Minus 10 Passed By Observations

Nature is how we survive. It starts the food chain. Gives us air to breathe. Food to eat. Water to drink. But it's oh-so-much-more than just that! Nature provides us with breathtakingly beautiful sunsets. A rainbow brightening the sky before the last storm cloud has left. Nature gives us animals so fierce and also so fragile. Nature provides countless designs of plants and trees and grasses.

We are surrounded by nature so much so that sometimes we simply pass it by.

This week's challenge will be to notice Minus 10 Passed By Observations and instead, really note them. Write them down. Take a photo. What did you see this week? What did you really see?

A flower pushing its way through the cracked concrete of an old, desearted warehouse.

A flock of starlings performing their intricate symphony of flight.

A lone oak tree standing in the middle of a freshly plowed field.

Drops of dew, covering a lawn like a thousand sparkling diamonds.

The chorus of frogs on a hot, steamy summer night.

A field of wheat, waving good morning on your drive to work.

A reddish egret performing its frenetic fishing dance.

A great blue heron capturing a fish with skilled precision and finesse.

A quiet hiking trail blanketed with discarded pine needles.

A giant panda bear, slowly rocking her cub to sleep.

I can't wait to hear what you discover....

Minus 10 Randomly Spent Dollars

I learned early on (okay, high school) that if I asked someone for a dollar, they expected me to pay them back. However, if I asked for a quarter, it was quickly forgotten. (This was back in the day when a dollar actually bought something at the school canteen. I know, I'm dating myself.) Like any self-absorbed (and hungry) teen, I regularly made my rounds asking to borrow a quarter. Within a few short minutes I would have a couple dollars and was sauntering my way down the halls to purcahse a Milky Way candy bar and an ice cold grape soda.

It was a simple lesson: A whole lot of little adds up to a whole lot.

Right now I happen to have 481 "friends" on Facebook. Imagine if each one of them gave me a dollar. I'd easily have $481. Imagine if instead of buying a crate of candy bars I donated it to cancer research. Or to a family whose home caught on fire. Or to a mother who has to drive 45 minutes one way just to visit her baby in the NICU so she could buy gas. I'd feel pretty good about being able to give that.

What if a lot of people gave a little bit? And it added up to 'making a difference'?

So this week's challenge is to Minus 10 Randomly Spent Dollars -- dollars you might usually spend on coffee or soda, or on a pack of beef jerky from the gas station, or on a necklace that you only kind of, sort of like -- and donate those ten dollars to something bigger than yourself. Donate to the American Cancer Society or March of Dimes or anything else you feel could benefit from 'a difference'.

And then tell ten of your friends to do the same....

10 people, donating $10 each... see how it adds up so quick?