Category Archives: communication

Love Notes Wrap Up and an Invitation

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Hello Friends!

What a FUN 30 days! It went by so fast, I’m so surprised, and I would definitely do this again! How was it, did you enjoy it? I’d love if you found this month of 12 daily Love Notes both simple and deep, uplifting and grounding at the same time.

I now have a stack of 360 original, unfolded Jar Smile Love Notes that need homes. Would you like some? Here’s my invitation:

Take a look at the thirty themes below.
Which one(s) resonate(s) with you?
Who in your life could use a few of these messages?

I will mail them to you, in an envelope with a stamp and everything!
Let me know if you want them folded or flat.
I can mail internationally, no problem!
Please comment on this post on WordPress, Instagram, or Facebook to request. You can request as many sets as you want, first come, first served. I will send them in whole dozens; no cherry picking. If you only want a few, maybe carry the rest around and strew them in your loving wake?
You can message me your address privately on my Instagram account, @chenger91, or we can figure out something else.

In exchange, please consider making a donation to Braver Angels or Digs With Dignity. These are my two favorite non-profits; they do so much concrete good in our world!
Tell me in your comment how these notes landed for you this month, and how you might pay the feelings forward, either by sharing the notes you request, writing your own, or in some other creative and loving way.

I will take requests through 6:00pm US Central Standard Time Tuesday, December 30th.
I will mark/update the list below as the sets are spoken for.
I think I know what I will do with the leftovers, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if there weren’t any?

The goal here is to spread the Love, my friends–how far can we fling it?
I can’t wait to see!

ADDENDUM: I will strikethrough the sets as they are taken.

1.Transition
2. Rest
3. Work
4. Making Friends
5. Uncertainty
6. Perseverance
7. Balance
8. Revival
9. Lightness
10. Kindness
11. Gratitude
12. Friendship
13. Love
14. Reunion
15. Fitness
16. Remembrance
17. Humanity
18. Learning
19. Bridging Difference
20. Solidarity
21. Dancing
22. Finding Joy
23. Creativity
24. Listening
25. Empathy
26. Patience
27. Homecoming
28. Honesty
29. Change for Good
30. Peace

Typical Smile Jar refill snail mail

Love Notes for Honesty

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This one will be a challenge, friends. How does one write love notes about honesty without sounding condescending? Most of these will be self-reflection, I think. So I invite my friends to join in exploration and aspiration. Let’s see what happens!

  1. May we always be honest with ourselves first, even and especially when it’s hard. Then we can be honest with others when it matters.

2. Let us hold ourselves compassionately accountable for our biases, prejudices, assumptions, and stubborn narratives. May we own our shit for all our sakes.

3. Telling the truth can be scary and painful. But let us step up and do it anyway, kindly, directly, humanely. Our future selves will thank one another for our moral fortitude.

4. When I show up honest and open, especially facing your passive aggression, I aim to both honor my integrity and earn your respect. It’s all I can do.

5. May your most honest self always have a strong hand on the wheel of your moral car. May the signals and headlights shine bright so others see your integrity clearly.

6. May you experience many times over the benefits and rewards of honesty more than the risks and costs. The net positives outweigh the negatives if we stick with it!

7. I assume you are an honest person. I know it’s really hard to tell the truth in many situations. I respect you for standing in your honesty however possible. Thank you.

8. Ugh, my biases are strong and steer me to the far lanes of human traffic sometimes. How ’bout you? May we be both firmly and gently honest with ourselves.

9. Let us all always combine honesty with empathy, kindness, and compassion, and deliver our truths from love before anything else. Easier said than done; worth the effort.

10. Even when we are honest (which we too often are not), our truths are still only stories we choose to tell. Even we ourselves must take them with a grain of salt.

11. Yes, always be honest. And attend to context. Not every truth is appropriate for every moment. Choose wisely. Protect relationships with kindness and respect.

12. Thank you (for) being kind and discerning in your honesty. It means so much when you take others’ feelings into account when you offer your truths.

Huh. Are they love notes? Do you feel loved reading them? I hope so. 🙂

Love Notes for Empathy

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OK friends, I am positively obsessed with the Crowns trilogy by Nicola Tyche, oh my goodness. After binging the books, neglecting all others for two weeks, I started the whole series over almost immediately. I never do this! I found the paperback omnibus on Amazon today and purchased immediately; I’ll mark it up according to my audio bookmarks and hopefully document everything I admire about it here after this 30 day challenge ends. The wickedly twisted plot, heroic character development, and gorgeous prose–I’m easily affected by books, but this is truly beyond. This is the third set of Love Notes inspired by Crowns, and I won’t be surprised if it’s not the last.

What books have affected you deeply? Hmmm, maybe I’ll convene a book club around that question and others one day. That could be different and fun.

  1. When I feel your empathy, I trust you. I open to you. Thank you for this gift of human connection. Please keep offering this to us fellow humans.

2. To the judges therapists nurses law enforcement officers and all who experience the burden of vicarious trauma – may your empathy prevail over burnout.

3. Empathy requires openness and vulnerability – all human connection does. This means risk. May your bravery be rewarded so lavishly that it becomes your nature.

4. Hey friend – I know it can be hard, but let’s try our best to offer our empathy equally to all fellow humans, yes? It’s what we are called to, no?

5. When we come across someone from elsewhere, alone among us locals, may we imagine their feelings and engage with open kindness. It’s the good thing to do.

6. When I lashed out at you in anger and you turned to me in empathy and kindness, you changed me. I am still humbled and convicted from that moment. Thank you.

7. To my friends who bring stories to life – your own or others – thank you for fostering empathy and understandin(g) in us all.

8. Why is empathy so scary sometimes? Seeing ourselves in others, especially in their pain, is painful – thus scary. Let us call forth courage to face all our pain together.

9. “I’ve known this…” sadness grief loneliness anxiety May we all attend to this awareness and honor it.

10. Let us all attune and attend to the empathy of others, let the connection saturate us, so we may offer it widely, every day.

11. Empathy Kindness Compassion Generosity Connection — Regardless where we start, we can land on them all, and we’re all better for it.

12. Are your intentions malicious and hostile? No? then why might you automatically assume another’s are? Let us all practice more generously, please.

Oh I like this set, my friends. Definitely helps to have specific people in mind for each one.
Starting to consider what to do with these 360 love notes at the end of thirty days. Any ideas?