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#ThePowerofNOW

9/18/2017

Have you ever thought about the power of NOW in your life?

This weekend I was at my favorite bookstore, The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA for an event celebrating International Dot Day. High up on a shelf, I saw a book display and one book stood out to me from the rest. Its read lettered title Now and cover with one eye peeking from behind a leaf, made me curious and eager to hold the book in my hands. Since it was too high for me to reach, I asked my mum to get it down for me.

As soon as it was in my hands, it was like the book hummed its message into my heart. Thank you Antoinette Portis for giving the world these words.

I’ve learned A LOT of things this year from my LivBit work. One of the most important lessons is about appreciating people who matter. I’m lucky because there are so many people who have helped make my LivBit work successful. Some of those people, like my mum, I see a lot, but others, like my Taiwan teacher, Pana live super far away, and I don’t get to see them very often.

But, here’s the thing, when you understand time a little better, you realize it’s super important to let people know how important they are to you. In an earlier blog post #HeartFamily (http://www.thelivbits.com/blog/previous/2), I talked about how I sent someone I loved #hearttags every morning. My #hearttags were words I hoped would make her heartbeep. I did this for weeks because I wanted to show her how much I cared about her. I’m not sure if those words really mattered to her, she never really said, but I know that doing those #hearttags helped my heart understand NOW a little better.

One of the things I did at the beginning of this year was write poems. I am not really a poet though, so they were sort of sad and rambling. I wrote them as a way to work through something that was super hard for my brain to understand and sometimes words make me feel better. I didn’t write any poems that were spectacular, but there was one part of a poem I still think about. The poem was called “Your Somebody.”

I’m not a decade
but I know,
you can rush to your
next adventure
and not find
your somebody.
You can swim in
an ocean of words
and still not find
your somebody.
You can stand on
the shoulders of others
and still be blind to
your somebody.

The point of my poem was to remind people to appreciate others. If you are very lucky, you have people in your family who believe in you, but if you are INCREDIBLY lucky, you have people OUTSIDE of your family who believe in you. Lots of time people say, “Liv, how do you know these things? You’re only 10.” Well, that’s sort of like saying kids can’t have wisdom.

I know about the power of NOW because I understand how to love people. I know love is important. I know people are important. And, it really is that simple.

So, I wish you LOTS of NOW. I wish you moments that make your heartbeep. I wish you people that make you feel special and important. I hope that today you find someone who needs love and you give it to them.

I know the power of yet is super popular right now, but I wish you the power of NOW. Take a minute to step away from being busy and appreciate the people around you. Take a minute and send a text, write a comment, give a hug. Just do it. It will make right NOW so much sweeter.

Keep Reading! Keep Thinking! And, thank you for following LivBits!

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#LOVEwishes

9/10/2017

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Have you ever thought about the power of your wishes for the world?

Two summers ago, I visited NYC for the very first time. The first night we were there, my mum and I went to the top of the Empire State Building. It was hot and crowded, but the view was INCREDIBLE! It was like being on top of a world I never knew existed, and it gave me so many heartbeeps for the city.

While we were on the observation deck, a group of teenagers was fooling around shouting things about planes hitting buildings. They annoyed me and made everyone tense, sad, and some angry. Security came and took them away.

Later, while we were in the taxi going back to our hotel, I asked my mum why so many people seemed so sad after the teenagers were taken away. I thought it was because they were rude and wild and being disrespectful. But, the story my mum shared made my heartbeep in a way I have never felt before.

I wasn’t born when 9/11 happened. And, until that night on the observation deck, I didn’t know planes could hit buildings. I was eight. I didn’t REALLY know that people could be so bad. I asked my mum a lot of questions. I asked her so many that she cried. And, I cried. It seemed like the world I thought I lived in wasn’t really the world I was in.

In some ways my heart for the world grew bigger that summer. I started wishing harder for love. And, it’s funny because when you wish for love, you find it in so many places. I found it all over NYC. When I was walking down the street, I saw love everywhere. It’s like NYC hummed so much love that I couldn’t help but feel it!

