today. Those memories are interspersed with my memories of teaching in four different schools, in four unique and beautiful libraries.

As the new school year starts I wish all those who work in schools and all the parents sending their children, no matter the age, hopes of a fresh beginning. The clothing styles and the technology may have changed but the feeling is still the same…

Four schools, four libraries, and countless students later, I still believe the same thing I believed on my very first day: that a library is one of the few places where a child can walk in unsure of who they are and walk out having found a piece of themselves on a shelf.

To the librarians and teachers opening their doors again this week, and the parents trusting them with their kids - thank you.

The mountain is still waiting. Here's to another great year of helping young readers find their way there.

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Library.

"The library was a doorway to freedom, to free thought." ~ Patricia McKissack

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Steve Hartman goes on the road to uncover an embarrassing initiation ritual for freshmen at an Oklahoma high school.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

This week’s TED Talk…

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level. This is one of my all-time favorite TED Talks.

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love this photo of note left by two of my students. Positive words and actions go in both directions…

Mind/Body connections…

Experience a peaceful spring morning walk at Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC, surrounded by clear blue skies, fresh air, and the relaxing sounds of birds singing throughout the park. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s Whenever I Call You Friend by Kenny Loggins and Kimm...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

Photographs are beautiful reminders…moments frozen in time, capturing an event or a person and I love looking at photographs for just that reason.

They can bring back fond memories of a time in your life that brought you joy. They can also give you a glimpse into a time and place you never experienced but would have liked to…

This is a picture of my great-grandparents, Rhoda and John Cress. I love how gently her hand rests on his. Sometimes I wish I could travel in a time machine and visit relatives I never had the opportunity to meet.

During the past several months I have been making a display of family pictures going up my stairwell. Recently I added the photos of the parents of both Rhoda and John.

I am always amazed at the length of time that exists between generations. For example, my father, who was born in 1925, attended the funeral of his great-grandfather (Rhoda Cress’s father), who was a member of the Iron Brigade in the American Civil War. My father described to me his memories of his great-grandfather, including how he smelled like tobacco and how he remembered seeing him in his casket wearing his uniform with the signature black hat resting on his chest.

His great grandfather served during almost that entire war, was wounded on more than one occasion and even met Abraham Lincoln while he was a patient in the hospital, recuperating from battle wounds.

That thought was so amazing to me…that my own father personally met and knew someone who had shaken hands with Abraham Lincoln…

Today’s world we live in is vast, complex and radically connected and the whole of our lives is lived in connection with others. Each one of us is part of an unbroken chain of recognition and love and this phenomenon involves more than just the lives of the living.

I listened to a local pastor a few years ago who made this analogy in a sermon…Imagine you are standing next to your mother on one side of you and your father on the other side and you are holding their hands…and on each side of them are your grandparents, also holding hands..with each generation added…each one of the people in this human “chain” are connected…through a combination of genealogy and historical experiences.

For example, when I held my mother’s and father’s hands, I was holding the hands of people who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II…and as you would move down the chain, the connections would take you back in time…living through medical breakthroughs, wars, the birth of a new nation, famine, Shakespeare…and on and on…

Within each of our chains, the lineage is different but they all have one thing in common…love… and the human spirit that creates that love…

Each one of those links in our chain had someone who believed in them, who encouraged and instilled faith, who let them know that they mattered…Those links also had elements of bravery, kindness, compassion, hard-work ethics and creativity.

What lesson do we learn from this chain of humanity? In essence, I believe we are all connected and with that connection comes an obligation…To spread that love beyond our own chain…in acts of kindness and compassion…and to never forget that no one gets excluded from God’s love…

The saying goes, “You reap what you sow…” but maybe we need to focus more on sowing so that others can reap…loving so that others can heal…being a person who reflects and inspires those around them…while not forgetting the hands that we once held…and who, in essence, we really never let go of…

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Ancestors.

"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors." - Jonas Salk

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Steve Hartman explores the unique bond between a family's duck and dog.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

What I am reading…

This week I started reading Theo of Golden by Allen Levi.

The Amazon description is as follows: “One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder.”

What I am watching…

Little House on the Prairie is about Charles and Caroline Ingalls and their daughters, Mary and Laura, as they leave Wisconsin by wagon in 1869 to build a new life on the Kansas frontier outside Independence. Tricked by railroad land promises, they face harsh elements, illness, and local tensions with the Osage Nation before losing their crops to a devastating fire and heading further west.

I absolutely loved this remake on Netflix. You should check it out when you can.

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love this photo of a ten year old version of myself enjoying flying a kite on a bright summer day…

Mind/Body connections…

Looking for a relaxing background on your television? I’ve been using this YouTube video and it provides music and images for relaxation, meditation, studying, reading or even sleeping. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s What the World Needs Now by Dionne Warwick...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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When you hear the word “home”, what pictures come up in your mind?

Do you think back to your childhood? Maybe it’s your first apartment?

What memories do you have? Perhaps you have lived in the same place for many years and you can’t imagine leaving it?

A few weeks ago I came across a Facebook memory that had me reflecting on what the word “home” really means… This is a memory that I wrote 13 years ago.

So much has changed for me personally since I wrote those thoughts. Perhaps the biggest change of all was my own understanding that change itself is a constant in life and something we must embrace.

Along with that change is the openness we must have to understanding that what defines a home is not just the familiar walls and rooms that surround us, but the people we share them with.

I have learned that people are really the center of your world and that sense of community and common love is the one thing that defines “home” for me…

Regardless of where I am staying, if I know that I am near love and acceptance, then I am home.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Home.

"Home is the nicest word there is." — Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

At the Shrimp Basket restaurant in Pensacola, Florida, a customer consistently ordered a cup of gumbo for lunch and for dinner for 10 years. When he didn't show up one week, the chef went to his house to check on him. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with the story, months later.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

What I am watching…

If you want to feel grateful for what you have, watch the 2020 movie Nomadland on Netflix.

Frances McDormand plays Fern, a widowed woman who loses everything in the economic collapse of a rural Nevada town. Packing her life in her van, she travels across the American west, working odd jobs and meeting other “nomads” who each have a unique story, and reason, for their circumstances.

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love this photo of my son Michael and I enjoying a family vacation many years ago…

Mind/Body connections…

Ease into your morning with this gentle, 10-minute yoga practice designed to awaken the body and invite clarity before the day begins.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s The Wind by Yusuf/Cat Stevens...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

I came across a poem while cleaning out some files in my office at church and it intrigued me.

Someone, I do not know who, took the time to clip a poem out of a newspaper and save it. After reading it, I discovered why.

It is called Ephemeral Echoes and I will be the first to admit that I had to look up what the word “ephemeral” meant.

As Wikipedia reminds us the word is derived from the Greek word ephēmeros (meaning "lasting only a day"), and it reminds us that our time is short and should be cherished.

In the Bible, "ephemeral" describes the fleeting, temporary nature of human life and material things compared to the eternal nature of God. It highlights that worldly pursuits are short-lived, urging believers to focus on spiritual and everlasting matters.

