Hello dear friends - Since the tragic events of March 11th in Japan, it has been difficult for me to live life as usual - in the forefront of my mind, my actions & my every day life, my thoughts continually turn to the people of Japan and the thousands who have been directly affected by these events and the loss they are coping with.
I am very familiar with loss and the many ways it can show up, uninvited, into our lives. In December, 2005 one week post divorce from my husband, the home my daughters and I were living in caught fire. We were home at the time and while we were able to safely get out of the home, the financial, emotional, psychological and physical loss we experienced was traumatic & devastating. We had nothing left but each other, and what ever hope I could dig deep for that would be sufficient enough for the 3 of us to rebuild our lives upon. The good news is my husband, (my girls' daddy) and I did re-marry oneanother and together day by day, year by year since that night we've been rebuilding our lives, with hope as our foundation.
Have you ever found yourself with uninvited loss showing up in your life, and having to dig deep for hope?
Brene Brown eloquently describes hope as a thought process, with our emotions playing only a supporting role. This thought process is made up of goals, pathways, and agency.
Simply hope happens when
- we have the ability the set realistic goals (I know where I want to go)
- we are able to figure out how to achieve those goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative routes (I know how to get there, I'm persistent, and I can tolerate disapointment and try again.)
- we believe in ourselves (I can do this!)
(You may purchase her book to learn more).
With such tremendous loss, how do the people of Japan begin to restore hope in their lives? How can I, a small business owner, in my small corner of the world send hope to the people of Japan? Will my small expression of hope make a difference? Can what I do help them believe in their everyday life again? My answer came in the form of developing
the "20/Twenty Project" -
from
Monday, March 28th thru
Sunday April 3rd
at
you will receive twenty percent (20%) off your purchase price, AND twenty percent (20%) of your entire purchase will be donated to the save the children fund for Japan.
If you wish to make a direct donation to this fund you may do so here
Helen Keller said it best:
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
We hope you will join Terri Conrad Designs in doing the one thing we can do to help the efforts of the Save the Children fund and thank you with heartfelt gratitude.
With hope all things are possible.
