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GET INVOLVED
 Hi Everyone,
Following a bad experience, such as a home burning down in a neighborhood or the funeral of a loved one, people often say, “It’s sad that something like this had to happen for us to come together.” But the experience did bring people together. Experiences are gifts, and if you choose to give them value and awareness, they can become benchmarks for change in your life.
Like many people, I was profoundly affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. There are so many parts of that story that you could choose to focus on: things that could make you angry, confused, and fearful. Instead, I’ve chosen to focus on the individuals who were in the towers or on a plane, who suddenly knew they had a brief chance to make a phone call. They didn’t call their boss or an old enemy to fight it out one more time. They called someone they loved and they had just one message: I love you. Nothing else mattered, and nothing more needed to be said.
What does that all mean to me? Well, when I think I’m having a bad day or I’m at the end of my rope, I think to myself, I wasn’t on one of those flights or in one of the buildings that day. My problems are minor, petty, and easily dealt with. I often think about those people and replay their stories in my mind. For me, they didn’t die in vain, and I’ve learned the lesson.
As we remember September 11 and look ahead to October and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let’s learn from these events and use our awareness to get involved. This edition is filled with stories of people who’ve done exactly that. Join them, and let the gifts in your life become benchmarks for you.
Thanks for helping me live my fantasy of spreading this BE NICE message and giving nice people a voice.
XOXO, Winn
A BE NICE Story
Do you have a BE NICE story to share? Send it to editor@BeNiceOrElse.com. If it appears in the newsletter, you’ll receive a BE NICE T-shirt and CD!
 This letter fits right in with our theme of “Get Involved.” It just goes to show that you can find opportunities to help others everywhere!
Dear Winn,
When I got your last newsletter it was almost a gift. I have been having a lot of challenges in my life lately and I have been trying to find my way. This newsletter touched so many things that I have been going through.
This last weekend, I was at a mall in the restroom and I overheard a young woman leaving a message on her cell phone. She had lost her wallet and was leaving a message for someone to lend her the money so she could get a bus ticket to get home. I walked out into the mall and was talking to my friend. All I could do was think of the young woman. I finally told my friend, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
I met the young woman as she was walking out of the restroom. I told her I had heard her and handed her $30 to get a bus ticket and something to eat while she waited. She was so shocked, she was speechless, then she gave me a big hug. She told me she had just prayed that someone would call her to help, but she did not think it would be a stranger in the bathroom. She gave me another hug and thanked me again. I told her all I ask in return is to pass the gift on to someone in need. She said she would.
I was thinking about the story I had read in the newsletter and I felt so much better after helping her.
Take care Winn,
Georjean Bertrand
BE NICE News
Winn Claybaugh on Health and Harmony Radio
October 1, 2008
 Winn Claybaugh returns to Health and Harmony Radio on the Health and Harmony Radio Network for another live interview!.
How to Balance Your Career and All That Other Stuff
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
5–6 PM (Pacific), 7–8 PM (Central), 8–9 PM (Eastern)
To listen to the show, go to www.blogtalkradio.com/healthandharmonynetwork and click on CLICK TO LISTEN. If you miss the show or want to hear it again, an archived version will be available approximately one hour after the show concludes.
 Justin Rudd Gives Away $10,200 in 20 Days
Can one person make a difference? Justin Rudd proved that the answer is yes.
For 20 days leading up to May 10, 2008, Justin and his nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT) looked for ways to help people in Long Beach, California. Inspired by Oprah Winfrey’s “Big Give” and “Idol Gives Back,” Rudd’s Long Beach Giving Project gave 15 volunteers $500 each. Within 20 days, contestants gave away $8,500 in goods and services ranging from school uniforms and bus tickets to prom tickets and rent payments. The winning contestant, deemed the best giver by a panel of local philanthropists, received an extra $1,000 to give.
On the final night of the contest, each contestant received an additional $50 to give away and the 40 spectators in attendance were given $10 to give away. Funds for the program were made possible by Rudd’s Long Beach Turkey Trot and Haute Dog Easter Parade, along with donations from local philanthropists.
Originally from Ozark, Alabama, Justin earned a business degree from Samford University. He moved to California in 1995, where he founded and directs CAT. A longtime community activist, he also orchestrated a community candlelight vigil that brought an estimated 5,000 people to Long Beach’s World Trade Center the Friday after September 11. The California Jaycees Foundation named him the 2004 Outstanding Young Californian.
Want More Good News?
