Day 9: Freedom, Day 10: Disarmament

Good Morning Ambassadors!

Begin today by considering the "Butterfly Effect," the concept that something as seemingly insignificant as a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can impact the weather in another part. The flapping wings cause an atmospheric change that then sets off a series of events that ultimately leads to something significant happening. Like the butterfly effect, one small, kind act can set off a series of positive events.

As I have been telling you each day near the bottom of each post, promoting your compassionate acts helps with this. Each act starts its own ripple of positive energy so each act needs to be promoted in order to have the most benefit. Understanding this, at International Kindness Team Headquarters we have come to believe that it is not a few large acts of compassion that make the most difference. No, it's the tens of thousands of small acts that make the most positive change.

With this in mind, your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to complete a very, very small action of care, concern, warmth, or love that does not require a lot of you. Think of this action as being a minor tune-up on the engine of the universe. In its "small-ness" it may almost seem insignificant. But as a "tune-up" it is part of an ongoing maintenance effort that prevents a major problem from happening down the line.

If you take this concept into your heart, you will find that these small acts are not just compassionate things you do, they are an attitude you carry in all of your interactions, including with yourself. Thinking this way, every moment provides you an opportunity to start ripples of compassion.

Understanding this, I implore you to summarize your small act on theCompassion Report Map, to tweet it with the hashtag #CompassionGames2015, to post it on Facebook and other social media sites you use, and to sing it from your rooftops.

Let's get that Butterfly Effect going!

Good luck, ambassadors.

(This concept may be beyond the understanding of children, especially the youngest ones. Still, I encourage you to demonstrate the concept with a body of water and small pebbles. This can be something as small as a tub with only one or two inches of water. Allow the water surface to be still and then drop in a pebble, pointing out the ripples that radiate from the point the pebble entered the water. Show how the ripples spread, influencing more and more of the water. Then, see if you can help the children make the leap from water and pebbles to kind actions, thoughts and attitudes. Use your wisdom to help guide this process.)

Secret Agent of Compassion             Mission 009 - Sept 19, 2015

Good Morning Ambassadors of Compassion! There are three days left in this year's Compassion Games, but you surely know that there is no end to the importance of promoting care, concern, warmth, and love. As you begin your day today, visual your inner core of compassionate fuel as a warm ball of energy radiating out from you. With your core radiating compassionate energy, engage intoday's mission, if you choose to accept it. Please reconnect with someone from your past. Consider this an opportunity to clean up some unfinished business or just a little push, even an excuse if you need it, to look up someone you'd like to see. Start by thinking what it would be like for you to hear from someone who has lost touch with you, specifically someone you'd really like to hear from. Is it an old classmate, a distant friend, someone who has moved away, a relative? Having imagined that, think for whom you'd like to provide that kind of a positive surprise. Make a list of people you haven't seen for some time or those whom you miss. The list need not be long. Next, choose one of these people and take steps to reach her/him. Any style of communication is fine but you will get more from this mission if it extends beyond Facebook, email, or voice mail to some kind of an exchange. If that act of connecting isn't a compassionate act in itself, then extend the action to include doing something kind for this person. If you find this theme difficult or problematic, please feel free to interpret it another way. See if you can stick to the theme of reconnecting, though, perhaps by reconnecting to something other than a person from your past. Understanding that the more we hear about the compassionate contributions of others, the more we are aware of the power of compassion, we at IKT HQ request that you report your activities on the Compassion Report Map! Good luck, ambassadors. (For ambassadors of compassion working with children, today's mission is an opportunity for you to help them understand the value and importance of tying up loose ends. While it's unlikely they'll have lost touch with someone in the same way most adults have, you may be able to help them acknowledge a friend or family member for a kindness that was extended to them. If so, my recommendation is you provide them the materials to create personalized Thank You cards to present to their chosen person.)