Geoffrey James, award-winning journalist and author of Inc.com’s Sales Source column, put out a list of “10 Questions That Create Success“. They’re fabulous. My favorites are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

I’d like to add one more:

11. Have I treated myself with love and kindness?

I do believe living each day–each moment–with these questions in mind will lead to a more joyful, meaningful life. What do you think?

Welcome Life Vest Inside! And thank you for promoting kindness!  Here’s a video from their website about the power and reach one act of kindness can have.

Do you work to bring more joy, kindness or love into the world? Submit a listing here.

Come out for some Joy & Juicy Inspiration this Saturday with Women of Visionary Influence! I’ll be speaking, and so will the fabulous Susan Glavin of Be The Gift.

Saturday January 7, 2012 at The Melting Pot (downtown Portland near 5th and Park)
11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Come at 11 to meet and greet!
$15 for WOVI Members, $25 for Guests, Includes lunch

Seating is limited. Reserve your ticket now.

Registration closes at noon on Friday January 6, 2012.

Picking up balloons at Dollar Tree

My dear friend and fellow spreader of joy Dana Layon-Damara of Zen Flow Yoga and I, along with our kids, went out to pick up 75 smiley face balloons today. Add those to the 20 already in house and there are now 95 big yellow smiles filling my living room (aka: The Joy Team office).

These balloons, each accompanied with a specially-made card, are destined to to spread joy to every single patient spending Christmas in the hospital at Legacy Salmon Creek.  The cards carry simple wishes of joy and love and will be signed by several folks tomorrow before each are attached to a balloon. We’ll be delivering these bright bundles on Friday to Legacy Salmon Creek and the good people working there will pass them out to each patient on Christmas Eve. Our hope is that these small tokens will bring big cheer to not only the patients, but also to the hospital staff.

A big shout out to Seth (wearing the Santa hat above), one of two managers at The Civic Dollar Tree on West Burnside in Portland. He went out of his way to help by driving around and picking up enough smiley face balloons to fill our order.  He had them filled and waiting for us when we got there.

And some more love to Camille Hollingsworth and CRAVE Portland!  The raffle she held at the CRAVE Chat last month raised $88 for The Joy Team–and almost completely paid for this holiday cheer project.

I am grateful for water. World Gratitude Day

September 21st was World Gratitude Day.  We took the opportunity to express gratitude for some things on a walk through Portland, Oregon:

• water at a public drinking fountain
• books at the public library
• farmers at a farmers market
• public art at a mural
• public transportation at a bus stop
• Goodwill (and goodwill) at a Goodwill storefront

Chalk the Walks on August 23rd

Here’s a FUN way to spread joy that the whole family can be part of. All you need is a little sidewalk chalk and about 10 minutes on August 23rd.

Chalk the Walks (a project of The Joy Team) is all about spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the magical power of sidewalk chalk.

Remember when you were a kid and you’d draw pictures and write happy thoughts with chalk in your driveway and down the sidewalks of your  street? And the adults always smiled when they read the big, pastel-colored messages? This is just like that. Only we’re bigger now. And we don’t have to go in the house when the street lights go out.

The idea is as simple as it was in childhood: write happy messages, have fun doing it, spread some joy while you’re at it.

Then, share your lovely creation by posting it on the Chalk the Walks Facebook page and Tweet about it with #chalkthewalks. By the end of the day, we’ll have a fabulous collection of images from (hopefully) all over the U.S. (or even the world!) spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the playful, magical power of sidewalk chalk.

Fun, yes?  Yes.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get some chalk!

Need some ideas for messaging? Try some of these.

Happy Swings

A Bay Area group called Oh San Fran is doing some interesting things to spread joy.

Their Happiness Project 1.o :Swings is lightening hearts and sprinkling smiles throughout San Francisco by putting up simple, wooden board swings in public places. Brilliant.

I happen to be of the mind that anything is possible; however, I do not believe you can swing for any length of time without it lifting your spirits.

Even the process of hanging the swings looks fun.

Another fabulous project of theirs: Forever Stamp. They put up a couple of home-made containers near mail boxes with free Mother’s Day cards and pre-stamped envelopes. Love it.

Bet Mom does, too.

Write Mom

I just found the invitation to join this FREE call in my inbox tonight.  Looks like these two women, Gabby and Christine, have totally changed their lives to become two of the happiest and free people they know.  And they’re sharing their 3 keys to Having Happiness, Love, Freedom & Success.

Hey, sounds good to me.  I signed up.  And I thought you might be interested in it, too.  Visit SummerOfHappy.com to learn more and sign up for the free call on June 9th. Busy that day? Register anyway and get a link to the recording so you can listen in on your schedule.

Thanks Gabby and Christine for spreading joy!

Dana Layon's Weekly Om

If you want to be happy, there are a more than a few things you’ll need to accept, just as they are. The people in our lives are very possibly one of the most challenging things to accept “as is”.

“If only he would do this…”

“Why can’t she just see it this way?”

“I wish he was more like…”

These are not thoughts that lead us to joy.

Cultivating acceptance, on the other hand, is one way to live a joyful life. We have a lot more room for happiness when judgement isn’t taking up residence in our heads and hearts.

Dana Layon, a local yogini, beautiful soul and dear friend of mine, writes a Weekly Om sharing her insights and experiences. Last week’s does a wonderful job of expressing the value of accepting the people in our lives just as they are. Read it here.

If it speaks to you, you can sign up for your very own Weekly Oms here.

Tonight at 7:30 pm at Lucy Activewear she’s releasing book 4 of a 7 book series of her Weekly Oms relating to the 7 chakras. If you’re in the mood to connect with some wonderful people, I recommend attending. Click here for more details.

One way to be happy is to talk nicely to yourself.  Words have great power. Using positive words when talking about yourself empowers you–words like smart, kind, resourceful, beautiful. On the flip side, when you talk about yourself using words like stupid, worthless, ugly, fat, and incompetent you can bring yourself down so low you’re knee-high to a grasshopper.

Try looking in a mirror and saying both sets of words to yourself. See how you feel after each.

The forward thinking people at Think TV are promoting Talk Nicely To Yourself Week, April 11 – 17. We think it’s an excellent idea.