 Are you tired of all the backstabbing, fear-inducing, negative hype and drama spouted by the news media? Check out www.happynews.com and get some good news, for a change!
With a credo of “Real News, Compelling Stories, Always Positive,” happynews.com offers up-to-the-minute bulletins geared to lift spirits and inspire lives. For example, the horoscope for September 08, 2008, said: “Good news! The stars do not control your destiny. You do.” One of the top news stories that day featured workers at a Fort Worth, Texas, shelter who threw a birthday party for a one-year-old hurricane evacuee.
“The Happynews glass is always at least half-full, and sometimes it bubbles right over.”
— WashingtonPost.com
“As far as anyone can tell, it’s the first international and national daily news organization dedicated exclusively to upbeat stories.”
— Dallas Morning News
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Monthly Audio Message
Genie O'Malley
 Abused sexually, mentally, and emotionally from an early age, Genie O’Malley lived her first 27 years in a hole of self-loathing, addiction, and self-destruction that left her feeling invisible and empty. Living in her car, trying to hold a job, and in and out of hospitals with chronic depression, Genie had no sense of self or concept of love. The final blow was an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Though her grief was profound and overwhelming, Genie began hearing an inner voice telling her to go to the rainforest. It nagged; she resisted. Then, out of nowhere, a long-lost friend showed up at Genie’s door. Genie told her friend about the voice and her unwillingness to heed it, and within hours, the friend had packed her off to the rainforest.
Planning a four-day stay, Genie arrived, set up camp, and embarked on a simple existence of cooking and crying. Four days turned into three weeks. One morning as she prepared to return home, Genie sat on a creek bank and spontaneously began to pray farewell to the rainforest. In that moment, she heard a voice—a sweet, kind expression of love that whispered into her heart, mind, and soul: If I said to you that feeling love was as simple as breathing, would you do it? In that moment, Genie took a breath. This was not a normal breath. It was a unique, three-part breath that today Genie calls the Higher Mind Breath. As she breathed, she heard the voice whisper the word precious. This was her first time ever to hear this word addressed to her, and immediately she felt love move through her being.
Genie stayed in the rainforest nearly eight more months, documenting the voice and the breathing until it became a science. Today, her iBreatheLife in-home breath program, her Breathnazium emotional wellness studios, and her nonprofit organization for women in prison help connect people with the miracle of profound love. The author of Complete Earthly Woman, Genie was named Rising Star of 2003 by the New York Women’s Agenda, one of New York’s most prominent civic leader organizations. Visit www.ibreathelife.com or www.breathnazium.com for more information about Genie and her programs.
CLICK HERE to listen to Genie O’Malley’s inspiring life story and discover how to awaken the presence of love within your breath.
If you enjoyed this month’s audio message, you’ll love our MASTERS Audio Club. CLICK HERE for more information.
People Profile
Fran Drescher
 As creator, executive producer, and star of the CBS hit show The Nanny, Fran Drescher and her unmistakable voice whined their way into America’s heart. But don’t be fooled by that nasal twang or the title of her first book, Enter Whining: Fran Drescher is no whiner.
Diagnosed with uterine cancer after two grueling years of misdiagnoses and mistreatment, “the nanny named Fran” became “the survivor named Fran.” She started the Cancer Schmancer Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that all women’s cancers be diagnosed while in stage 1, when they are most curable. She also wrote a second New York Times bestseller, Cancer Schmancer.
 In her characteristic, outspoken way, Fran encourages women everywhere to take control of their bodies, challenge their physicians, and learn the early warning symptoms of women’s cancers. In the last chapter of the book she wrote, “Although getting cancer was probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to me (did I say ‘probably’?), there have been so many wonderful silver linings, too. Often, the truly great and valuable lessons we learn in life are learned through pain. . . . How you experience your pain, what you learn from it, and how you live through it—that’s what makes all the difference.”
Nominated for two Emmys and two Golden Globe awards, Fran has costarred in several films including Doctor Detroit, Cadillac Man, and The Beautician and The Beast, which she also developed and executive produced. She received the John Wayne Institute’s Woman of Achievement Award, the Gilda Award, the City of Hope Woman of the Year Award, the Hebrew University Humanitarian Award, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Spirit of Achievement Award, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship Writer’s Award, and the City of Hope Spirit of Life Award, presented by Senator Hillary Clinton. Most recently, the U.S. State Department named Fran Special Envoy for Women’s Gynecologic Health Issues; her duties will include working with health organizations and women’s groups around the world to raise awareness of women’s health issues, cancer, patient empowerment, and advocacy.
