On my way home from a walk this morning, I went past a homeless man taking shelter underneath a little nook in this doorway in front of a store. My headphones were on and at first, I just walked right past him. Then I stopped and remembered how just yesterday I had encouraged you to help someone who looked like they were in need. I looked across from me and saw an Italian restaurant, a Pizza place and Chinese food. None of which I would personally eat myself… not that I dont looove italian food, its my body that doesnt like it ;) At first, I considered going across the street to get him some pasta (I was wondering if they had gluten-free lol). Then I began scanning around me to find the healthiest option. I had this back and forth going on inside my head Sheleana, you have to be reasonable. He probably doesnt eat the healthiest of foods, his taste buds might not be ready for what you give him, then he wont eat it at all, just get him something hell like, its raining and cold…. I battled myself. Eventually, I decided Id just walk up to Safeway and get him something hot and fresh from there and deliver it to him. To get there, I had to walk past him again anyways, though this time I noticed he already had a meal and was eating quite intently. Moving on, I thought to myself, how can I help someone in need today? I contemplated going to Safeway and pre-paying for someones groceries, and then I imagined a cart full of processed cereals and my mind went all off the rails again. It was a battle in my mind between being compassionate for where people are at and simply buying them food that they would eat, and buying them food I felt was truly healthy for them. And really at the end of the day, its not up to me what others choose to eat and I would rather someone be fed than go hungry. Heck, my mom and I relied on food banks and peoples acts of kindness plenty as a kid, and I remember what it was like to receive a box of food delivered to our door by strangers. Still, something wasnt quite right yet so I kept walking. As I walked past more pizza places, a McDonalds and several coffee shops, the stories of people pre-paying for coffees came into my mind. I wondered if we had systems like that here in Canada, and whether or not homeless or less fortunate people even think to go into those coffee shops and ask for a coffee? Its raining outside, and as I scan for someone else who looks like they could use a meal, I walked right past whole foods. I decided maybe I should just think about this more or drop some organic food off at the food bank and it dawned on me. I could give in full alignment with my mission to inspire people to eat healthy and use food wisely. Whole foods is a pricey place, and I personally know more than a few mothers who do shop their for organics even though they really cant afford to. I also see people who are clearly struggling with their health or weight and are also extremely committed to making a change. I headed into whole foods and asked the cashier if I could pre-pay for some juices at the juice bar so others could get them for free when they ordered. The first person I asked said no, so I headed over to the juice bar and asked the girls running it, they said yes! So I asked them to ring me up for 10 juices and they even threw in an 11th free juice because normally when you buy 10 juices you get one free :) The girls looked momentarily confused, and then very surprised by what I did. Soon, their expressions changed to excitement that they were going to participate in this random act of kindness with me. I told them to give them to people who order from them and look like they could use a free juice and came home to share my story with you! It feels so good to be able to do things like this, and when people purchase our detox and meal plan programs, it allows us to do this even more! My goal is to do this at least once a week though out the year, and I just wanted to thank you for being here and contributing to making the world a better place with me and my team
Posted on: Thu, 09 Jan 2014 23:04:03 +0000