An example of “Little Things Mean A Lot.”

A lady went to a Dollar Store to purchase greeting cards.

As she entered the store, she couldn’t find any available baskets in which to carry the cards.

So, she picked out ten greeting cards she wanted to purchase.

Unfortunately, they all fell out of her hands onto the floor.

She went up to the front of the store to see if some baskets might be available now.

She returned to the dropped greeting cards empty handed.

While she was gone, another customer found a pan to hold them and picked the cards up off the floor.

There was a complete stranger helping another stranger.

Each of us, every day, can make our world a better place.

“Little Things Mean A Lot!”

One of our granddaughters is a varsity high school volleyball player.

Her team just won its third state championship in a row.

At one point, during the state championship game, her team was behind 17 to 10.

In the game of volleyball, that is considered an almost insurmountable lead because the first team that gets to 25 wins.

Well, her team mounted a huge comeback, erased the 7 point deficit and went on to win that game.

The lesson here is that we should never give up on ourselves or our ability to make a comeback.

Don’t be a quitter.

Stay in the game.

If not today, when?

To see if your balance is on the shaky side, here are three tests you can try. Before doing so, make sure you’re in a safe environment in case you fall.

• Stand with your feet together, ankles touching and arms folded across your chest. You should be able to stand in this position, with your eyes closed, for 60 seconds.
• Stand on one foot, without your other foot touching your standing leg. Those under age 60 should be able to stand for 29 seconds with their eyes open. People 60 and older should be able to clock 22 seconds.
• Stand on one foot with your hands on your hips, placing the other foot against the inside of your knee. Raising the heel of your standing foot off the floor, you should be able to remain steady and upright for 25 seconds. (CNN)
• Two easy ways to strengthen your balance:
  • Climb stairs
  • Stand up from a seated position

Arizona once boasted one of the most stringent policies barring access to higher education for undocumented students. But a recent shift in the state could signal changing perceptions of undocumented youth.

This week, Arizona voters narrowly passed Proposition 308, which allows undocumented students both access to in-state tuition rates and state-funded financial aid.

Though Prop 308 only passed by less than 60,000 votes, the move is a significant one.

In 2006, Arizona voters passed Proposition 300, which did the opposite – prohibiting undocumented students from both.

Until this vote, Arizona was one of three states, including Georgia and Indiana, to specifically block undocumented students’ access to cheaper in-state tuition – making it one of the most draconian policies in the country.

(Alabama and South Carolina both go a step further: prohibiting undocumented students from enrolling in any public postsecondary institution whatsoever, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.) (CNN)

Will Other States Follow suit?

Hospitals are swamped with patients these days.

And there is a shortage of nurses who are getting burned out by the workload.

This situation leaves opportunities for volunteers to provide help.

Some of the volunteer services needed include:

Taking a patient in a wheelchair from one department to another.

Giving directions to visitors who have come to visit loved ones who are hospitalized.

Answering the phone in various department.

Keeping departments well stocked with materials nurses will need when caring for patients.

It’s a great feeling to be a hospital volunteer because you are not thinking about yourself and instead, reaching out to others!

If not today, when?

Oh, lying about something may help you get out of a difficult situation.

And a certain politician we all know just can’t stop lying about almost everything.

Then there are the “Truth Tellers” who ALWAYS tell the truth regardless of the consequences.

It’s a choice we make every time we begin to speak.

They say we are “Creatures of Habit.”

So, are you a Habitual Liar or Habitual Truth Teller?

Once you get a reputation as being one or the other, that reputation is hard or almost impossible to break.

So, even though telling the truth may sometimes put you in an awkward situation, it is always worth it because trust is everything.

And more people trust a Truth Teller than a Liar.

This topic is of great importance if you are a parent because your children will imitate what they see and hear from you.

So, tell the truth!

If not today, when?

A mindfulness meditation course may be as effective at reducing anxiety as a common medication, according to a new study.

The research, published on November 9 in JAMA Psychiatry, involved a group of 276 adults with untreated anxiety disorders.

Half of the patients were randomly selected to take 10 to 20 mg of Lexapro, a common medication used to treat anxiety and depression.

The other half were assigned to an eight-week course in mindfulness-based stress reduction.

The results were stunning: Both groups experienced about a 20% reduction in their anxiety symptoms over the eight-week period. (CNN)

Don’t despair if you are a person who suffers from anxiety.

New research is always offering new options for relief.

Editor’s Note: Ryan Roslansky is CEO of LinkedIn. Byron Auguste is CEO of Opportunity@Work. The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own.

The urgent business case for finding new ways of hiring has never been clearer. The demand for workers in the US is outpacing the supply, and finding the best talent is going to be increasingly difficult as the world navigates a period of heightened economic uncertainty.

Despite the need for revamping our existing talent strategies to keep pace, employers have been slow to move on what we see as the most sustainable way to hire and grow more effective, engaged workforces: hiring for skills, instead of just relying on pedigree.

The old set of indicators – the right degree from the right school, the right network to endorse you and the right past employers on your resume – are weak predictors of what actually matters: a candidate’s ability to do the job.

The elections, with the exception of Georgia, are over.

All the tv ads that swamped the airwaves are over!

Thank God.

Of course we never knew who was lying and who was telling the truth.

One good result is that our European allies unanimously were reassured that the American Democracy is still alive and well.

They reached that conclusion because so many of the political contest were so close.

And, here on Sunday afternoon, some are still too close to call.

We’re still a thriving Democracy and the voting system works.

So, exhale.

We still have time to live our lives until 2024 rolls around.

New York (CNN Business) 

Sam Bankman-Fried woke up on Monday still a billionaire, even as his cryptocurrency empire was beginning to unravel.

By Friday, his fortune was completely wiped out.

Based on net worth calculations by Bloomberg, Bankman-Fried was worth about $16 billion at the start of the week.

But as his crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, the value of his assets was reduced to zero in what Bloomberg called “one of history’s greatest-ever destructions of wealth.”

EASY COME, EASY GO!