For example, in the Book of James, human life is compared to a vapor or mist that "appears for a little while and then vanishes". Similarly, Psalm 39:5 states that every person at their best is "but a breath".

Perhaps the poem also had more meaning to me as I reflected on the sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham. How could someone be here one moment and gone the next?

I have lost people in my own life suddenly yet whenever it happens, even to people that I have never met, it still surprises me…

For whatever reason, the poem reminded me that in a world filled with mindless doomscrolling and frantic chaos, remembering the simple beauty of our existence is really the key.

Here’s the poem. I will let you decide how it fits into your view of our current world.

I still don't know who took the time to clip this poem and tuck it away, but I'm glad they did.

Maybe that's the point - the paper yellows yet the words found their way to me anyway.

In a world built for scrolling past the present, may we keep reminding ourselves to look up and see what really matters.

What we own won't outlast us, but the care we plant in others just might.

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Life.

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~ Robert Brault

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

The old adage "it takes a village to raise a child" was turned on its head when it took a child to unite a village in North Carolina. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with the story.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Stories from the Stage

Yunus Quddus shares what a stray cat taught him about courage during his rough-and-tumble childhood. Grab a Kleenex…this is a good story…

What I am reading…

This week I continue listening to Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer as part of a book club at church.

I can’t say enough good things about this book….every chapter is a beautiful story…and I think it is among my favorite books of all time!

The Amazon description is as follows: “As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as “the younger brothers of creation”. As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return."

Photo memories…

“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” Love these photos of my Dad and Mom (I think it’s from their honeymoon in 1948)…

Mind/Body connections…

Take time to check in with your breath and invite balance to your nervous system.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s I’ll Fly Away by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash ...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

What a treasure…

I opened up a book this week and saw where my grandmother had written her name inside the front cover.

I have loved books for as long as I can remember. My parents’ home was filled with books, newspapers and magazines.

My parents’ bookshelf, which was a wedding present in 1948, has been in my possession for a few years now and besides the many framed photos of family that adorn its shelves, it contains many books that my parents owned….Many of the same books I remember being on those shelves as I was growing up.

Books have provided so much for me over the years. They are sources of information, guidance, therapy, and inspiration. Short stories and poetry are genres that I enjoy reading and have also inspired me as a writer.

Reading biographies and history books not only teaches me about the past but they motivate me as I see how others before me have faced adversity and have overcome obstacles.

And as Clifford Stoll so eloquently expressed in his book, Silicon Snake Oil, books are also timeless.

For example, take a moment to close your eyes and picture a time capsule. Place in it the following: anything from today’s world that involves technology. When Stoll wrote his book back in 1996, it included a floppy disk, a CD, and a computer.  

And then, finally, place a printed copy of your favorite book within that capsule. 

Now imagine one hundred years from now someone opening that time capsule. What would they be able to view? How would they use the items? 

The only item that is instantly available to view is the book. Archives around the world are filled with books and paper documents dating back hundreds of years, and fortunately for us, we can see and enjoy those items and everything expressed within them.

Just as I can walk over to my parents’ bookshelf and pick up a book my grandmother read, you can view and enjoy books anywhere they are displayed and offered.

The only thing more precious than the books themselves is the people we share them with…Some of my favorite memories involve books being read aloud. I still remember when my mother read stories to me before bedtime. 

And many years later, I hope I transferred that same love of reading picture books through my career as a school librarian and, of course, as a mother reading to my son.

As author Roxane Gay once said, "Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible worlds." 

So the world is at your fingertips….and all you have to do is open up a book and begin reading…

What a treasure….

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Reading.

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”~ Groucho Marx

What is your favorite book?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

As part of our continuing series “On the Road,” Steve Hartman meets Kathy Rackley who had a chance encounter with Malcolm Mitchell at a Barnes & Noble. She had no idea he was a star football player for the University of Georgia Bulldogs when she told him about her book club. And she had no idea what would happen next.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Thoughts to ponder…

If you're looking for reading advice from famous authors, here are some insights from well-known writers:

1. Stephen King: "Read, read, read. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write." King emphasizes the importance of reading widely and consistently, suggesting that immersing yourself in a variety of genres and styles sharpens your own writing skills.

2. George R.R. Martin: "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." Martin highlights the idea that reading expands your horizons, allowing you to experience different perspectives, times, and worlds.

3. Virginia Woolf: "Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river." Woolf suggests that the more you read, the more naturally and richly you will be able to express yourself.

4. Harper Lee: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." For Lee, reading is a natural and essential part of life, something to be treasured and nurtured.

5. Ray Bradbury: "You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." Bradbury underscores the cultural significance of reading, reminding us that books are crucial for the preservation and transmission of culture.

6. J.K. Rowling: "If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book." Rowling encourages readers to keep searching for books that captivate them, as there’s something out there for everyone.

These authors stress the importance of reading not just for personal enjoyment, but for the broader development of your mind, creativity, and understanding of the world.

~ From All Things Books Facebook page

This week’s TED Talk

If you want to live in a world where people read, novelist Ann Patchett has news for you: it's your job to help create that reality. Tracing her path from a chance airport encounter through a career writing iconic novels and opening a beloved independent bookstore, she makes the case that reading isn't a private pleasure but a civic act that builds empathy, sustains a "long-format brain" and pulls people out of isolation.

What I am reading…

This week I am listening to Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer as part of a book club at church. The author’s style is beautiful and very moving.

The Amazon description is as follows: “As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as “the younger brothers of creation”. As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return."

Podcast picks…

My absolute favorite podcast for book reviews - If you haven’t listened to The Book Case by Kate and Charlie Gibson, please start. It is so much fun and very informative!

Are you stuck in a reading rut? The Book Case makes the case for books outside of your usual genre. Wander the aisles of your local bookstore with Kate and Charlie Gibson and meet fascinating characters who will open your appetite to new categories while deepening your hunger for books. This weekly series will journey cover to cover through the literary world, featuring interviews with best-selling authors, tastemakers, and independent bookstore owners.

Mind/Body connections…

A powerful little pick-me-up throughout the day as well as a great start to your morning! Positive thoughts make for a positive life!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s a song from my youth in 1983, Total Eclipse of the Heart by the late Bonnie Tyler ...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

It started out with just a tape recorder and a list of questions.

This was back in the early 2000’s when I volunteered for a local organization that supported homebound elderly people. The group is called Faith in Action and I visited a wonderful woman in her late 80’s named Margaret.

We met once a week at her house and I did that for about six years. It was a very rewarding experience and as I look back on it, I remember all of the conversations we had and the stories we shared from both of our lives.

At one point I asked Margaret’s daughter if I could tape record some of these stories so that they could be kept and shared with others in her family. Her daughter thought it was a great idea and so I researched and created a list of questions and we had a delightful exchange.

Later on that summer I asked my parents if I could do the same thing for them and they agreed. It was the summer of 2002 and twenty years later, after my mother passed away, I took that recording and made digital copies for all of my siblings.

