I’ve been thinking about Bruce Springsteen because of a quick snippet I read from National Speakers Association’s, Lou Heckler.         .          .

In one of the books I’ve been reading lately, he is quoted as saying, “Every show has to be the best show I’ve ever done.”  Over the years I’ve grown a little weary of  people, no matter what their business, complaining, “That’s not my job” or “They aren’t paying me enough” or “That’s above my pay grade.”  In my mind excellence is not above ANYBODY’S pay grade and the most important job we all have — management and staff alike — is putting forth our maximum effort every day.

Someone once told me he challenges his people to treat every customer as if they were your beloved grandmother. You’d certainly want her to be pleased. Another one of the many speakers in National Speakers Association,  Scott McKain, says all business is show business.  If he’s right — and I kind of think he is — let’s make a commitment this today, N O W, to make every transaction, every experience, every person to person encounter we have feel like the best show we’ve ever done.

“The Boss” does it, so why can’t we?

When you give the
ALL OF YOU
EVERYONE WILL GET THE
BEST OF YOU.          .          .

THIS BOOK
is about 4 years old. . .
Someone gifted it to me and I have never fully read it through;
I’ve thumbed through it,
read it’s
CONTENTS
page and
the following before putting it on
THAT SHELF
for further reading
and I picked it up over these past few days and read it’s own
DESCRIPTION:

Would you like to change the world but feel like there’s nothing you can do? What if you discovered you could change everything with just five breaths and one kind thought? Want to help heal America? Our planet? The Global Kindness Revolution is the way forward. You don’t even have to get out of bed to join. You only need to take five breaths and think a kind thought, each day, at noon. Kindness at Noon, Everyday, Everywhere is a call to action to all, regardless of beliefs, background or religion, who are craving a kinder, gentler world. 

This is a guide to exploring those aspects of ourselves we’re unaware of, such as suppressed anger and racism, that keep us in the dark and prevent us from embracing our neighbor, or what we perceive as the “other.” Scientists call the primitive part of our brains the “lizard” brain from the times when we hunted dinosaurs. Now, in this tumultuous era where viciousness and apathy fills the airwaves, The Global Kindness Revolution aims to elevate our collective mindset, to nurture the “Kind Mind” where empathy and compassion are on automatic.

The book provides exercises and guidance for incorporating a kindness lifestyle. It includes practices to enhance our connection with Mother Earth, and perspectives on what it means to be kind to oneself. It drills down into social issues that impact us individually and as a whole, and how we can navigate our social interactions with more compassion. It suggests ways to improve our personal relationships and our community, and how to maintain a healthy existence with the domination of technology. 

The magic of this revolution is its global appeal calling on millions around the world to pause for Kindness at Noon. More are joining the cause to diminish the violence, racism and meanness humanity has continuously been plagued with. What began as a simple experiment in a Pennsylvania prison has expanded into a global initiative making a mark in countries like Nepal, Afghanistan and Egypt, directly addressing the refugee crisis, violence against women, and other injustices in dire need of change. 

Kindness at Noon, Everyday, Everywhere. Join us!

SOUNDS GOOD,
r i g h t. . . ?
A N D
nothing against this fine book
and the exercises it implores us to use,
B U T
now’s not the time for words
or books
filled with them. . .
WE ARE
far past needing books about
h e a l i n g
VIOLENCE
RACISM
MEANNESS
but
right on time about
B E I N G
A Volume of
PEACE
ACCEPTANCE
KINDNESS
. . .funny, huh,
THESE TOO, ARE WORDS. . .

and we need to not only be carriers of
SUCH LOVE
but
INFESTERS OF THIS LOVE
that knows
NO
antidote or vaccine
. . .A time
to stop drawing lines in the sand
to be sided against
or straddled

BUT CREATORS OF CIRCLES
that include
and never
e x c l u d e
US ALL

This is to be
A Caring Catalyst
not words
not ideals
not experiments
not wishes
not hopes
not philosophies
BUT A LIVE
ACTIVE
Circle making inclusive
FORCE
one compassionately kind act at at time
(UNCONDITIONALLY)

For Now. . .
It’s not a time to do things by
THE BOOK
and if words be necessary at all. . .
May it be
that we are all more
ADJECTIVES
and way less
NOUNS

The FORECASTS

are now becoming

NOW CASTS

and it’s freezing

l i t e r a l l y

with the high being a balmy -1 below zero

NOT COUNTING THE WIND CHILL. . .

and it on the cellular level has huge consequences

that we hopefully will never have to experience

but maybe need to understand any way

Here we are bracing for their coldest temperatures in decades today and the rest of this week with conditions predicted to feel like 50 degrees below zero or colder in areas of the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, . Temperatures in Chicago are also predicted to dip below negative 25 for the first time since the mid-1980s, AccuWeather says.

Health officials have warned residents to stay indoors as much as possible, since the brutal cold in just minutes. But what actually happens to your body in the frigid air? TIME asked Dr. Ronald Furnival, a pediatric emergency physician and a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Almost as soon as you step outside, your body starts to siphon blood flow away from your extremities to focus on keeping your brain and internal organs warm. That’s why your fingers, toes and ears tend to get cold before your core, Furnival says.

