Last year both my grandfather and uncle passed away.  Over the past nine years I've been trying to donate blood, occasionally, to the American Red Cross.  I first got the idea in high school when I saw an advertisement on television asking for people to donate to the national blood supply.  But it took me a while to get around to doing it.

When I donated just before the new year, I read some materials in the office saying that the national blood supply is dwindling a lot at present.  It seems to do that every year during the winter but according to the paper it seemed worse now than usual.  The paper also mentioned that donations are the only source of "material" for the national blood supply so, like a non-profit organization, it is totally dependent on the participation of the public for support.  Whenever someone gets cancer and needs transfusions, or has a traumatic accident and needs for there to be blood available upon admittance to the emergency room - these are the times when the national blood supply is called upon.  If I were in either situation I know I would appreciate the blood being there.

It is an odd experience to donate your blood.  Watching it leave your body, feeling the heat of it through the plastic tube.  Hearing the nurse tell you all the precautions you must take during the blood-letting, afterwards, and all the warnings she gives you about what might happen as a result of your offering.  It seems like a lot to do for a total stranger and this time I was wondering why I was doing it and more scared than previously that I might faint or something worse while on the table. I wondered more why I was doing this - it seemed more dangerous.  Previously, I had done it out of some sense of doing right or participating in something that I viewed as important.  But I didn't really realize how much it could put me at risk or how valuable what I was offering really was.

After I donated, I tried to stay as long as possible thinking I didn't want to just drive away in case something happened while I was behind the wheel of my car.  I ate a lot of food and drank a lot of fluids and just kind of communed with my own body.  I could see some people giving "double platelets" which is some kind of more complicated procedure which takes more time and apparently takes more "material" out of the body.  The people doing that were sitting watching television programs, drinking fluids and lying under warm blankets.   These people appeared to be taking an even bigger risk.  I overheard that one woman was doing this in memory of her mother who had recently died of cancer.  I thought about donating in memory of my grandfather/uncle and decided to do so.

STOP!!!

Something helpful I found on the Mindfulness for ADHD facebook page recently.  Though it's probably good advice for anyone.
 
STOP reminder can help us to do a short mindfulness practice in the midst of daily activities:
S=Stop
T=Take a breath (or two)
O=Observe (what am I doing at this moment? What thoughts, feelings or body sensations am I noticing right now, at this present moment?)
P=Proceed (Continue with increased awareness. Ask yourself: Do I need to change anything? ex. relax shoulders a bit; switch attention from a distraction to an intended task etc).

I recently began working at my public library.  One of the chores of a library is managing the current status between the amount of materials in your collection and the amount of space in the building.  Interestingly, it seems there are a higher number of authors out there with last names beginning in "A" and "B."  Almost every section that is catalogued alphabetically has a pile up in that part of the alphabet.  Recently, it was our local children's librarian who had a turn dealing with this pile-up.  And she posted this hilarious clip on our staff intranet to vent her frustrations.  I'm now sharing it on my blog because it had me smiling for two days straight.