I occasionally listen to that recording and beyond the family stories that are shared, I love to just listen to sound of my parents’ voices.

If you stop to think about it, each of us is a walking, talking wealth of knowledge and series of personal stories…some joyful…some tragic…some inspirational…

Why not take time every day to connect to those around us, pull up a chair and just share what is on our hearts and then listen…

It was once said that by sharing our stories, they take up residence in someone’s soul… That the tales will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of them…

So reconnect with someone you love. Ask them something you’ve always wondered. Press record if you can — and if you can’t, just listen closely.

We are made from stories — and if we’re lucky, we appreciate all that those stories give us.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Memories.

"Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us." ~ Oscar Wilde

Who have you shared your memories with?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video

Every Fourth of July marks the loss of more veterans of World War II. Steve Hartman met a young man who is racing against time to preserve their stories.

#spreadkindness #smilevideos

What I am watching…

This week I am enjoying watching a favorite show from my childhood. I forgot how much slapstick humor is a part of Laverne & Shirley. Watching this series is a great way to catch a few laughs and enjoy a television comedy classic!

Stories from the Stage

Cindy Putman learns important life lessons watching Mr. Rogers.

Mind/Body connections…

These morning affirmations will boost your mood and attract positive thinking.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s a great way to enjoy music and move at the same time….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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What if someone asked you, “What do you believe in? What do you value in life?”

How would you respond?

Several years ago I came up with a list for my son Michael… a “top twelve” of what I believe are the most important life lessons. I urge you to read my list and compare it to your own:

1) Treat others as you would want to be treated. When you follow the “golden rule,” you can’t go wrong.

2) Don’t let other people determine your values. Look around at the situation you find yourself in, and look within yourself instead of following the crowd. If you are the only one you know who is willing to do what is right, then you need to be the one who will make a difference.

3) Know when to keep quiet and when to say something. This value is a challenging one. I have personally found that listening to others as they share their troubles or their joys is a wonderful gift. When someone wants your advice, they will ask.

4) Once in a while, step “outside the box” and try something new. When you find yourself relying on routines, life has become too predictable. Meeting new people and stepping out of your comfort zone opens you up to new adventures and creates new challenges that will help you grow as an individual.

5) Don’t judge a book by its cover. Even though our society tends to automatically set a value on individuals based on their appearance, their race, their religion, or their material possessions, you don’t have to do that. Please remember that what truly matters is the content of a person’s character. Avoid judging others. Remember, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” In the end, God is the only true judge of all of us.

6) Allow yourself quiet time. There are times in life that require stillness, and it is during such times that a person can really reflect on what makes a difference in his or her life. Find a special place that you can escape to. Turn off the computers and televisions. Many times when you “disconnect” from technology, you find yourself reconnecting to your inner self.

7) Remember to be thankful for all that you have. This includes being polite and always saying thank you when you receive something and please when you want something. Also, take time each day to thank God for all of your blessings. There will be times in your life when troubles may seem to overshadow all that is good. Don’t forget that no matter how difficult the situation you face, you are never alone. God is always there.

8) Each time someone criticizes you, make a positive affirmation about yourself instead. Statistics show that 10 percent of people will never like you no matter what you do to try to please them. So don’t worry about pleasing everyone. Your Grandpa Connors said it best when he told me years ago, “Be careful what you compromise on. The only things you find down the middle of the road are yellow lines and roadkill. Stick to your beliefs.”

9) Be balanced in all that you do. Moderation is the key to life. Any time you find yourself dedicating too much time to one specific area, you are out of balance.

10) Be honest but tactful. Remember you can be honest with your feelings and still use kind words to express them.

11) Be kind. Whenever you come upon a situation where you have a question of what to do, just ask yourself, what would Jesus do? He would be kind, help those who need it, and love everyone unconditionally.

12) Follow your dreams. You know in your heart what your passions are and what gifts God gave you. So use those gifts to help make this world a better place. Try to wake up each morning and seize the day. Life is so precious and so short. Make the most of it!

Dembowski, Sheila S. Leaning into the Light © 2011.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Values.

“Values are like lighthouses; they are signals giving us direction, meaning, and purpose.”

What do you value?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video

Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with a story of a teen battling for his life and the doctor who made him a promise.

#spreadkindness #smilevideos

What I am watching…

Song Sung Blue is based on the real-life love story of Mike and Claire Sardina. The couple were popular Midwest musicians who found fame as a Neil Diamond tribute duo called Lightning & Thunder. Their story is one of musical passion, surviving a horrific accident, battling mental health struggles, and the enduring power of love.

Stories from the Stage

Ruth Phipps and her intellectually disabled daughter challenge the norms and their neighbors’ ideas of unconditional love and inclusion. Her story is inspirational…

Mind/Body connections…

This 10 min practice is a simple meditation that will create the foundation for transformational practice. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s Neil Diamond singing I’ve Been This Way Before….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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I wrote this essay two years ago in honor of my father - I hope you enjoy it.

It’s been over twenty years since I had a Father’s Day celebration with my Dad. He died in December of 2007 but due to his issues with Lewy Body Dementia, he was in a nursing home from the summer of 2005 until his death.

The man I knew and loved slowly disappeared before our eyes during those years. My mother, a pillar of strength, visited him on an almost daily basis and he always seemed to recognize her, even if sometimes he referred to her as “such a beautiful girl” instead of by her name...

As I look back on the memory of my last true Father’s Day with my Dad, I clearly remember giving him a VCR for their cabin up north. It was a “group gift” given by both my sister Colleen and myself and our husbands. 

Dad got emotional about the gift, which I found so unusual. My Dad was not a person who showed emotions easily but he started to get that way as dementia slowly took over.

A little over a year later my son was born and, ironically just as he was entering my life, my father - at least the person I knew and loved - was leaving it.

But instead of focusing on the end, or the last, I would rather think more and more about the entirety of the life of this very special man. 

My Dad was a provider… he was one of the hardest working people I ever knew. He worked a variety of jobs over his lifetime starting as a hired-hand for a local farmer and then moving on to working in a gravel pit. When my parents got married in 1948, he worked for Shurtleff's Dairy as a milk route delivery man (with the real bottles of milk and a delivery truck) and later on, he became an insurance agent for Metropolitan Insurance Company. 

Along with his father, he owned and operated Joe's Tavern in Janesville, WI for several years and from the mid-1960's until his retirement, he worked as a farmer - running a sheep farm and then a dairy farm. When I think of him, I picture his hands…rough and calloused from all of the years of physical work…

My Dad was a nurturer…He made sure people were okay and if they weren’t, he helped them in whatever way he could.

My relationship with him is something I will always treasure. There are some people on this earth that you have a deep connection with. They complete your thoughts, understand your pain, share your joys and relieve your anxieties. They support you during the good times and the bad. My father was one of those people for me and for many others. I still miss our very long, very wonderful, conversations…

Finally, my Dad was an expert at guiding people…His advice, his view of the world, his experiences…they were all essential as he focused on helping people whenever he could. He loved reading and writing and he did crossword puzzles every day. He valued higher education and was so proud of all of the college graduates in his family.