“The blood vessels would start to contract and reduce blood flow” to areas including the face, ears, nose and fingers as a “defense mechanism” against extreme cold, Furnival says.

For most people, at least in the short-term, this adjustment is pretty harmless. But Furnival says people with preexisting heart conditions may be at risk of complications associated with these blood pressure changes, especially if they try to do strenuous outdoor activity like shoveling snow.

After a few minutes

In extreme cold, frostbite — or the freezing of skin and underlying tissues — can start to set in after just five to 15 minutes outside, Furnival says. The process can be especially quick if your skin is wet, or if you’re not properly covered up with hats, gloves and boots, in addition to warm clothing.

“Exposed extremities and digits and things can get frostbite fairly quickly,” Furnival says. “If there’s a strong wind and the weather’s pretty cold and the windchill is pretty low, then it goes a lot faster.” Risk of frostbite intensifies whenever the temperature drops below five degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Mayo Clinic, and becomes especially pronounced when cold and wind cause temperatures to fall below negative 16.6 degrees.

While mild to moderate frostbite can be reversed with warm water and blankets, severe frostbite can lead to permanent or long-lasting damage in the affected area. Signs of frostbite include a prickling feeling, followed by numbness and changes in the skin’s color and appearance. It may turn pale, red or blue, or take on a waxy look, according to the Mayo Clinic.

After 30 minutes

Furnival says signs of hypothermia, or a core body temperature that falls below 95 degrees, can surface after just 30 minutes to an hour in frigid temperatures.

“You start to have some decrease in your central temperature, so you can have some mild hypothermia to moderate hypothermia develop,” Furnival says. “People might start to feel confused and start to slur their words and start to have some neurologic changes. Some of the central core organs might be affected, so they might have problems with rapid heart rate and even worsening of the extremities, if blood flow is further reduced to those extremities.”

Furnival says individuals with preexisting medical conditions and children, who have less insulation, are at particular risk. But everybody, even otherwise healthy adults, should be aware of these dangers and take appropriate precautions, Furnival says.

“Cover up as well as you can with hats and gloves and mittens and boots and warm clothing, and then limit your exposure outside,” he recommends. “It’s okay to go outside, but you have to prepare for it, and you have to be coming in periodically to warm back up.”

Brutal Cold. . .

But is it the worst kind of
C O L D
experienced. . . ?

. . .Maybe the worst
the most
B R U T A L K I N D O F C O L D
comes from us
A L L
W H O H O L D
T H E L I G H T
W H O C O N T A I N S
T H E W A R M T H
and actually refuses to share it
or only shares it
with a
s e l e c t e d f e w

Can it be
T H A T
s i m p l e
o r
T H A T
d i f f i c u l t.          .          .

Maybe with the
C O L D
it’s not so much time to
B U N D L E U P
but a true opportunity to
O P E N U P

TO ALL
FOR ALL
BECAUSE OF ALL

Write to Jamie Ducharme at jamie.ducharme@time.com.

We did it.

It was usually during Summer vacations when we were actually on vacation, too.

We’d let the kids eat DESSERT FOR BREAKFAST?

Sometimes it would be cake

Sometimes it would be pie

Sometimes it would be cookies

Sometimes it would be popcorn

Sometimes it would be ice-cream

Sometimes it would be a bag of candy

I noticed it without really trying to notice. . .

So did THEY

We all did.

Seriously, it was 7:30 A. M. Before School.

Among the French toast, easy over eggs, pancakes, sausage patties and links, bacon and hash browns…

THERE IT WAS:

A Huge Chocolate Fudge Sundae

His eyes were shiny and huge and very appreciative.

His Father?

Well, he seemed very pleased to appease.

Was it a reward?

A paid off bet?

A bribe?

An Equalizer?

The other two kids from a couple of tables down almost immediately stopped eating and couldn’t stop ogling that mountain of quickly disappearing fudge and dripping vanilla ice-cream with whipped frosting.

THEIR’S was not to know THAT pleasure at 7:44 that morning.

When I went to the register to pay for my cheesy eggs and side of bacon with a fountain of coffee, the mother of the two kids who couldn’t stop looking at the Sundae which had magically disappeared before their eyes, but not his face…

“What’s with the kid getting a Sundae before eight-o’clock in the morning?”

The waitress behind the register said, “You know, I asked they guy the same thing when the kid ordered it.”

“Well, what did he say,” the mom insistently wanted to know?

“He said, well He said, JUST BECAUSE…”

“JUST BECAUSE,” Mom bellowed probably louder than she thought so that everyone stopped stirring, scooping, slicing, cutting, slurping and eating and just looked up. “LIKE THAT’S A REASON?”

T H A T

happened about three weeks ago between that magical time…those beautiful moments…between Christmas and New Year’s before the Holiday glitter of glorious globed world settled down

AGAIN

It keeps bouncing around my head, well, actually more my heart…

Of THOSE TIMES

once lived but never forgotten and now remembered…

LIVED ALL OVER AGAIN!

I had to bring them to page for Peace and for even more RE-Memberings

It’s like I just discovered a beautiful, unknown Continent–

in just two words:

JUST BECAUSE

Hey, Sundae’s for ALL, on me, for the bestest reasons of all:

J U S T

B E C A U S E