Since becoming an Honorary Ambassador for UNICEF and the Los Angeles UNICEF Tap Project City Coordinator I spend a lot of time researching anything related to well UNICEF. I found out that both H&M and Gucci are partnered with UNICEF. The best part is that there is a great inexpensive way for you to support the H&M project which affects the planet and children in a positive way. For just $3.95 you can get the Sonia Rykiel for UNICEF & H&M 100% organic cotton reusable bag out today! So if fashion, taking care of the planet and its inhabitants is on your xmas list this year please follow the sign ;-) which will lead you to this I encourage you to use them as gift bags this xmas. Instead of rolls of paper or paper gifts bags please THINK about buying this bag! I will step off the podium now. Thank you for taking the time to read this. To find out more about the ALL FOR CHILDREN program visit All for Children and H&M and UNICEF work together
So join my friend Andi, who got hers today, and go get yours. ;-)
I am exhausted today but I did it to myself again. I thought I had conquered the balance of work and rest my body requires in order to function properly but today it finally caught up with me. I have been requesting that my body go go go since before I left for Rome over a month ago and of course the last minute car accident the week prior to the film festival put me into a bigger rush. So last night as we were winding down our UNICEF fundraiser location scouting day with Kirsten from the NY headquarters I knew it, the time had come to rest or pay the price again. Last time the price was a premature stress induced heartbeat because I refused to slow down. Almost two years after being diagnosed I know what I can do to myself if I don't listen to my body. I say I do it to myself because I am indeed responsible for EVERY choice I make. I am very aware of that. So today I chose to do as little work as possible and rest trusting that everything for the GLAMOUR Holiday party Friday will be ready on time, God's time, if I allow it to be.
As I sat wrapped comfortably in my blanket on my couch in my cozy home I turned on the tv, which I rarely do, and right away knew the universe was speaking to me. An episode of Oprah was beginning and I haven't stopped crying since its inception. Its still on. NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof and his co writer and wife Sheryl WuDunn are on taking about the atrocities in the Congo and the genocide in Darfur which they write about in Half the Sky and which he has seen up close. Of course the moment the first story appeared I couldn't stop crying. I have always questioned how could this be happening. So right know I am asking myself how can half of the world be buying into the media's selling of Christmas allowing themselves to believe that things are going to make us happy while someone is dying because their family can't pay a doctor $100 for an operation. I have questioned the injustices of the world for as long as I can remember especially more so as I watch people in the town I live in become their possessions, be owned by them, and have it be their identity. I think to myself while you shop your life away a child of God takes their last breath because they didn't have the medication they needed. Inside I cry out please open your eyes knowing all I can truly do is lead by example because the truth is it takes a lot more than just opening your eyes. It takes opening every part of your being starting with your heart! This is probably the reason why this quote recently became my favorite, "Given the amount of unjust suffering and unhappiness in the world, I am deeply grateful for, sometimes even perplexed by,how much misery I have been spared.” I'd like to add while I am grateful for what I have been spared I can not stand by and watch others suffer. I take people's pain as if it were my own because in the end I believe we are all one.
I have always believed and will until the day I die no matter what challenges I face and even if fear and evil come to greet me that the solution to ANGER is LOVE, the solution to FEAR is LOVE, the solution to HATRED is LOVE so basically anything negative should be treated with LOVE. I had someone dispute this with me quite sternly last year and a year later I still believe LOVE is the answer no matter how badly you've been hurt. I don't believe in reacting in the moment I believe in sitting down and turning that person over to God in prayer trusting that becoming what fear asks of you in the moment you will come to regret sooner or later. Yes not only do I believe in taking the high road, I advocate it because my ego no longer resides here. Sure it tries to occupy residency in me once in a while but I simply remind it that I choose my tenants and ego is not welcome.
So as I sat crying in the warmth of my comfortable beautiful place I call home the tears became more intense. Why I questioned do I sit here and someone lies dying somewhere. The answer came as it has before, in order for humanity to become compassionate it must be put in scenarios where compassion is required. It eases my pain a little and then I am reminded of the most effective thing I can do, BE THE CHANGE I WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD. That is all I can truly do because crying over it or condemning others for not helping when they can won't solve the problem. I must be the solution to the best of my abilities and so my journey continues with UNICEF.
I will stop at nothing to make my fundraiser successful not because I want to put on the best show in town and prove to myself and LA what I can do but because children in a faraway land are depending on me to do so, so they can have clean water. This responsibility is one I CHOOSE. No paycheck and a lot of work but the biggest reward ever, knowing that when my existence on this planet comes to end I will have contributed to our evolution in a positive way and that my friends is of more value to me than a paycheck signed by someone as I do something I could care less about. People may call me crazy but I call myself a dreamer who with the guidance of God and the universe makes those dreams a reality. Dreams held passionately in my heart and I have come to learn that with passion all is possible so follow your passion!
I trust that in due time, which I call Gods time, I will taken care of too. The truth is I already am. I spoke about sitting comfortably in my cozy home repeatedly to acknowledge people are lying on the grass dying in some place on this beautiful universe because they don't have a basic need. That in my book is not fair and I will not stand by and do nothing!!! From now until March I will call on those around me to help fight the lack of clean water in underdeveloped countries by coming on board as a performer, volunteer or donor as I continue to be an honorary Ambassador for UNICEF and the Los Angeles UNICEF Tap Project City Coordinator. Although donating is great and needed to keep non-profits alive I encourage you take part in volunteering. Being a part of the solution physically makes a world of difference to a lot of lives. To me sometimes not knowing whose life I touched but knowing I have is the best reward. In case you are wondering I became involved with the Tap Project after being cast in its commercial earlier this year and after years of being a UNICEF donor a dream beyond my expectations came true. I was cast in a commercial that lined up with my beliefs.
I ask you to join me in supporting UNICEF's Tap Project by donating or signing up to volunteer. You can go to site now and register. Most of all be ready to go out and eat during World Water Week March 21-27, 2010. Visit the website to see what I mean.
Last but not least I say this lovingly, to those of you who I've contacted to become a part of the fundraiser and I have yet to hear from be warned I do not give up easily when I am fighting for my passion!! ;-) After all had I learned to give up I would not be driving around in a hybrid or met Paulo Coelho and collaborated on a film with him. With guidance from the universe and God by my side I make the impossible possible. I know we will make this a VERY successful UNICEF Tap Project fundraiser because the universe already told me it will be and in God and the universe I have all my trust. I hope the video below compells you to join me on my journey. Don't worry I have not given up the day job, acting/producing, but for now this is where God and universe need me and where I can be of most service. May you always have the grace to be love. I will be love to my body now and go back to resting after all I have a UNICEF meeting tonight. BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD!