He encouraged people, wanting the very best for others. His word was gold. When he promised you something, he delivered on that promise. He told the truth, even when it was difficult to hear.

He loved his family and his friends with all of his heart and that especially was evident in his marriage to my mother. They were a true team for 59 years.

Was he perfect? No, he was not - he was a human being with flaws and he made mistakes, like we all do in life. He could swear like a sailor and he had a short temper. You did not want to “get his Irish up”.

But when I think of him, I don’t focus on those things, just like I hope someday others will not focus on my shortcomings.  We are all more than our human weaknesses and mistakes…so much more…

This Father’s Day I hope, if you still have your father here on this earth, you take a moment to give him a call, send him a text or even better, see him in person. Let him know what he means to you…

What I wouldn’t give to have the chance to do just that…just one more time…

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What do you think?

My support comes from my subscribers and I really appreciate it. If you enjoy what the Kindness Boomerang newsletter provides, please feel free to share this link on your social media. Subscriptions can be either free or paid. It’s a simple process of sharing your email address. Thanks for your support!

For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

This Father's Day, Steve Hartman tells the story of his profound conversion from a reluctant dog dad to his dog's best friend.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Mind/Body connections…

Give yourself 15 minutes during your day to stop, relax and find inner peace. Enjoy!

What I am watching…

Grantchester returns for it’s 11th season on PBS.

There’s no shortage of murder, mystery, and mayhem in the seemingly quiet 1950s Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester—and police detective Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and the resident vicar (Rishi Nair) are always on the case. There’s a real warmth to this period crime drama, set in a picturesque location with central characters who’ve formed their own version of a family.

What I am reading…

This week I picked up and read my father’s book entitled Carpe Diem. It was a compilation of his poems and thoughts during the last 30 years of his life and my mother and I self-published it several years ago.

When I read his words, I feel his presence. Here are two examples of his talent.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

Subscribe now

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Most journeys in life are not solitary — they involve a variety of people, who help you to pick up the pieces when you find yourself pivoting from your planned path.

Those same people are also there to celebrate all of the joyful times and the special celebrations marking milestones, along with the everyday “small moments” that we sometimes take for granted.

Some of those people have been a part of your life since the beginning while others may have become a part of your journey later on in your life story.

I believe that there is also a third group of people who guide you… I like to call them guardian angels.

Those who you loved and who loved you back, unconditionally, without judgment…forgiving you of your sins and shortcomings, they help you by surrounding you with protection from harm and fill you with grace…

I feel the presence of my own guardian angels often, especially during challenging times and I turn to them when I need them.

Looking at photos of my guardian angels brings me comfort and a sense of peace.

A few years ago my Facebook memories brought up a picture of two people I consider my guardian angels - my grandparents. My uncle commented on the photo, which he fondly remembered taking of them in 1954 in Washington D.C. He also commented that they were two people “who were easy to love…”

If you look to the right of them you will see a line of taxis. My grandfather had hired a taxi for $15 to take the three of them on a tour of the capital during their visit, which lasted around seven days.

Old photos remind me not only of who my guardian angels are but they take me back in time…even if the time they take me back to was before I even existed.

I find that gratifying…knowing that they are watching from above.

There is an unexplainable connection that exists…something that is much bigger than our minds can fathom.  

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that compares this bond to an invisible thread that connects those we are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it never breaks.

That is how I envision my connection to my guardian angels.

I believe that we all have them and their presence is with us always, in times of joy as well as challenging times…

I picture them holding us…perhaps walking with us…arm in arm…with smiles on their faces and love for us in their hearts…

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What do you think?

My support comes from my subscribers and I really appreciate it. If you enjoy what the Kindness Boomerang newsletter provides, please feel free to share this link on your social media. Subscriptions can be either free or paid. It’s a simple process of sharing your email address. Thanks for your support!

For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

When Ginger Sprouse used to come across homeless people, she would only give them her two cents. But after she decided to change her approach, the new Ginger did something she never expected. Steve Hartman reports. 

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

What I am watching…

I am enjoying the series The Other Bennet Sister on Britbox. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, a continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and follows Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet.

If you have an opportunity, check it out!

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Dreamers.

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...”― Wilferd Peterson

How can we support our dreams and the dreams of those we love?

Mind/Body Connections…

This meditation from Headspace encourages us to pause and reset between tasks, helping you feel more present and better able to enjoy whatever comes next.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s one of my favorites, The Beatles singing, “Hello, Goodbye” ...Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

Subscribe now

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

My recent spring cleaning efforts uncovered a newspaper article that my mother saved for me. In 1987, when I was a senior in high school, I won first place in the local Voice of Democracy contest. 

As I read over the essay, I was struck with how pertinent, even almost 40 years later, the ideas were.

Sadly, our country is more divided than ever. But as you read this essay, think about how this message fits into today’s world…I think you will be as surprised as I was… 

The Challenge of American Citizenship

by Sheila Connors

“An adventurous astronaut seeks new discoveries in a vast region of space. A determined English teacher educates high school students in the center of New York City. A brave soldier fights for his country in a foreign land. A passive leader attempts to promote peace.

These Americans, and millions more like them across our nation, have accepted one of the greatest challenges of life; to sacrifice their time, their talents and even their lives, to fulfill a dream, to enrich mankind. They have accepted the challenge of citizenship.

Citizenship: a privilege to some; a born right to others. During the past 210 years, millions of immigrants have stepped onto American shores. Among them have come laborers, politicians, farmers, scientists, soldiers…All facing the challenge of adjusting to a new homeland, a new lifestyle and a new goal. But they came with a dream. The dream of being free to make a better life, not only for themselves but for everyone. Into their dream, they poured the diversity of their cultures and when the dream became reality, they stood in awe of their creation; a nation called America.

So, I am an American. By the grace of a benevolent God or by the accident of fate, I am an American. As an American, I enjoy all the privileges granted by our constitution written many years ago by descendants of these original dreamers. Our Constitutional rights grant us more freedoms than are enjoyed by any other society in the world.

We can read what we want and not be censored. We can express our religious faith without being persecuted. We can move about freely within our country. We can seek justice for our grievances. We can speak openly and freely.

Recently, we experienced an election in which all candidates expressed their opinions without fear of reprisal. The right to speak so candidly exists in very few nations. Our election campaigns are, in a way, a celebration of our right to speak as we will. I am using that same privilege now as I celebrate our freedoms and urge that we extend our concept of local community beyond its present narrow limits. 

That we strive to understand our more distant neighbors, recognizing and respecting those of different races, religions and political views and accepting the right for others to believe or not to believe theologies and philosophies that may be different for our own.

That we acknowledge the plight of the unemployed and dispossessed is ultimately linked to our ability to succeed and prosper. That suffering anywhere is suffering everywhere.

To me, the challenge of citizenship is depicted as all citizens working together and attempting to make our country and our world a better and safer place to live.

