a book, an idea

A few weeks ago I had the rare pleasure of wandering through a bookstore with no time limit. I browsed. Sat and read and jotted down some ideas in my notebook. Got an iced-mocha (my fave bookstore drink). And browsed some more. And in the process I found a deal of buy 2 books, get one free. So I picked out two books that were already on my "buy" list, which is mostly non-fiction these days, and happily searched for my free book. On a table display I saw 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life and picked it up because of the pretty cover and because a good friend had mentioned this book to me before. It looked pretty light and I thought light sounded like a nice change. So I brought my selections up to the counter and made my purchase.

I started reading 29 Gifts this week and really love it so far -- I'm about half-way through. And the idea of the book (to give away 29 gifts in 29 days) has got me thinking. Maybe this is just what I need to start to pull out of my winter blues. Putting my focus on others instead of how gray and cold it is outside or how low I feel.

I did a quick google search and found that the author, Cami Walker, has a website up dedicated to this challenge. (Read a little more about how it works here.) This is probably old news to most of you I'm guessing, because the book was published in 09. But hey, it's new to me. :)

So I think I'm going to commit to trying this. As a way to help others. As a way to help myself. As a way to occupy my mind during this (hopefully) last month of winter. I am going to start next Monday, March 7th (that gives me a time to finish the book) and do the whole 29 days. I'll try to report back here on the blog... daily? Maybe weekly? Not sure yet. We'll see how it pans out.

And I'd like to invite you to do this with me. Maybe it will inspire us all? Couldn't hurt, at least. Maybe we just can chat in the comments when I do a progress post. Well, if you're inspired, I'd love the company. If not, that's ok. Let's see how it goes. :)

Oh, and Cami offers some great resources for this challenge too: Giving Ideas, Giving Questions and Suggestions, and downloads to help keep track of giving. Good stuff.

I'm excited to see what unfolds!