It has been a long time since I have just written about what is happening in my life since I reached my 1000th Mitzvah goal back in May. I have been busy writing my book and am happy to announce that I think we have found a title. It will be called 1000 Mitzvahs: How small acts of kindness can heal, inspire and change your life. I have tried hard to create time to write, which I have heard from many writers is a challenge. There are always things pulling you away from your computer and it is a constant effort to make sure you sit and do your work. I have almost felt like a hermit, dedicated to quietly sitting and working during the day, not something I am used to doing and not something I love to do either. At a Harvest Festival where I volunteered recently, I realized that as an extravert, I need human interaction daily. Spending the majority of my time alone and quiet doesn’t make me completely happy. Luckily, I knew when I started this process it was time limited, at some point the book will be written and a new phase will begin, the marketing phase. Perhaps for other introvert and solitary folks the writing comes easily and they struggle with the marketing side, but I am fairly certain I will enjoy that next phase alot!
People have asked me whether I still do mitzvahs and of course I do, but sometimes I just don’t think about them like I used to. This week however, I had just pulled into the Trader Joe’s parking lot and was getting out of the car when I noticed an older women reading her book in the car next to mine. She noticed the person she was meeting walking into the store about a hundred feet away and started calling his name. He didn’t hear her and I asked if she wanted me to get him. I followed him into the store and called his name and told him the women he was meeting was outside. He was grateful and the older women waved an acknowledgment of thanks. It was such an easy thing but I felt a flutter of adrenaline at being able to connect these two folks effortlessly.
Last month, the Oregonian ran a story about a women named Dr. Jill Ginsberg, who created a free health clinic in North Portland. After she lost her mother and received some inheritance money, she decided to give away a hundred dollars a day for one month. It was something she hoped would help her move through some issues she had around money and as a way to honor her mother. She started a blog and found that the process was as she had expected very informative. I was moved by the story and found it interesting that she had found as I had that in death sometimes there are creative ways that might seem different or odd but really do help us work through grief and healing.
1,000 Mitzvahs 