If people do not work together for the good of all, this would not be a united nation but an assortment of individuals whose only goal would be to satisfy their own needs and pleasures. We must come together and be united in order not only to help ourselves achieve the most we can, but also to help all people to become the best they can be. When Benjamin Franklin, long ago warned, “United we stand, divided we fall,” little did his followers realize that he had issued the perpetual challenge of American citizenship.

Let us accept that challenge. Let the dream live on in all of us, citizens of America.”

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What do you think?

My support comes from my subscribers and I really appreciate it. If you enjoy what the Kindness Boomerang newsletter provides, please feel free to share this link on your social media. Subscriptions can be either free or paid. It’s a simple process of sharing your email address. Thanks for your support!

For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Schools teach kids how to read, write and do math. But what about a class on how to be kind? (This was my favorite part of teaching the last few years of my career.)

In some places, it is. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with the story.

#believe  #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

And that’s a good thing…

Memorial Day weekend seems like a good time to share these videos of Mr. Rogers. He had a special way of connecting to people of all ages. In the second video he reminds us to stop and take 10 seconds to focus on all of the people who have helped you to get where you are today…such a cool reminder of our blessings…and that’s a good thing…

What I am reading…

This week I am rereading a favorite - Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection.

The Amazon description is as follows: “ For over a decade, Brené Brown has found a special place in our hearts as a gifted mapmaker and a fellow traveler. She is both a social scientist and a kitchen-table friend whom you can always count on to tell the truth, make you laugh, and, on occasion, cry with you. And what’s now become a movement all started with The Gifts of Imperfection, which has sold more than two million copies in thirty-five different languages across the globe.

What transforms this book from words on a page to effective daily practices are the ten guideposts to wholehearted living. The guideposts not only help us understand the practices that will allow us to change our lives and families, they also walk us through the unattainable and sabotaging expectations that get in the way.

Brené writes, “This book is an invitation to join a wholehearted revolution. A small, quiet, grassroots movement that starts with each of us saying, ‘My story matters because I matter.’ Revolution might sound a little dramatic, but in this world, choosing authenticity and worthiness is an absolute act of resistance.”

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Freedom.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

How can we embrace and celebrate our freedoms in this country?

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks singing Whenever I Call You Friend....Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

Subscribe now

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

A Facebook memory popped up the other day and it reminded me of something.

The power of positive words.

Here’s the memory from 15 years ago:

“This afternoon I was playing catch with Michael and giving him encouraging words as he tried (and mostly succeeded) catching and throwing a football.

Children easily display their emotions and you could see him beaming as my compliments flowed...I thought later, why as adults do we find complimenting each other such a challenge? It is so easy to do and it yields many benefits for both those that give and those that receive....”

Kind words and sincere compliments…

It seems like such a simple observation and yet think to yourself, how do you react when someone gives you a compliment or encourages you?

Do you find yourself believing the words or do you find ways to doubt those compliments?

The reality is we live in a world where comments can be easily left online and many seem to take “the low road” instead of the encouraging one.

I am not suggesting that you fill your day with pollyanna fluff moments but instead really focus on what you say and how you say it.

Building up others should be our goal each day in life because, let's face it, life has many challenging situations and what makes you feel capable of facing those challenges is often the belief someone else planted in you first.

A kind word, a genuine compliment, a moment of encouragement — these cost nothing, yet they can change everything.

So today, be the voice that lifts someone up. You may never know just how much they needed to hear it.

Share Kindness Boomerang Newsletter

For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Encouragement.

“It's amazing what a little encouragement can do.” - Winnie Harlow

When can we encourage others and how can we do more of it?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video

One of my all-time favorite “smile” videos…When 13-year-old Gavin Mabes and some friends went to a skate park, nobody was there except Carter Bruynell, who was celebrating his 5th birthday with his mom. That's when something unexpected happened. Steve Hartman has their story on the road.

#spreadkindness #smilevideos

What I am reading…

This week I am enjoying Jan Richardson’s How The Stars Get In Your Bones: A Book of Blessings. Here is the Amazon description: “With poetic honesty, How the Stars Get in Your Bones turns toward the hard things that each of us knows: the grief, loss, fear, and weariness that we live with. In her distinctive style, Richardson invites us to perceive what makes its home here, too: the joy, solace, grace, and, most of all, the love that moves through it all, illuminating and transforming what seems most hidden or hopeless.

“A blessing has the ability to enter into our pain,” Richardson writes in the opening pages, “not to dismiss or gloss over it but to name it, and to name also the love that connects us and holds us: the love that is continually working for our wholeheartedness.”

What I am watching…

I love watching PBS and I have discovered a new series to enjoy. Now, more than ever, storytelling helps us appreciate our differences while reminding us of the humanity that unites us. Season 9 of Stories from the Stage features all new storytellers sharing a catalogue of the human experience: their best memories, deepest fears, most vulnerable moments, and so much more.

Mind/Body connections…

This guided mindfulness meditation is for healing the mind, body, and soul. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s John Denver singing Take Me Home, Country Roads….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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I have been trying to focus on mindfulness more and how to incorporate that in my everyday life. I realize that the term “mindfulness” is an overused term and sometimes an equally confusing idea.

I do love how the author of the book Resilient Grieving: Finding Strength and Embracing Life After a Loss That Changes Everything, Lucy Hone, PhD, defines mindfulness. In essence, there are two types: “formal mindfulness practice, which involves daily meditation and breathing exercises and informal mindfulness practice, which involves bringing mindful attention to all aspects of our day-to-day lives. This means making an effort to be aware of our thoughts, emotions, feelings and the environment on a moment-to-moment basis and to keep our minds focused on the present rather than wandering aimlessly.”

Setting aside specific times of the day for prayer and meditation help me to stay focused and grateful. When I do that, gratitude flows easier and allows for me to take the moments in life for what they are - actual moments and experiences, not just a blur of everyday activities.

I want to share with you one of those specific moments.

Back in May of 2022, I found myself making a batch of cookies with my 93 year old mother. Despite some health challenges the last few months of her life, she lived an independent and fulfilling existence.

A fall in her garage a few months earlier had resulted in a fracture in her right shoulder. As a family, we all helped my Mom as best we could, including finding an in-home senior health service that allowed her to stay right where she wanted to be - living in her apartment and not in a nursing home.

My mother and I had been part of a community volunteer group that recognized local caregivers by baking homemade treats as a thank you. It was a natural fit for both of us - we both loved to bake and being able to do that together and the acts of kindness that resulted, were a combination that was a win-win.

For the months after her injury, she was sidelined and forced to be my “supervisor” as we baked. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed these moments together.

On this particular Saturday afternoon Mom seemed to have more strength and energy. She put her walker beside her and insisted she could help me this time. I can’t explain what I felt at that moment other than I had a feeling I needed to take in every word, every feeling and every emotion on a moment by moment basis. 

The feel of her hands as we rolled the cookies into little balls, using the mixing bowl I remembered as a child. Gently placing them on her cookie sheets, carefully pressing them down. I knew that what I was experiencing was special, even though it was something we had done so many times throughout my life. 

