E143 - Thinking of You Part 2
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Hmm, okay
Hello, my friend. Welcome back to another episode of Create Today with Beth Buffington. Now last week, we spent our time talking about Thinking of You week, and we discussed the magic that it could bring during the week of September 21 through 27 if we, as a world, could meet the challenge of sending seven cards to seven people in seven days.
and if you've listened to the news lately, ooh, my goodness, we could certainly use a new way to communicate a message of grace and friendship and love to a chaotic world. We all know that by ourselves it is hard to make the changes we wish we could see in the world. As one individual in a large and crazy world, we are [00:01:00] just one tiny piece of sand on a very sandy beach.
But if all of us would choose seven people to send seven cards to in seven days, imagine the shower of optimism and goodness that could fill up our world.
Now we all love to share the saying, "It's the little things that matter." Here is a small act of goodness that can compound to make a real change to a world in need, and it can happen by just making a list of seven people in your life who would love to get a card from you.
So who in your world needs a card from you?
Have you made your list? If not, maybe you wanna spend a moment to go back to last week's podcast and, and get some tips on how to decide who should be on your list, and you'll also [00:02:00] find seven steps that I shared that you can use to get yourself organized to actually send seven cards to seven people in seven days during Thinking of You week.
So quick check before we go any farther. Did you make your list? Did you find those addresses? And if you did, gold star my friend. Gold star. Applause. Standing ovation. But if you didn't, uh, no judgment. There's still plenty of time to get yourself ready, and honestly, today's episode is going to give you one more reason to get excited and involved in Thinking of You week.
So let's pause for just a moment and think for a second. Thinking of You week is about connection. It's about reaching out to people, somebody on purpose, and telling them, "You matter to me." So in [00:03:00] addition to your list of seven people, what if you could possibly compound even more the amount of people who could get a card during Thinking of You week?
What would that look like? Well, what if the getting ready part, getting ready to send out seven cards to seven people in seven days also became a little gathering? Like an evening before Thinking of You week where you and a group of people planned and prepared your cards together. Like a family night, an evening with friends, a get-together with your neighbors or your book club or your church or school group.
You know, any group of people who already get together occasionally or you like to bring together just to be around each other. And here's what I love about this idea. It does double duty. First, it gives you a reason [00:04:00] to get together with people that you might want to be with anyway, or that you're already gathering with, or you've been looking for a reason to, or a theme, to get them all together anyway.
And then second, it dramatically increases the odds that seven cards actually get to seven people in seven days because now you've got other people cheering you on as well as you cheering on other people, who are going to hold you accountable. "Hey, did you get your cards sent?" And-
when you do an activity at a gathering, these prep parties actually finish projects. Good intentions done solo sometimes don't always get the job done. But if you get together with a group of people for a good intention like this, there's some accountability that happens, and there's some [00:05:00] follow-up that continues after the gathering is done.
So let's talk about how you might actually have a Thinking of You week party. You know I love a good list, so I have a list of seven ways to make this Thinking of You party prep fun and productive. So feel free to, um, pick one or two or a few or all of this list, however much inspiration you might need to just get your party figured out and planned.
So here you go. Idea one: set up a stationary bar the night of the party. So think a coffee bar, but for cards. You know? You'll have a table that will have a stack of cards and envelopes to choose from and a variety of fun pens in a jar. Maybe you'll have some stickers, maybe a roll of stamps, just to make it super easy for everyone.
And then people, they can just walk up [00:06:00] and match their people to the cards that you have provided. idea two: make address hunting a group sport. This is easier to do if the people who are getting together with you kind of know each other. Because here's the thing, on your own, finding those addresses, uh, hands down, is the most annoying part of this whole challenge.
But in a group, it can kind of turn into a game. Somebody can text a mutual friend, "Hey, do you have Bob's address?" Or somebody's digging through an old holiday card list, "I have Aunt Betty's address. It's right here."
Somebody will just happen to remember exactly where so and so moved to, and this all goes so much faster and easier, and then it'll actually be kind of fun. Sort of like a address treasure hunt, right? So finding addresses could be the whole theme of your party.
Idea three: make this party's theme a card-making [00:07:00] party. if you don't have a bunch of cards that are already printed to hand out, make, uh, make cards that evening. And you don't have to have a full craft session. Just card stock, something to write with, maybe some little embellishments, some stickers, some stamps.
You, you go to Michaels and find some fun stuff. Doing it side by side with other people will ramp up the inspiration and the idea sharing, and you'll be surprised at the amazing cards that will be made the night of your party.