Since that first time in the city, I’ve been back many times and when I am there, I feel a little like it’s my home. The city reminds me of the potential of people. Maybe it’s because I feel like a little piece of my kid heart grew up there. Now when I am there, I feel wiser, like I can do something that matters for the world.

I am not exactly sure what it is I can do, but I do know I can love more, I can give more, and I can be more for other people.

Last week, I was feeling incredible sadness about a grown up in my life. I was wishing I had the right words to let her know how important she is to my heart. I thought having the right words might make her understand me a little better. Then, I thought about what I know about love, and I decided to just love more. Sometimes, love is all I have.

So, on this 9/11 anniversary, I wish you love. I wish you the kind of love that gives you heartbeeps. I wish you loads of people who make you feel important.

Be a wisher of love. Take a minute today to send some love wishes. Tell someone how important they are to you. Hug someone hard and make a memory. Be the kind of person that lifts someone for no reason other than it feels good to put love in the world. Then, tomorrow, I hope you are a wisher of love all over again.

Keep Reading! Keep Thinking! And, thank you for following LivBits!

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#WordsMATTER

9/6/2017

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Have you ever thought about how the words you use impact other people?

This summer I visited the Statue of Liberty for the first time ever. I’d been on a ferry ride the summer before and passed by her, but experiencing her up close was incredible! Being on Liberty Island was like getting a HUGE diversity-filled hug. I saw people of all colors, in different types of dress, and speaking many languages. It was almost like Lady Liberty was telling me, “Liv, this is what love looks like. Love is every color. Love is in every language. Love lives in your words.”

My heart needed that visit and here’s why. For the last 6 months, I’ve been confused. I want to believe that love is greater than hate. I want to believe that people’s sense of wonder about each other is bigger than their fear. I want to believe the words we say matter in every single way.

It’s scary to see what is happening in my country. It’s more confusing when it seems like words are used carelessly by some leaders. I’ll give you an example. The phrase “on both sides.” If you just read that phrase right here in my blog, you would probably think I was saying something about fairness. But, when that phrase is inserted as an explanation for why people are marching in Charlottesville, VA, and that is a march promoting hate, it doesn’t make any sense to me.

Another example is the slogan: Make America Great Again. If you deleted the word again, it feels like a positive message. But, when you add the word again, it makes the meaning negative. It manipulates how I feel and challenges me to defend why I think America IS great in so many ways.

There are other words, like disaster: “The previous administration was such a DISASTER.” When said with such force, it seems like there wasn’t anything done well in all the years I have lived on this earth. I know that I wasn’t as aware when I was younger, but one thing I do know, I felt like the leader of my country cared about being thoughtful, and especially cared about the kind of world he imagined for kids everywhere.

There can be things that happen to kids that make them grow up faster. I am worried that there will be A LOT of kids who grow up faster in the next four years. They will hear, see, and experience things that make them understand grown up ideas. It’s like being a kid doesn’t matter.

I am too little to think about having a political party. But, I am not too little to know that I want a leader who is about love. I want someone who knows his words sit inside kids’ hearts everywhere.

Sometimes my mum says I might have been born in the wrong time; she says I am like a misfit hippie in the wrong decade. What I know about hippies is that they were filled with love, so maybe she’s right about me. Grown ups everywhere should know how important love is, and they should find ways everyday to show love to one another. They should especially think about how kids are watching, wondering, and learning from their example.

Lately, I have been calling myself a “book activist” when people ask me about my LivBit work. But, recently, I have started to think that maybe I am actually an activist for words everywhere. Like if words could decide how they were put together into phrases and sentences maybe they would tell a different story. Maybe words would feel disappointed in how they are being used.

So, I am Liv. I speak for words everywhere. Words matter. Use them kindly.

Keep Reading! Keep Thinking! And, thank you for following LivBits!

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