Posted in Essay, Jamie Dedes

THE KEEP SMILING BAG

Posted on by The Bardo Group Beguines

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

THE KEEP SMILING BAG

by

Jamie Dedes

A lifetime ago I had a job in social work where I was privileged to work with folks who were everyday heroes in desperate circumstances. There were many things we could do to help our clients. Sometimes, though, I found that what people felt was most bracing and cherishable were small, personal, keepsake kinds of things: like THE KEEP SMILING BAG. A Buddhist might call it a Metta Bag, a Catholic, a Caritas Bag, a Jew, a Chesid Bag. A Native American might consider it a Medicine Bag. Since I learn from all and affiliate with none, I just call it THE KEEP SMILING BAG. It’s full of little reminders of how one might help oneself in difficult circumstances. These are certainly trying times.  You may have a few people in your life who could use a KEEP SMILING BAG. You might even prepare one for you. If you do this, do it with intension.

Here are the supplies you’ll need to gather:

  • Small, cheerful gift bags
  • Little decorative erasers
  • Glass marbles
  • Colored rubber bands
  • Assorted colored crayons
  • Birthday candles
  • Hershey’s Chocolate Hugs and Kisses
  • Silk ribbon
Collect the goodies in a bag and prepare an instruction card to go with it:
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
KEEP SMILING BAG

Here are a few things to get you through the day:
  1. Eraser – to help make the heartache disappear
  2. Marbles – for when you think you’ve lost yours
  3. Rubber band – you can stretch yourself beyond previously known limits
  4. Crayons – events may color your life, but you choose the colors
  5. Silk ribbon – to tie everything together when it seems it’s all falling apart
  6. Stars – dream, expand your awareness of the possibilities
  7. Candle – your inner light that is the true you, bigger than the circumstances of your life
  8. Hugs & Kisses – Someone cares. Me! 🙂

Photo credits ~ Bag, Ann Cervova, Public Domain Pictures.net. Hershey’s Kisses ~ courtesy of IvoShandor under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikipedia. Flowers ~ Jamie Dedes.
Unknown's avatar

Author:

The focus of "The BeZine," a publication of The Bardo Group Beguines, is on sacred space (common ground) as it is expressed through the arts. Our work covers a range of topics: spirituality, life, death, personal experience, culture, current events, history, art, and photography and film. We share work here that is representative of universal human values however differently they might be expressed in our varied religions and cultures. We feel that our art and our Internet-facilitated social connection offer a means to see one another in our simple humanity, as brothers and sisters, and not as “other.” This is a space where we hope you’ll delight in learning how much you have in common with “other” peoples. We hope that your visits here will help you to love (respect) not fear. For more see our Info/Mission Statement Page.

2 thoughts on “THE KEEP SMILING BAG”

  1. Here My Dear Sweet Jamie,

    I am already smiling.. it seems this is a nice gift for all of to read.. 🙂 I just loved the assortment of your KEEP SMILING BAG!

    Hugs n Kisses right back at ya.. xoxox

    Like

    Reply

Kindly phrased comments welcome here.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.