We hugged each other after I took the cookies out of the oven and each enjoyed eating a few (just to make sure they were okay)...That simple experience was filled with love - the love my Mom emitted so freely and effortlessly every day of her life.

That was also the last time we made cookies together.

I know what you are probably thinking… sad story, right?

Well..I suppose it could be and if I’m brutally honest, it has been at times.

But now, all these years later, I realize that it doesn’t have to be. I can choose to make it what I want it to be.

That is one of the many beauties of mindfulness. If practiced with intention and purpose you can take those “ordinary” moments and focus on the beauty that lies within them.

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The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Tradition.

“Traditions are like a love note from home that your children and grandchildren will take with them into their future.” — Janet Hovorka

What are your family’s favorite recipes? What are the “stories” behind those recipes?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video

Twenty-six-year-old Ana Duarte said that as a child, she and her mother were homeless in Florida. Now, she has found an apartment for her and her mom. Steve Hartman has the story.

#spreadkindness #smilevideos

Lillies of the Valley…

In 1977, a grandmother shares lilies of the valley with her newlywed granddaughter. Four decades later, those same lilies transform Nancy Jorgensen’s spring garden while connecting three generations of women, each shaped by different freedoms and constraints. Her Nana’s legacy lives on in blooms that represent resilience, growth and evolving norms.

Mind/Body connections…

If you are feeling restless, listen to this guided meditation to ease your mind and body into falling asleep. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here’s Eva Cassidy singing Over the Rainbow….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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Sometimes you find yourself searching for words in today’s chaotic world and you become literally speechless.

After publishing my newsletter every week for over two years straight, I recently stopped for a few weeks. I needed to take a step back from writing for a variety of reasons.

I had frankly run out of words and I needed to take a break to see if I could get some of them back.

I searched for my voice in many places - by disconnecting from social media on my phone, watching less news, praying and meditating more, going for daily walks and listening to my favorite musicians.

At the last minute this past weekend I decided to attend a two-day retreat at St. Anthony’s - a local spiritual retreat center. The last time I went there was 1998, when I belonged to a Catholic singles group. Back, as my son would say, “in the last century…”

So what was I expecting to find by going back there?

Well, I discovered that when you disconnect from the noise of the world, you start to notice what really matters. Sometimes I think we don’t realize how much noise we actually exist in until we purposely remove ourselves from it…

Built more than 100 years ago, St. Anthony’s was a house of studies for the Capuchins. Walking the halls of the building, observing the floor worn down by the feet of thousands of people who prayed while walking those halls…that was a moving experience for me.

One of the creative exercises we did at the retreat, which was titled “A Deeper Spirituality Within the Heart”, was to write a letter to ourselves answering the question, “What are you seeking?”

Here’s what I wrote:

“Dear Me,

What are you seeking? Maybe it is to find your voice and your focus again…

Remember when you literally lost your voice after the thyroid cancer surgery? But that was temporary, as is each trial we find ourselves going through in life.

Remember to focus on each beautiful moment because there are so many of them. Then, when you are going through the more challenging moments, you can focus on replaying the beautiful ones in your mind.

Every moment is the opportunity to become tomorrow’s beautiful memory…

So keep focusing…and don’t forget your voice while you are doing it.”

During the retreat I was blessed to meet some wonderful people and feel a little closer to God.

Plus I rediscovered my voice and my words.

I came looking for a little peace. I left feeling held, healed and quietly transformed.

If your soul has been whispering that it needs a retreat - listen to it.

I’m so glad I did.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

The word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Solitude.

"Nowhere you can go is more peaceful – more free of interruptions – than your own soul." — Marcus Aurelius

What can you go to find more solitude in this noisy world?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each issue I will feature a new photo. Here is this one’s:

Our Smile video is…

Nine-year-old Hayden Stine was born without most of her right arm. When she went to a Denver Summit women's soccer home opener, she saw a player, Carson Pickett, just like her. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with a story about the importance of role models.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

The poetry path…

This poem was shared on my retreat. It spoke to me in so many ways.

She let go.
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.
She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort.
There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

by Safire Rose

Mind/Body connections…

Calm your heart and release anxiety with this relaxing 20-minute guided Christian meditation featuring beautiful waterfall views Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here's a touching concert with Michael J. Fox (my all-time favorite actor) and Coldplay singing Fix You….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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This past week I attended a professional conference for the first time since 2019.

When I first registered for it a few months ago, I let that thought sink in for awhile.

2019…That was only seven years ago but in many ways, it feels like several lifetimes ago.

Almost every year that I taught - starting in the early 1990’s - I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a yearly professional conference that focused on school libraries and technology. Those conferences usually took place in March or April.

I enjoyed the time with my colleagues, learning new ways to support our school library programs and taking those fresh ideas back with me…It was like a “reboot” of your brain and I loved how it got my creative juices flowing for the remainder of the school year.

But in March of 2020 all of that changed when the pandemic happened.

Conferences, along with everything else, took a pause that lasted longer than any of us could have imagined.

It’s strange how you come to expect something will take place and then it suddenly stops and years go by and then you are given another opportunity…another chance to experience something like it again.

But this time you are in another stage of life, yet you find yourself feeling many of the same thoughts, and hopes, that you had before, in a totally different setting and a totally different time…

This time it was an annual gathering of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Instead of being surrounded by public school librarians, I found myself in another gathering of an equally dedicated group of people - those involved with religious service.

Since 2021 I have been working part time in a beautiful little church - a special place called Grace.

There were so many positive experiences I had this past week at this gathering.

I met people in person that I had only met online in classes and cohorts.

There was beautiful live music. Nothing can replace live music.

And then there were the services which were moving, prayerful experiences. A roomful of people who were sharing spiritual moments individually and together, at the same time.

Workshops presented me with new ideas and perspectives, fresh eyes from people who shared their stories and their faith journeys.

I was inspired and that is really what conferences are supposed to do. The great ones anyway…and using those standards, I would consider this a great one.

My room I stayed in did not have a television but instead offered an outdoor view of the surrounding natural beauty of a serene lake. I took time to walk around and reflect, while the sounds of birds and smell of the wind filled my senses.

The poet Mary Oliver says, “Maybe the desire to make something beautiful is the piece of God that is inside of each of us.”

I never would have imagined in 2019 that my next conference would be filled with pastors instead of librarians, hymns instead of technology demos, prayers instead of lesson plans.

But maybe that's the beauty of it.

Life doesn't always return us to where we were—it moves us forward to where we need to be. And in this unexpected place, surrounded by people dedicated to service and beauty and hope, I found exactly what I needed. The reboot I'd been missing. The creative spark reignited.

The reminder that no matter what work we do, if we do it with love and intention, we're making something beautiful.

We're carrying that piece of God with us, and sharing it with the world.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

This week’s word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each issue of my newsletter on one word.

This time our word is Community.

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions, can transform the world.”

