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#ForGood

3/19/2017

This past summer, I got to spend two weeks in NYC for ballet intensives at the American Ballet Theater. It was such a special time with just my Muma, and we did lots of fun things together: Empire State Building, exploring China Town, wandering around The Met, and eating thin crust pizza again and again at our favorite neighborhood restaurant. We even went to see several shows on Broadway. My absolute favorite was Wicked.

There is one song from Wicked that has lived inside me ever since I heard it. “For Good” is at the very end of the show, and it synthesizes the meaning of the entire story. In it, Elphaba and Glinda sing about their relationship and what they learned from one another. It’s an emotional song because the friends are saying farewell as their lives go in different directions; they realize how much they mean to one another.

I’ve thought about how funny life can be that we often wait to tell people what they mean to us. If I think about my work on social media, I try to comment, like, or retweet as a way to show support and care. That’s what’s so cool about this kind of work, you can show #ConnectedCare so easily! On the way home from the musical that night, it was like our taxi driver could sense that Muma and me were quietly reflecting on something important. We couldn’t shake the song and we talked about the words and the meaning.

As we were talking, the taxi driver offered that maybe this song stayed with us because we have a bigger purpose in our lives. He told my mum that she had eyes that “told a story” and he said that I had a “joyful energy in my body” (and I didn’t even do any front walkovers in his presence, so how did he know that about me?). As we listened to him talk, Muma whispered that it was like he had known us all of our lives. The driver reminded us that the world gives us gifts, and it is for us to decide how to share them. He shared that people will always “seek good” but this doesn’t mean they won’t feel pain.

As a side note, you should know that Muma and me are known for meeting the most interesting and insightful taxi drivers no matter what city we visit. We always end up talking about deep things, and on this night the taxi driver actually jumped out of his car to hug both of us. It’s true, we have great #TaxiKarma!

So, my work on LivBits is like a gift to the world. It’s not always a fancy gift, but it is all that I have right now. I think about how Elphaba says that Glinda will stay like a “handprint on her heart” and in many ways this is what I hope my LivBits do; I hope they stay in your heart and, maybe sometimes they take away a little bit of pain that’s in the world.

This week I thought about our NYC taxi driver when Upworthy included me in their “Weekly Dose of Good” roundup. UpWorthy tweeted out the list saying, “12 stories that will make you laugh, smile, fist pump, and just feel awesome.” Just reading those words made my #heartbeep! I feel so amazing to be included on a list with so many other incredible people and stories. Upworthy’s nod to me means that people care about my story. I want LivBits to be about #celebratingothers and sharing ideas that make people think and feel happy. But, mostly, I feel like it confirmed what the taxi driver told me that night; when you are #ForGood the world notices.

Keep reading, keep thinking, and, thank you for following LivBits.

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#HeartFamily

3/13/2017

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I’m sort of “known” for my hugs. My mum says: “A hug from Liv stays with you forever.” She also says, “Take it easy, Liv, it’s not the Heimlich maneuver.” So, I guess that gives you an idea of how hard I hug. It’s like I want to remember the feeling of the person I am hugging forever, so I make a memory inside my brain while I am holding onto them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how you “meet” people on social media. Just this week, I had someone I met in October at Twitter message me that we were connected through #MyTaiwanTeacher, Pana. Emily was in Taipei a few years ago doing work for SeeSaw and met Pana. The crazy thing is when I met Emily in October, I didn’t know she knew Pana. It wasn’t until I tweeted out about my Pana project that Emily realized the connection.

Last week, I was having lunch with my Gram near her home in Wolfeboro, NH. While I was eating a woman approached our table and asked if I was Olivia. It was someone who had followed me on Instagram since last year, and she learned of my work from my mum who worked as a consultant in her school. Mrs. Bradley was so taken with my work, and my love of sharks, she sent home a book, The Shark Lady with my mum. It was the first book I ever read about Eugenie Clark’s life, and I was hooked.

This weekend, I was thinking about #MyColoradoTeacher, Cris Tovani, so I messaged her. She said she had JUST been thinking of me, and then my message came through. It’s almost like we knew we needed each other’s words.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to a book event with my mum for Heather Lang’s book, Swimming with Sharks. It’s probably not surprising to think about how important my connection is to Heather; she loves sharks as much as do, and she wrote a book about my shark hero, Eugenie Clark. While I was there, I got to see Christie Wyman, a teacher who has believed in me for a long time on Twitter.

