The feature below is brought to you by Puppy Prodigies, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.  Puppy Prodigies is a non-profit organization that provides paws-on healing through canine-assisted surfing, paddling, swimming, playing, therapy and other initiatives through our Waves of Empowerment program. We provide no-cost assistance to kids with special needs, people with disabilities and wounded warriors and veterans with PTSD. We have applied for a See Beautiful Grant, and are honored that our application has moved to their next round of review. We look forward to partnering with See Beautiful in uniting diverse populations through the challenges they face. We create more beautiful through our unique and innovative organization that utilizes service, therapy and emotional support dogs. Our highly effective, non-traditional approaches enhance and improve the quality of life for individuals with physical, cognitive, or emotional disabilities.   We are a grassroots organization that prides itself on our pioneering efforts and innovative programs. We are rooted in the human-canine bond and are dedicated to helping individuals grow in mind, body and spirit through the unconditional love and acceptance only a dog can provide. Every 65 minutes a veteran with PTSD takes his or her life by suicide. That’s 22 lives a day! Kids with special needs and people with disabilities are two of the most marginalized and excluded groups in society. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages one to four, and the third leading cause of death in children 19 and under. However, the danger of drowning is much higher for children with special needs. In fact, drowning is the leading cause of death for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders. We are determined to reduce these staggering statistics and improve the lives of our physically and emotionally wounded war heroes and children with special needs while embracing diversity and creating an all-inclusive, non-judgmental environment for our participants. Opportunities are provided that enable veterans to continue their lives of service, while finding new purpose by engaging in community service by mentoring and inspiring future generations. Our objective is to empower and enrich the well-being of veterans and civilians of all abilities and backgrounds, taking them from the battleground to the playground. Each veteran becomes a mentor, and is paired one-on-one with a child who has special needs for a day of canine-assisted activities. We find that being of service to another individual affords a sense of responsibility and self-worth. The goal is to connect diverse populations through the challenges they face, bringing them together for their greater good and the greater good of the community. Our Waves of Empowerment program is three-fold: 1) improving the PTSD symptoms of active duty service members and veterans by helping them transition from military to civilian life through recreational and canine-assisted activities. 2) Exposing kids with special needs and people with disabilities to adaptive surfing and other recreational activities. 3) Providing swim lessons to kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other special needs in an effort to reduce the high incidence of drowning. Canine-assisted swimming is the newest facet of our program. We strive to reduce the number of drowning incidents among kids with ASD and other special needs by providing a unique approach to water safety and swim lessons through our partnership with Special Fishies. We focus on underlying roadblocks that often manifest as anxiety, distrust, combative behavior, non-compliance, and unresponsiveness. Our newest pup, Cori heads up the program and provides an expeditious conduit that breaks through barriers much faster than her human counterparts. What can take months or years with traditional lessons can often be accomplished in one miraculous session! Click here to watch a video of three-year old, Caiden who was anxious and crying until Cori joined his lesson.  Surf Dog Ricochet is the most known dog in our program. In 2009, she made an independent decision to jump on a surfboard with a boy who is quadriplegic. A "kleenex alert" video of this surf session went viral on YouTube and has over 6.5 million views. As a result, she became the only SURFice dog® on the planet, and has been surfing with people/kids with disabilities ever since. She adjusts her surfing style based on the person's disability. Kids often hold on to her back end while she balances the board so they can stand up. Although surfing has been at the forefront of Ricochet's work, it’s not the act of surfing that makes her interactions so life changing. It’s her extraordinarily powerful ability to make immediate, deep, heart-to-heart connections with the individuals she interacts with. She intuitively and empathically alerts to their emotional and physical changes which allows for profound paws-on healing interventions. Ricochet has taught us an exponential amount about the healing power of dogs. Thus, we are privileged to share it on the “unleash your dog’s healing power” page of our website. We hope the information provided will further unleash your dog’s abilities to see more beautiful too! For more information, please go to http://www.surfdogricochet.com And on social media: https://www.facebook.com/SurfDogRicochet https://twitter.com/SurfDogRicochet http://instagram.com/surfdogricochet/  Written by Jody Fridono, Executive Directory of Puppy ProdigiesEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful
