Check out this article on how to use “Mindfulness” as a self-care strategy to cope with stress.
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Posted October 30, 2012
Check out this article on how to use “Mindfulness” as a self-care strategy to cope with stress.
Posted October 9, 2012
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.” I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up, and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So I jogged over to him, and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.” He looked at me and said, “Hey thanks!” There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before, but we talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend, and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, “Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!” He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak. On graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech, so I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!” He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. “Thanks,” he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach — but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.” I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.” I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.
Note: I do not know the original source of this story and who wrote it, but it has been said that it is a fictious work. Regardless, it is a powerful story with a message that I think every person who reads it can be moved by.
You may not have any control over the words and actions of other people, but you have 100% control over your own words and actions. They can be used for good or for bad. To lift someone up and encourage them or tear them down. Which will you choose?
Posted October 8, 2012
Each year TrendMicro holds a video contest called “What’s Your Story?” How it works is people submit videos that fall under one of the three categories:
There is a $10,000 prize awarded for the best overall video and cash prizes to each best-in-category video for individual and school entries. Last year, a man named Mark C. Eshleman (feat. Tyler Joseph) submitted a video titled “Where Are You?” that ended up winning the grand prize for the year 2011. Even though it’s a year outdated, I have to share it with you all because it is a simple yet awesome video with a powerful message.
Here is what Mark had to say about the video he submitted:
“The internet has such a big impact on young people and if we were going to make a powerful video, we wanted to tackle what seemed to be the biggest issue: being a good online citizen. We wanted to reach out with a positive message and do it in a creative way. We can only hope that “Where Are You?” will make someone rethink their online life.”
Now that you’ve read all about this video, I imagine you want to watch it for yourself so you can see just how cool it is and even share it with your friends. Remember that this is all in support of national bullying prevention month! It doesn’t take much to make an impact; just standing up and speaking out about bullying can rock someone’s world…. in a good way!
To check out the 2012 video winners, visit this site.
Posted October 5, 2012
Posted October 4, 2012
All of those things and many more make the month of October a ton of fun and here at the YouthLine we always encourage fun (as long as it’s safe and healthy of course). But with all the craziness going on, we don’t want anyone to forget that the month of October is also….
Make a commitment to yourself that you are going to take a stand this month in support of bullying prevention. Does taking a stand mean that you have to stand up to a bully? No definitely not. You can take a stand in any of the following simple ways:
Posted September 20, 2012
Any X Factor fans out there?! Jillian Jensen’s story and performance was very touching. She has struggled with being bullied throughout the years but is rising above it and now making a difference in other people’s lives.