Visit www.cancerschmancer.org for more information about Fran Drescher and the Cancer Schmancer Movement.
Corporate Corner
Get Your Business Involved
 Close to 200 people walked nearly a mile in Orange, California. Nearly 10,000 people walked from Arlington National Cemetery to the Pentagon. More than 100 people walked in Sebring, Ohio. In cities and towns across America, people joined the America Supports You Freedom Walk to honor the lives lost on September 11, 2001. Now in their fourth year, Freedom Walks were conceived by Department of Defense employees as a way to remember coworkers who died when terrorists crashed an airplane into the Pentagon. The first Freedom Walk was held in Washington, D.C. The next year, there was at least one walk in every state. By 2007, there were 255 walks, and by 2008 there were 330, including walks in all 50 states and 12 foreign countries—and all because a few individuals decided to get involved.
Nationwide, the Paul Mitchell Schools held special events to commemorate September 11.
- Remembering the victims who had only moments to make a phone call, students from many schools took a minute to call someone they loved or needed to make amends with. (Don’t wait until September 11. Stop now and make your call!)
- Several schools showed the popular “Free Hugs” video and took to the streets to offer hugs in their communities.
- Paul Mitchell The School – Virginia donated bake sale proceeds to the International Association of Firefighters Disaster Relief Fund. They also provided free haircuts for firefighters and their families throughout the week.
- Students in Nashville and Louisville visited local children’s hospitals, VA hospitals, fire stations, nursing homes, and other locations in their cities. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slAaSfMIpR8 for Nashville’s “Free Hugs” video.
- Students from the Hair Academy – A Paul Mitchell Partner School in Rexburg, Idaho, surprised firefighters, police officers, and sheriff’s deputies with thank-you notes, free haircut cards, and $156 that they raised by paying $3 to wear patriotic colors to school that day.
- Students in Great Lakes, Michigan, raised $245 for their local fire department with a cut-a-thon. On September 11 they wore red, white, and blue; called someone to say “I love you”; and called local firefighters to offer them free haircuts.
- To support the Costa Mesa Fallen Firefighters Widows and Orphans Fund, Paul Mitchell The School – Costa Mesa held a 9/11 barbeque that raised $1,000. Firefighters were on hand to flip burgers and hot dogs. Throughout September, the school is also selling 9/11 Tribute Packs containing special products and services. The entire $50 donation from each pack will go to the fund.
Do Something!
Write a Gratitude Letter
What are you grateful for in your life? Which events do you want to remember? Which gifts would you like to memorialize as benchmarks in your life?
Before you go to sleep tonight, I’d like to urge you to write a gratitude list or gratitude letter. It can begin with a mention of the most obvious things you’re grateful for, such as family and friends. You could write about the gifts of your heart, mind, and soul. You could express gratitude for worldly possessions, such as your car, your home, or a cookie jar given to you by your grandmother. You can share your gratitude for personal discoveries, benchmarks, and growth, or you may want to express gratitude for a painful experience that helped you to be a better person or to appreciate your family more.
The following example was widely circulated as an e-mail. I wish I knew who originated it so I could give the proper credit, because I love the approach this person took in turning burdens into blessings. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean.
I am thankful:
For the teenager who’s not doing dishes but is watching TV, because that means he’s at home and not on the streets.
For the taxes I pay, because it means I’m employed.
For the mess to clean after a party, because it means I’ve been surrounded by friends.
For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat.
For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I’m out in the sunshine.
For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing, because they mean I have a home.
For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means that we have freedom of speech.
For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means I’m capable of walking and I’ve been blessed with transportation.
For my huge heating bill, because it means I am warm.
For the lady behind me in church who sings off key, because it means I can hear.
For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes to wear.
For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I’ve been capable of working hard.
For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means I’m alive.
And finally, for too much e-mail, because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.
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What could you put in your gratitude letter or gratitude list? When you stop to acknowledge the gifts and benchmarks you’ve been given in life, you’ll feel nicer and be nicer.
Quotes of the Month
“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”
– Napoleon Hill
“When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”
– Pauline R. Kezer, former Secretary of the State of Connecticut
“It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing a mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation. . . . For a future to be possible, our enlightenment must be collective.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor . . . Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”
— Mother Teresa
Winn Claybaugh’s Be Nice (Or Else!) The Newsletter!
Copyright © 2008 by Winn Claybaugh. All rights reserved.
Editor: Gail Fink
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