Vampire wouldn't tell, Cyborg wouldn't know. *

Years ago my friend taught a lesson in Relief Society (for those of you who are not Mormon, Relief Society is held during the third hour of our church meetings and it is a class of only women. (I will not get into the history just now - but hey, if you want to know, I will). The lessons are a bit different from Sunday School, which sticks strictly to the scriptures. And there are different teachers for each week, It's pretty cool, you should come sometime...unless you are a boy - then we won't let you).

Before I forget why I started this post...

So years ago, my friend gave a lesson. I can't quite remember the exact topic, but I remember a concept that she brought up during the lesson. She stated that she had a "feel good box". It was a small box she had and inside was filled with letters and notes from people where they said something nice about her. She would put all of these things into the box as she received them. Then when she was feeling down she would go to her box and look through some of the nice things that people had said to/about her and they would help to bring her out of her funk.

I remember really liking this idea. There are so many times in our lives where we tend to forget just how amazing we are. There are some of us who constantly forget this. From that moment, I began to collect the little things people would write.

In Relief Society (again - it's pretty cool - come) we have a board with little baby clothespins and then during class a box with strips of paper is sent around, we call these love notes. You can write whatever you want to whomever you want. The nice things is, we're all adults so you won't have anyone writing anything mean and petty. Instead, you take a moment to tell someone they looked nice, or they did a good job teaching or speaking, or just to say you think they are amazing. The whole idea is that everyone will just be sharing the love.

This works well for me, because it provides a way to get new things to put into my "feel good box". The other day I was having a bad day at work. Just cranky, nothing happened. I was e-mailing back and forth with my contact for some educational stuff and not once, but twice she threw in a compliment. Apparently I am "a doll". It reminded me of the "feel good box". It wasn't just the two little compliments that helped change my mood at work, but it certainly helped and they can be found in my "feel good box".

I think everyone should have their own little "feel good box", so when you are feeling lonely or sad or just find yourself in some kind of rut or funk, you have a place you can go where you can remind yourself that this moment won't last. You can be reminded that people love you and why they love you.

I don't often issue challenges or assign homework - but here it goes. I want you to designate a box, a container, a cork board, anything that can hold innumerable "love notes" to be your "feel good box". If you want, you can take a picture of it, do a blog post, and paste the link in the comments so I can come and check it out.

...do it. You won't regret it.

The Chocolateer

A few weeks ago I went on chocolate strike. Obviously for those of you who know me you know I haven't eaten chocolate in twelve years, so it wasn't that kind of strike. Ever since I started this job I have made it a point to have a candy dish, part of me feels that maybe I have this job simply for the candy dish (I have quite the collection now). I have purchased all sorts of chocolates over the last three and half years, but at the beginning of this month I had had it! My chocolate would disappear in the middle of the night! I would come in to work and there would be half the amount that had been in there when I had left the day before. Seriously folks?! That's just rude. So as I stood in the grocery store aisle and looked at the $10 bag of candy (cause I buy the super big bag) I thought, "Why do I keep spending my money for these piglets?" Cause seriously, someone was coming to my desk and helping themselves, they weren't even coming during normal business hours. So - I stopped. All this week I have been meaning to buy another bag, I figure after a few weeks of an empty candy dish I could start back up and put some in sparingly, but I kept forgetting. This morning I got in and jumped right in to work (that happens when there are 5 people standing at your desk as you walk in). As the people left, I looked over and noticed that my candy dish was full. Is it odd/sad for me to say that that is the nicest thing anyone has done for me this week (at work)? So of course I had to find out who it was because I wanted to say 'thank you'. I called the usual suspects, but all of them denied it. Then Wanda suggested asking the Helpdesk guy, so I took a chance on an unknown kid* and sent him an e-mail. Turns out it was him! I feel like that was super nice, and now I will be thinking of something nice to do in return!