What does the word community mean to you?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

One of Steve Hartman’s favorite stories took a bittersweet turn when Dan Peterson died at 86. "On the Road" tributes a man who overcame his personal grief thanks to a little girl who gave him a reason to smile again.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

TED Talks - A New Way to Think About Your Life’s Purpose

Through personal loss and professional milestones, Meghan’s evolving purpose has shaped not only her own healing but the spaces and systems she’s worked to improve. She invites others to challenge the idea that life’s purpose should be fixed – and instead, embrace its evolution through life’s seasons.

Mind/Body connections…

Wash away stress in the silence and stillness with this 15-minute Christian centering prayer and meditation. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in many ways. Here's The Choir and Orchestra of St. Lillian singing Here I Am Lord….Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

Sometimes it takes just a few moments to pause and reset. I find myself purposely trying to experience more of those moments lately.

It could be a reflection of my work at church, the bible study I have been attending during Lent, my interactions with family and friends, the religious class I am taking online…there are a number of sources that inspire me.

Our interim pastor at church recently shared a video that I had not encountered before and it introduced me to Brother David Steindl-Rast, a 99-year-old author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — known and loved around the world for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness.

Instead of starting my days scrolling my phone or watching the news, I now watch this video first, then go for a walk and maybe some light yoga. It requires getting up earlier but I am finding this practice worth it.

I invite you to watch this and give it a try…even if it is for just a day or two. See if your view of the world softens a bit.

“Let the gratefulness overflow into blessings all around you…”

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

This week’s word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each week on one word.

This week’s word is Grateful.

“A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.”
~Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

What are you grateful for?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Ever since Kylie Brown's parents brought home a duck named Snowflake, the two formed a close bond. Now, the two go everywhere together. Steve Hartman has their story on the road.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

TED Talks…

The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. An inspiring lesson in slowing down, looking where you're going, and above all, being grateful.

Mind/Body connections…

Getting into a state not only of gratitude and appreciation, but also love, this practice will help you maintain blissful vibes before dozing off into peaceful sleep. Enjoy!

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in so many ways. Here’s Josh Groban singing “Thankful” - Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Subscribe now

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was 1991 and I was student teaching a class of 4th graders in Proctor, MN. It was also Halloween and my students were excited, not just about the holiday but also about our classroom party scheduled for later that day.

Looking back, I will always be grateful to that cooperating teacher who gave me the freedom to experience every aspect possible within a six week teaching assignment - teaching all subjects (yes - that’s what elementary school teachers do), grading report cards, leading parent/teacher conference meetings…the whole experience.

But during the late morning it started to snow and it was not a light dusting. It was heavy and intense and school administrators decided to close school early and everyone was sent home.

By the time all of the students left and I could make my way back to my dorm room you could barely see in front of your car. The normal 20 minute commute ended up taking over an hour.

I made it back safely and waited out the storm. Little did I know at the time it would be later named the “storm of the century.” After three days, when it finally ended, we found ourselves digging out from 36 inches of snow.

It took a community effort, over the next few weeks, to get the snow removed, people dug out of their homes and life to return back to normal.

My parents were stuck at their cabin by Lake Superior for almost a week and being able to reunite with them gave me great joy and a sense of security I still remember to this day.

Fast forward to March 2026 and where I currently live in central Wisconsin.

This time: another blizzard, another story - this time with different people and situations but basically the same outcome.

Technology helped predict the impending storm. People prepared themselves by grocery shopping and getting their snowblowers ready for action and yet there is nothing like mother nature to remind you how helpless you can still be when you find yourself in the middle of one of her storms.

And then there were all of the people coming together, relying on each other to get through a common experience.

This time when I emerged from the storm I saw the same situation playing out. Neighbors helping neighbors.

Whether shoveling out someone’s driveway or something as simple as a phone call to check on someone, connecting with those around us ends up helping everyone involved.

When we see each other—truly see each other—we remember what matters most. Thirty-five years and hundreds of miles apart, two blizzards taught me the same lesson: we are stronger together.

When we see each other as essential parts of one community, we stop waiting for the storm to remind us.

We check in on our neighbors. We offer help before it's asked. We remember that whatever affects one of us, affects all of us.

The storms will come, but so will the neighbors with shovels, the phone calls checking in, and the shared experience of digging out.

That's community. That's hope.

That's the network of mutuality that holds us all.

And that makes all the difference.

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

This week’s word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each week on one word.

This week’s word is Connection.

“We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.” -The Dalai Lama

How can we connect better with those around us?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Years after the Vietnam War, a veteran who suffered from PTSD found hope and joy in an old carousel he brought back to life. When a recent fire destroyed the businesses around it, he stepped in to give back. Steve Hartman has the update.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Facebook memories

Six years ago in March the world changed forever when Covid-19 entered our lives. This Facebook memory captures a moment in time right as that happened and our school prepared to close for “a few weeks”…Little did we know what lay ahead…

Mind/Body connections…

Win with yoga and this morning yoga routine. Stretch out, energize your body, and set the pace for a great day.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in so many ways. The Summons by John Bell is a beautiful hymn set to the tune of Kelvingrove, a traditional Scottish melody. Its text contains thirteen questions asked by Jesus in the first person. While the initial four stanzas share questions that are in Jesus' voice, the fifth stanza is the singer's response to them. Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” - Amy Poehler

I wanted to dedicate this particular newsletter to the people who are not biologically connected to me and yet are a part of my family - my friends…

There have been many people I have been lucky enough to meet throughout my life - from childhood, adolescence, my college days, the many places I have worked…friends I have met through other friends…those I have met along my health journey…those I have met throughout my son’s life…so many people…so many unique stories, and so many blessings.

My Christmas card list has fluctuated throughout the years and as family and friends depart this world, I still keep their names and addresses on my list. Crossing off their names seems to add to the sadness. Instead I like to draw a little heart by their names. I also like to keep cards and letters too…several of them - They are a great reminder of my many past “lives” and the people that have shared my journey with me along the way.

And then there is my close circle of trusted friends - my “besties”. These are the people I can call in an emergency. People who I can share my deepest thoughts with. People who celebrate my successes and lift me up during my failures. The people who will love me unconditionally, no matter what I am going through and, quite honestly, I have been through a great deal.

One quote I love is “a friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden.” Yes…so true…

The picture I am sharing this week has a fun story behind it. It is of one of my besties, Dianna, who I share a birthday with and who also worked with me (her guidance counselor office was within my school library).

The running joke was that I wore blue latex gloves when I taught - partly because it helped protect me from the many germs I would encounter on a daily basis while helping check out books and teaching technology in an elementary school library. The other reason was that I had (and still have) an intense fear of aggravating my autoimmune illnesses (yes..plural).

My students and the staff of the school became used to my gloves and the gloves became just an extension of me. Mrs. D and her blue gloves. Every so often a new student would enroll and I would get “the look” and the question, “What’s with the gloves?” I would explain simply that they helped keep me healthy and it was funny how often the students would reply, “Actually…that makes sense!”

In life we encounter so many people who have their own “blue gloves”. It may be something easily seen on the outside…or maybe their gloves are found deep within themselves.

