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Lisa Napoli's Blog, page 52
May 15, 2011
3goodthings
*nancy aldis and leigh and anne and leland showing up at Idlewild (surprises) *seeing Alison and meeting Peter
*Shirley's eggs and the ongoing wedding house party
3goodthings
Today in NYC at Idlewild Books at 4pm
See you on W. 19th street?
May 11, 2011
Homeless Chicago Man Donates Thousands to Down-On-Her-Luck Banker
Homeless Chicago Man Donates Thousands to Down-On-Her-Luck Banker
Updated: Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 8:03 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 7:49 PM CDT
By Craig Wall, FOX Chicago News
Chicago – A year ago, everything was going right for a woman we'll call Sandy.
She had a good job at a bank in the suburbs.
She and her 10-year-old son had a safe home.
But then the world came crashing down around the 39-year-old. She lost her job. She lost her house. And she and her son moved into her truck. Police found her and DCFS threatened to take away her son if she didn't find a safe place to stay.
She moved into a hotel with the help of a social worker who paid for a few nights stay with her own money. That's when Sandy's night in shining armor showed up. And he's kept showing up, every day, paying her hotel bill, so she and her son can stay off the streets.
But Sandy's Good Samaritan isn't a Chicago big shot. He isn't living in a Loop highrise. He doesn't even have a job.
Sandy's Good Samaritan is Curtis Jackson, who's been homeless since 2004. He pays for Sandy's hotel room because she used to treat him with dignity and kindness when she did have a house — and he pays for it by panhandling and giving all the money to her.
"All I can do is get out there and put a sign in my hand, or put a cup in my hand and ask people to help me out, and everything I get, except maybe bus fare and something to eat, I give it to her," Jackson said as he stood at the corner of 55th and Harlem.
Jackson pays the nightly bill by pouring his bucket of change on the hotel counter. Since December, he's raised $9,000, and he's given it all to Sandy. He said sometimes 40, 70, a hundred cars go by before someone gives him a few pennies or a few bucks.
Sandy can't believe it.
"I've donated to charities, I've helped other homeless families — never realizing that one day we'd be in this situation," she said. "So thank God that we did have an angel waiting for us."
Jackson said he's a man of faith; homeless, but not hopeless, and he's got some words of wisdom for the people he sees bustling by every day.
"I have God. I'm one of the richest man's on this earth, cause I have God," he said. "Money is not my master. That's what's wrong with this world: money is it's master."
Sandy said she doesn't think she'll ever be able to repay Jackson, who's become like a brother.
"I'm out here for a purpose: to help someone, and that's all I'm trying to do is help someone that needs help right at this moment," he said. "And once she doesn't need help anymore, I'll move on to something else."
#3goodthings
that hummous
Mitch showing up
talking to that nice spirited lady, Jacqueline
#3goodthings
May 10, 2011
Three good things
A movement's afoot, apparently…..all because of the mention of the Three Good Things/positive psychology exercise I learned in "happiness class" that 
. Mine yesterday, btw, were: the sky while I was swimming, Yvette's class, and cooking potatoes.
Dear Lisa,
I wanted to let you know that you've started a revolution. I was listening to NPR on the way to work earlier this year and heard your discussion about the Three Good Things concept. I started doing the exercise since that day and even setup a page for it http://www.facebook.com/3lilthings which has really helped a lot of people. Currently there are 156 friends on the page, but there are way more people that do the exercise by commenting on their friends post.
Thought you would like to know the enormous positive impact you've made in my life and many others.
Thank you!
Abrahim Nadimi
May 9, 2011
"See to it that your world is round"
Wisdom from this website I read:
Remember when the world was flat?
Ignorance created that flat world out of one that was perfectly round.
Countless courageous adventurers embarked on tremendous explorations
with thousands of navigational errors
to turn that flat world into the round one that we enjoy and travel today.
What part of your world is still flat?
What part of your world is still trapped in old patterns of ignorance?
Human beings have a few fundamental requirements known as Commons.
These are the resources that are common and essential to life.
They are earth, water and air for all life, and one other particularly essential to human life. Humans require freedom in order to develop hope;
to set and establish their visions and perform the daily tasks in alignment with their dreams. Commons
— including freedom
— are essential to human life and are therefore sacred as a birthright.
Expanding human paradigms beyond the limitations of old fears
requires the same enthusiastic explorations that turned the flat world round.
How do you achieve this freedom and adventure in your world on a daily basis?
How do you take charge of and enable your dreams
by insuring that they can be accomplished with your skillset.
Where do you step off the edge of the horizon
— beyond the limits of old established fears
— and sail forth into the lands of your inspirations?
See to it that you exercise this impulse daily.
See to it that you draw new maps of your world often.
See to it that you are the captain of you own ship.
See to it that you cherish the Commons
and exercise the Freedom that you were born to have.
See to it that your world is round.
May 8, 2011
James Kao's amazing photos of Bhutan
I met James Kao at the Traveler's Bookcase bookstore about a month ago; he drove all the way to West Hollywood from Long Beach on a week night for a Radio Shangri-La reading (If you live in LA, you know that's devotion, but Bhutan seems to do that.) That night, he showed a few of us some of his gorgeous photographs of Bhutan from his trip there in 2010. I share them with you now. He doesn't shoot photos for a living but man is he good!
May 6, 2011
No-frills mindfulness
My friend the journalist Kristin Zilm just posted this nice story from UC-San Diego's Center for Mindfulness, which was inspired by the stress reduction therapy pioneered by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.