This is a fun and easy way to get seven cards ready to go out to those seven special people. Idea four, plan to play pen pal matchmaker and pair up people as pen pals right there at your party. So somebody in your book club who'd love a regular letter-loving friend, uh, a neighbor who just moved away,
This is the perfect moment to [00:08:00] make those connections real, and then have the people at the party write their first letter, address their first envelope, and put a stamp on it. So you could start a pen pal, connection right there during your party. It'd be really fun, and pen pals, my friends, those are things that are trending right now, and Thinking of You Week might be a great place to start a new pen pal relationship.
Idea five, to bring out the best creativity in people, all you have to do is feed them. So, you know, make a favorite recipe or lean into the spirit of autumn or, or something clever that you can think about with sending cards, and make some fun food.
For autumn, you could serve cider or, you know, spiced goodies, uh, pumpkin anything, a chili potluck. Any gathering that includes good food is basically a guaranteed good time, right?
And then [00:09:00] anyone who is a bit timid about the card-giving evening has a friendly way to ease into the Thinking of You excitement by nibbling on something delicious that you are serving. Idea six, go around the room and have everyone share who's on their list and why. this is the one that could get a little emotional, honestly.
Hearing someone say, "This one is for someone I know who has been on my mind because..." It could be a health concern, it could be a relationship thing, it could be, um, a hard birthday that they're leading into. Could be for any reason, or it could be an amazing celebration that's coming up. This turns a night of writing sentiments into something that matters even more to the people in the room, not just the people getting the cards.
My one caveat here is that this, this idea works best with a group of people who are already used to sharing deeply and vulnerably with [00:10:00] each other. Also, a group that knows that what's happens during the party stays at the party, so they can open up their heart and their mind and feel safe while they're sharing their ideas for Thinking of You Week.
And idea seven, end with a little ritual. Once the cards are written, stack them up all together. Snap a picture of the pile and all the people that were at your party. I mean, after all, let's just say the obvious, that this is gonna be your first annual Thinking of You Week party, right? So it's gonna be a picture that will send everyone off with their stack of cards and a feeling of accountability for actually getting all of these cards that were made that evening into the mailbox each day during September 21 through 27.
So give yourself a little congratulation for time well spent, and a toast, uh, to [00:11:00] all the people who will enjoy the fruits of that evening's labors
Send everyone off with a moment of understanding about the incredible service they are doing, instead of just a nice, "Well, nice to see you. Thanks for coming. Bye bye." This gives everyone a sense of accomplishment that this evening was not just a place to, drink something lovely, nibble on something delicious, but it was a place where they were doing good in the world together.
So seven cards, seven people, seven days, and now you have seven ideas to make inviting more people into this amazing event actually something that will be easy to do and memorable and fun. So good for you, my friend.
Now, let's pause for a moment to hear a word from our sponsor, and that is still me. If you've been following me for a while, you've heard me talk about going [00:12:00] forwards. This is my creative practice that keeps me energized, It keeps me focused to do my best work, and it keeps me confident to release my work into the world to do the good it was meant to do.
So today I have something very special for you. I have a free guide that you can get to help you start going forwards with your creativity.
This guide walks you step by step through my four-stage creative network, which is revive, where you learn to actually monitor your own creative energy instead of running on empty. And the second word, realize, where you'll discover how to stay awake and alert to new ideas that will tune up your inspiration and help you find great ideas.
And the third word, refine, where you're going to understand the importance and get some tips about how to choose and [00:13:00] focus and stay focused on the work that you are inspired to create. And then the last word is release, where you're going to build the confidence to hush your inner critic so you can loosen the grip on the things that you hold onto too tight or are afraid to let go of.
These are things that keep you from releasing your ideas, your projects, your own creative message into the world to do what it was designed to do. This creative practice, Going Forwards, has changed the way I not only think about my work, but also the way I think about how I care for myself as a person.
It has made me happier in heart, mind, body, and soul, and I want to share it with you.
All you need to do is go to www.bdi-create.today/fourwords. And [00:14:00] forwards, my friend, is spelled F-O-U-R-W-O-R-D-S.
Now let's step away from the fun of party planning and talking about why these gatherings and the actual sending of cards to seven people is more than just a nice idea. Let's look at some of the science, and let's look at some of that data.