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The feature below is brought to you by Love Not Lost, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.  After losing my daughter to a terminal illness, photos were one thing I could turn to that provided deep comfort. If I sat with them and ugly-cried, I didn't have to worry about any judgement for the snot pouring out of my nose. They gave me freedom and space to grieve however I needed to in that moment. The tangible prints allowed me to hold my little girl when she was no longer here to hold. Recognizing the power photos have to bring comfort and healing, I wanted to give that gift to others and started Love Not Lost. We photograph people facing a terminal diagnosis and provide a free portrait session as well as a beautiful hand-crafted album. We're on a mission to celebrate life, preserve memories, and support people in grief. The driving question of Love Not Lost is "How can we love people better?"  Since our first grant with See Beautiful, we've grown tremendously! We've added photographer volunteers in Atlanta, partnered with local hospices, partnered with Northside Hospital's oncology centers across the state of GA, and we have plans to keep growing. A grant from See Beautiful would continue to allow us to serve people facing a terminal diagnosis, as well as refine our systems in our photographer program in Atlanta that we will take to cities across the US. In addition to our photographer program, we've added a grief support program that naturally came when we asked the question "How can we love people better?" It's one thing for us to show up for these families to preserve their memories and support them, but we recognize it's even more powerful when friends and family show up to support them too. Often times, people don't know what to say or what to do to help people so they don't do anything, leaving their loved one feeling alone and abandoned in times of need.  We want to change that, so we've created grief and empathy tools you can request on our website to equip you with ways to tangibly show up for the people you love when you don't have the words. We're developing a grief support library and resource page to support our greater community in addition to the people we serve directly. Our hope is that we can see beautiful, even in the midst of grief and suffering, so that we can be a people who show up to support others when they need it most. There is so much more work to be done, but the grants from See Beautiful and support from generous donors have allowed us to make an incredible impact in 2017. This year, we're growing exponentially and are so excited to bring Love Not Lost to a new city in 2019. If you want to request resources, make a donation, or learn more about Love Not Lost, please visit our website at www.lovenotlost.org and follow us @lovenotlostorg. Thank you! Written by Ashley Jones, Founder of Love Not LostEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful The feature below is brought to you by Georgia Steppers League, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here.  The Georgia Steppers League Creates More Beautiful Youth Step League Highlights Individualism Through Creative Expression The world is just a bit more beautiful when it is colored with the creativity and comradery displayed by the members of the Georgia Steppers League. The Metro Atlanta-based league, now entering its tenth year, has served as the umbrella organization for more than 1,000 male and female step team performers ranging in age from kindergarten to college freshmen. Since its inception, the league has taken pride in providing leadership training, character building workshops, college scholarships and local competitions awarding cash prizes to winning teams from Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida. The Georgia Steppers League’s 2018-2019 initiative, “Bring Back Our Boys,” is in final grant review with See Beautiful and the league hopes to use the funding award to recruit and support more male participants during this year’s competitive season. With the funding, the league will continue its impact in area schools by developing student ambassadors who will provide leadership in their local communities. Any young man receiving funding through this source will be charged to conduct one culminating team event inspiring league members to see what beautiful in themselves and one another. The league’s goal is to provide a lens for students to use to see themselves as the beautiful individuals they are. In addition to serving area young men, the league provides ten months of services to any student wanting to be a part of a step team program. The league has been home to over fourteen teams who hold national titles as the best of the best in the country. As the league continues its mission and vision to Empower, Expose and Elevate is members, it is evident that a partnership with See Beautiful is a perfect, beautiful combination. Written by Clarisse Frazier of Georgia Steppers LeagueEdited by Rachel McLeroy for See Beautiful  In 2016 Terence Lester, co-founder of Love Beyond Walls, walked 648 miles from Atlanta, Georgia to Washington D.C. to be a voice for people living in poverty. Beyond a voice, the goal was to lift them above the status of poverty and bring together a community of you and I to become part of the story of empowerment, light and love.
This year, Love Beyond Walls Documentary, Voiceless, will be released and we are honored that the $1000 See Beautiful Milestone Grant will be used to create a workbook used alongside the film to deepen conversation, move to action, and create more beautiful in the lives of those experiencing poverty. People experiencing poverty are often some of the most vulnerable, yet most worthy of love and kindness - two things that we are ever-free to give and cost nothing. Together we can use our voices and we are honored walk alongside you, Love Beyond Walls. The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." ~ B.B. King Join us in celebrating our newest giving initiative with the Kutemwa Foundation. The Kutemwa Foundation, alleviates the cost of schooling for young children in Lusaka, Zambia, by providing funding for required school supplies. Additionally, many children with whom they support are vulnerable to not being able to continue education or are orphans and must receive supplemental financial support to attend school. Since schools in Zambia work on a trimester schedule, there are three points during the year they look provide funding for school supplies including books, pencils, paper and more to the tune of $6-7 per child. Additionally, when the school year starts many children do not have the means to pay for tuition or school uniforms. And while this is only Kutemwa Foundation's first year of operation, they are working to collect livelihood gifts to bless children with for the coming year (i.e., soap, toothbrushes, etc). How your purchase helps: Your purchase provides a child with required school supplies for an entire trimester. Additional funding from this Giving Initiative will provide tuition for students who need the supplemental support. Connect with Kutemwa Foundation directly here, Facebook, & Instagram.