Whatever the case may be, having friends who accept and love us for who we are is a wonderful gift. The past few years have made this even more apparent to me.

I hope you reach out and reconnect with the friends in your life. They are a wonderful gift to you…as you are to them…

Oh and the paper mustaches in the picture…well…that is another story!

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

This week’s word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each week on one word.

This week’s word is Heroic.

“Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed.” ~ Bob Riley

Who have been the heroes/heroines in your life?

How can you become someone else’s hero/heroine?

Meet Oreo

I am excited to introduce my newest furry family member… I adopted Oreo, a 6-year-old rescue cat whose previous family didn't want him anymore. We both needed each other, and he's already bringing joy back into my home.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to me after the passing of my cat Oliver. I really appreciate all of the kind words and positive vibes sent my way.

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

Clinton, New Jersey, is known primarily for its old grist mill, its quaint downtown, and its historic…Dave the Rave. Steve Hartman has the story.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

What I am reading…

I just started reading a book recommended by my wonderful friend Bernie. I will miss our conversations and our belly laughs…ironically this book arrived in my mailbox the day I read Bernie’s obituary online.

The Mind/Body Connection section of my newsletter was inspired by her. She was one of my spiritual friends who always reminded me of the powerful connection between our emotional and our physical health. Thank you Bernie…Your spirit and your influence will live on in my life and the lives of many others…

Here’s the Amazon description of The Lotus and the Lily: “A book based on the teachings of Jesus and Buddha. Learn how to create an abundant life by focusing your attention on your connection with the vibrant presence of the divine within.

From the bestselling author of Writing Down Your Soul. Lotus and the Lily offers a new 30-day program for accessing your true creativity, breakthrough thinking, and divine guidance. Janet Conner continues her unique method of deep soul writing by showing readers how to exit their conscious minds, get in touch with their authentic selves, and activate the voice of wisdom within.

For those seeking the riches that lie beyond the popular explanation of the Law of Attraction, Lotus and the Lily cracks the abundance code by linking the wisdom of the inner voice with the surprising parallel teachings of Jesus and Buddha. In a profound yet simple program, Conner sheds radical new light on how to:

• Awaken your inner shaman

• Discover the power of naming your past and your future

• Experience the generative power of your own voice

Each day is reflective of you. Lotus and the Lily is a book with an array of prompts for reading, reflection, writing, exploring, and nourishing one’s soul. Each week Janet Conner takes you through a program of rich exploration and redirects you from asking for things, to creating the receptive conditions that nourish a bountiful life.”

Mind/Body connections…

Join Amy Kuth, M.A., a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and Patient Educator at Mayo Clinic, for a mini laughter yoga session! Laughter yoga combines playful laughter exercises, deep breathing, and gentle movement to receive the therapeutic benefits of laughter.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in so many ways. Here’s the PS 22 Chorus singing “Dream as One” - Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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“Empathy is forgetting oneself in the joys and sorrows of another, so much so that you actually feel that the joy or sorrow experienced by another is your own. Empathy involves complete identification with another.” – Dada Vaswani

For many years I have felt I have been one of those people who could be described as an empath but until recently, I never realized how much so until I read the book, The Empath’s Survival Guide.

Of course, as with many scientific labels, there is a wide range and a spectrum of levels regarding empaths and I’m not going to get into the details of that. However, it was refreshing to learn that how I feel and who I basically have been my entire life, is something that is not only normal but can also be seen as a gift.

As a child I was shy and quiet in school but the opposite at home. When I was around people I knew well and there was not a large crowd, I was talkative and considered quite the conversationalist. I think that continues to this day.

But when I find myself in unfamiliar territory, in large crowds or big meetings, I tend to shut down. Turns out I’m being “overstimulated” and my senses can’t take everything coming at me at once. Just as being an empath means I absorb and feel the positive feelings of someone around me, it also makes me vulnerable to negative feelings as well. That is an entire topic of its own for another day…

Growing up, one of my biggest heroes was Mister Rogers, and as a child I was enthralled with his calmness, the ease in which he took his audience in and out of “make believe” and his ability to empathize with every person (or puppet) he met. Most importantly, he taught, using his empath skills, and showed millions of children the importance of being kind and thoughtful when dealing with others and that feeling your emotions was not only normal but necessary.

As I went through college to learn to become an elementary school teacher and librarian, I found myself going back to his philosophy and I tried to incorporate it, eventually using that in my lessons with my own students. One of my biggest goals over the years was to get my students to see how their interactions with each other, and the world around them, was interconnected. Kindness and compassion should not be seen as exceptional but rather the way we should go about treating others every day. “Treat everyone like it’s their birthday…every day…” was one of my classroom mottos.

In education, as in other fields, I think the “gentle ones’ are not taken as seriously by others and some may even see them as not good leadership material. I think that is a real disservice - the world does not belong to only extroverts. The loudest voice in the room is not necessarily the best one. But as a society, most of us tend to follow that lead and the many gifts that empaths can provide are often overlooked and lost.

Later on, as a parent of an empath, I tried to reassure my son, just as my parents reassured me throughout the years, that being tenderhearted is not a weakness at all. In fact, it is a superpower.

I remember back in my 20’s one of my friends told me she was getting one of her poems published for the first time in a prestigious periodical and I was so excited for her. After we finished jumping up and down with joy, she grabbed my hand and said, “Sheila, you are the first person I told. Do you know why? Because I knew you would be genuinely happy for me!”

And I was - I literally felt her joy and that compliment has stuck with me for all these years. I continue to try to be that type of person and I believe that even if some of us are more naturally inclined to be an empath, we can all still strive to attain that superpower - the ability to treat others as we would want to be treated.

Wouldn’t that be awesome, if we take a just a moment to try and feel what others are going through?

I believe our world could evolve into a much better, kinder place…for all of us…

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For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.

This week’s word is…

In honor of my dear friend and mentor, Sister Agnes, I am choosing to focus each week on one word.

This week’s word is Empathy.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” – Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

What can we do to show more empathy to those around us?

Tranquil Moments…

I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:

This week’s Smile video…

When a little boy showed up alone for a major procedure in Nebraska, an anesthesiologist stepped in. As Steve Hartman reports, she didn't stop there.

#believe #smilevideos #spreadkindnessandlove

Empathy vs. Sympathy

What is the best way to ease someone’s pain and suffering? In this beautifully animated RSA Short, Dr. Brené Brown reminds us that we can only create a genuine empathic connection if we are brave enough to really get in touch with our own fragilities.

This week’s TED Talk

I have watched TED Talks for many years now. I love the wide variety of experiences and opinions TED Talks offer. Here is one I would like to share for this week:

Mind/Body connections…

Discover how to modify kneeling yoga & fitness exercises so you can strengthen & improve flexibility without harming sore knees.

Comedy Lift…

I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…

Music Moments

Music inspires me in so many ways. Here’s Ruthie Henshall, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo (conductor) marking the 50th anniversary of the film Mary Poppins with a singalong medley - Enjoy!

Quote of the week

Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….

The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.

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