Why am I sharing all of these silly pieces of my life? It’s because all of these connections are because of social media, every, single one. It’s like pieces of my heart are all over Instagram, Twitter, my blog, and in the last few weeks, I’ve been able to actually GIVE pieces of my heart to people in REAL life. I’ve been able to HUG them!

It shows the power of social media connections. It’s proof that social media makes the world smaller and it gives you the chance to connect people and ideas, you never thought possible. It shows that there is SO MUCH love out there in the social media-sphere, and if you’re open to it, you can catch it!

A while back, I was sending a friend something I called #HeartTags. Every morning, I would text her words that I thought her heart needed to read. Although it was meant for her, it made my heart feel good, too. I did this for many, many days, until I felt like I had filled up her love tank. Sometimes, I look back at those #HeartTags because they fill up MY love tank.

Your connections to other people are important. You can become part of someone’s #HeartFamily. Heart families are people that your heart choses to help, hold, lift, and love you. Having a heart family means that you are never alone. I’m lucky because my heart family grew bigger when I joined social media.

Maybe some people are on social media to lurk, troll, or even hate. But, not me! I’m here to #SpreadKindness and #CelebrateOthers. I’m here to make my #HeartFamily bigger! I think there is enough hard in the world. In the last 6 months, I learned hard and I learned love. Sending #HeartTags helps get rid of the hard and helps lift someone else.

I hope reading this blog makes you read your social media posts a little more closely, and I hope you spot a member of your #HeartFamily. When you do, tell them! Who knows? You might get a chance to #HugThemHard in the near future!

Keep reading, keep thinking, and, thank you for following LivBits.

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#DubLit17

3/5/2017

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Last week I had an incredible time in Columbus, OH and I even got to visit schools in Dublin, OH. I presented with my mum and my teacher friend, Deb Craig at the Dublin Literacy Conference and it was A LOT of fun sharing my LivBit story! The best part of the conference was meeting teachers who really knew my work and have been using it with their students.

At the conference, I had many people come up to me and say hello. I felt so proud teachers were excited to meet me and called themselves “fans.” I think when you say you are a fan of someone, it means that you value what she does. I’ve been waiting A LOT of days to meet Cris Tovani because I am a FAN OF HER and she didn’t let me down.

In her session, she talked about the power of kid questions, and she shared funny stories about how sometimes students can give her a hard time. Listening to Cris made me think about how important wondering is. When you wonder, you get more questions, and when you get more questions, you want to learn more. I think it’s true that sometimes teachers ask questions that don’t really matter to kids. If you want kids to learn more and be excited about learning new things, you HAVE to leave space for REAL questions by kids.

I think it is really cool that Cris took the time to come to MY session! It was special because it showed me that she wanted to learn about the LivBit work even more. I am really grateful when grown ups take time to come hear me in person. Sometimes, on social media, people feel like they ALREADY know everything about you. The truth is, they really only know one side of you. Taking time to hear someone’s message IN PERSON let’s you see another side of who they are, and hopefully, this makes you want to follow them more deeply.

Social media platforms can create weird ways of “knowing” people. I think you should ALWAYS be the same in person as you are online. If you post about supporting kids and kid ideas, you should show that in your real life. I’ve been to a lot of conferences, and I‘ve met a lot of people, and I love when people I am a fan of match how I know them online.

I’m an “equal opportunity liker” on social media. That means is that I like to #celebrateothers by liking and retweeting their messages. I’ve found that some people can even be weird about retweeting and liking. Sometimes people on social media only like you when they feel “bigger” than you. They stop supporting you if they feel like you’re a threat. It’s been hard for me to learn this lesson.

But, social media HELPED me connect to Ohio. And, there were some really special moments when I was visiting the schools in Dublin. A few of them will stay with me FOREVER because of the way my #heartbeeped. When I walked into one classroom, TWO students started crying because they were so happy to meet me. At first, I wasn’t sure what to think, but then my brain told me how meaningful this time was for the kids and for ME! I got to meet teachers who understood the power of a kid TEACHING kids. I even got to surprise an entire class of 4th graders, and I could tell from their reaction their teacher has used my videos in really important ways. It was super fun signing autographs, but really I just liked that the kids admired my work so much that it inspired them to try to make their own Bits.

I got three messages from kids in Dublin that I will carry with me FOREVER. Their messages are the reason I want to keep sharing my story. Learning doesn’t just happen in school. Learning happens everywhere! This week, my learning happened in Ohio; it’s like that state opened up its arms and hugged me. It was one of the BEST hugs I’ve ever had. Thank you, Ohio! #LoveYouMeanIt

Keep reading, keep thinking, and, thank you for following LivBits.

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