"Childhood is that state which ends the moment a puddle is first viewed as an obstacle instead of an opportunity." ~ Kathy Williams  Puddles aren't the only things we start to see as obstacles as we grow older and perhaps, out of our wise-ness. Have you ever had the treat of watching children ride bikes? They're not doing it to burn calories, they're doing it because it's flat out fun. Pedaling up a hill means you've won an invisible race, not "gotten your burn on." Asking mom or dad if you can go on a bike ride isn't the equivalent of asking them to drop you off at a spin class. When did FUN become WORK? When did opportunities become obstacles? This topic certainly isn't a new one, but it's worth the reminder that this philosophical question is answered in a matter of perspectives. It's a mind game. Is the day ahead of you an obstacle or an opportunity? We're seeing beautiful in today being an opportunity. Wanna jump in puddles with us? Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of every sale is donated to the See Beautiful Giving Initiative of your choice). Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & Owner, See Beautiful Just so you know, this isn't one of those, "Breakfast In Bed" stories, though we can see a lot of beauty in having breakfast delivered to bed. This story was shared by a mom who didn't find it that beautiful when she discovered food popping in her bed. "A day in my life.... Mom (YELLING...and ANGRY): WHO was eating popcorn in my bed?!!!! Will: I did. I was cold and your bed is warm and it smells like you when your covers give me a hug. Mom (walking away, smiling, comment to herself): Damn! He is good!"  Leave it to the wisdom of a child to help us understand what it means to eat in bed for love. Here are a few ways he helped us see beautiful: 1) Covers give hugs. 2) Beds offer warmth. 3) Beds smell like people we love. 4) Finding a comfortable place to eat makes food taste that much better. 5) Eating in bed can be filling in more ways than one. As you crawl into bed tonight, perhaps you'll see beautiful in ways you never have. Let the covers give you a hug and carry you to sleep, feeling more love than this morning when you climbed out of the hug-giver. And for those days you find crumbs in your bed, instead of anger, feel the love. Who knew popcorn could help you see beautiful? Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of every sale is donated to the See Beautiful Giving Initiative of your choice. Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & Owner, See Beautiful  So when it comes down to it, worry is really just wasting the time we could be using seeing beautiful. As you feel worry creeping in today, remember the wheel. Where does your worry fall on the wheel? Is it a real issue you can do something about? Great, do it. If not, shift your focus to seeing beautiful. It's better for you! Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & Owner, See Beautiful Uh-oh,  Welcome to the Inagural See Beautiful Pop Quiz! Today, you have one question to answer. Good luck. 1. Which of the following choices exemplifies seeing beautiful? A. You glance at yourself in the mirror and cringe at the reflection staring back at you. B. You dislike everything you see in your closet, throwing many of your wardrobe choices to the floor after sporting them unhappily in front of your full length mirror. C. You feel like everyone is judging you and so you go ahead and order the super-sized fries. D. You make it a point to consciously and consistently recognize the beauty you inherently possess and you carry yourself with that understanding throughout the day, searching for it in others as well. If you picked "D" you're right. If A, B, or C resonated with you, you're not alone; however, we offer you the opportunity to reread all four choices above to think about which is more fun. Which choice (and it's a choice) offers more happiness? Which choice makes being around others more enjoyable? Which choice makes you feel better? For most of us, the answer is D, again. You know the right answer and this wasn't a lesson taught in school. You know the right answer because it's already inside of you. You passed the pop quiz, it's time you allowed yourself to apply it to your life. Congratulations, oh-smart-and-beautiful-one! Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & CEO, See Beautiful What words pop into your head as you stare at the following two images?
Here we some of the first words that others shared when viewing the pictures:
Life lessons from a rickety old bird house: It's the ages-old saying, "It's what's on the inside that counts." If we'd judged the birdhouse from the outside, it might appear "worthless" or "broken". From the inside, it's life-giving and inspiring. What do we look at in life like the birdhouse? Do we notice and critique the outside? Do we do this with ourselves? Or, do we take the extra step and peek inside, finding countless ways to see beautiful. Author: Lydia Criss MaysFounder & CEO, See Beautiful |
See beautiful in yourself.
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