First, a little somber note. In 2023, the US Surgeon General released an advisory on our nation's epidemic of loneliness and feeling of isolation. One of the findings stated that even before the pandemic, about half of American adults were already experiencing measurable loneliness. And the report found poor social connection carries a health risk comparable [00:15:00] to smoking 15 cigarettes a day
And now here's some better news that will really make you want to send seven cards to seven people in seven days.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists tested whether kindness spreads through a group of people the way gossip does, and it turns out it does.
in the study, one person's generosity rippled out through three degrees of separation, meaning it didn't just affect the person who received the generosity.
It went on to influence people past the person who gave it, past people that that person probably had never even met. Does that make sense? And the total amount of good in [00:16:00] this system, in the study, didn't just get passed on one at a time.
It roughly tripled by the time it finished spreading. so this one card that you send to one person, real published science says it doesn't stop there. That goodness continues to ripple out and out and out.
So let's actually run some numbers
on this purely for fun. Now, the Greeting Card Association says
American households buy at least one card a year, which works out to somewhere around 120 million households. Okay? Now, this is mythical, hypothetical, entirely made-up scenario, okay? So there is nothing to base this on, but what if every single one of those households actually did the seven cards, seven people in seven days challenge in
that week of September 21 through 27?
[00:17:00] Now I'm no mathematician, but here's what I gathered. That's roughly 840 million cards. Uh, don't check my math, but trust me. Just trust me, it is a crazy big number Now that's not concrete data, it's just my iPhone math, right?
But even as a thought experiment, that's nearly seven times a normal week's worth of cards, all from one challenge one week a year. So thinking of you week, seven cards, seven people, seven days. The numbers are fun, but they're not actually the point. That's just the start, my friend, of what could be.
Combine the numbers about the quantity of cards that could be sent with the data about how people feel when they receive a card in the mail, and then just think about that for a moment [00:18:00] Ah. Think about all the goodness that people will be receiving in the mail when they get those cards. Because let's zoom back from the spreadsheet for just a second down to your actual street.
Imagine if everyone on your block, uh, we're just gonna say you live on a block, okay, has seven cards for seven people in seven days. This is hundreds of envelopes landing in mailboxes in one week.
And if everyone in your town is sending a card during this seven-day stretch, that is thousands of just ordinary days, a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, on and on during the week, turning it into an unexpected avalanche of good moments for so many people. And if kept going, I mean, if Thinking of You Week became a habit instead of just something you do [00:19:00] one week every year,
That's just not a nice feeling anymore. Based on what the research we discussed actually found,
This is kindness that keeps moving to more and more people, people that you haven't even met. and in a world that according to the surgeon general badly needs more connection with other people, that's such a gift. I mean, I think about all the stress and anxiety that we all carry with us these days,
the worries about family and relationships, health, finances, world unrest, extreme weather. Oh, and we often feel like no one understands us, no one is listening, or we worry that no one cares. But when you experience a hand-addressed envelope showing up in your mailbox unexpectedly with a card that says, "I see you, I was thinking about you, and you [00:20:00] matter to me," oof, this card, it's going to make a difference, a difference that will compound exponentially during Thinking of You week.
sending out a card is such a small action, but the results it provides multiplies and compounds into some measurable amazing goodness. then imagine this one card multiplied to seven people in seven days, and then
Imagine it rippling out three degrees farther than you actually can even see. And then imagine for a moment if everyone in the whole world would send out seven cards to seven people in seven days. That's not a ripple. That's a tidal wave of goodness.
So this week, what if you could expand the reach of the goodness [00:21:00] Thinking of You week can have by just having a small gathering of family or friends, neighbors, your school group, your book club, whoever you love spending time with.
and you just set out cards
and pens and maybe some cider and something to nibble on,
You're telling people that maybe hadn't even heard of Thinking of You Week, "Let's do this together." And somewhere out there, then during the week of September 21 through 27, seven people could open their mailbox expecting nothing, and instead they'll realize someone was thinking about them.
And you'll know it got started with an evening that you spent with people that you enjoy being with anyway. So getting together with people you love for an evening of fun, that's a win. And then getting ready to send out seven cards to seven people in seven days, that's a win.
And the results [00:22:00] of these wins, they are going to ripple out into a needy world three times over. let's make this a giant wave instead of a ripple. Let's tell as many people as we can about Thinking of You Week. So have that party. Get together with your family. I'm gonna do that. this Saturday, I'm getting together with my grandchildren, and we are going to come up with their list of seven people, and we are going to make cards and I'm gonna help them get ready to get their cards in the mail so that they can send out seven cards in seven days to seven people.
No matter how you choose to put your heart and soul into the small act of sending a greeting card, remember it is bringing good to our world in a special way that compounds. And it [00:23:00] also is how you stay creative, my friend
