Author: Lisa Nakao

Kindness ideas by Katie Ranney Craft a kindness journal for someone you care about this month. Pick a person in your life. Get a small notebook with about 30 pages and write their name on the cover. Everyday write something that you admire about them or a positive thought that you had about them that day. Keep it simple. One thought per day per page. But don’t be afraid to get creative: illustrate the page, press flowers, glue in pictures. Then at the end of the month, gift the kindness journal to them. They’ll have a trove of positivity to delve into whenever their life gets rough.

Kindness ideas by Katie Ranney Let’s start the month of October with a simple compliment. Find something that you appreciate about a friend, family member, or colleague and tell them. Try to find something beyond their appearance to comment on (though a “nice outfit” can be nice, too). Kindness doesn’t need to be expensive or world changing. Start with a compliment.

It encourages people to purposefully commit random acts of kindness for a whole month. The benefits of being kind have been studied for both the person committing kindness and the one receiving kindness. Gottman’s ratio for relationships says that for a relationship to be felt as positive, there must be a ratio of 5 positive interactions to every negative interaction. So you can strengthen your relationships by committing acts of kindness and building your “bank” of positive interactions for a potential bad day.  Research by Random Acts of Kindness and cited by Dartmouth University found that kindness lowers stress levels, increases happiness, extends your lifespan, and inspires others to be kind to others. (https://www.dartmouth.edu/wellness/emotional/rakhealthfacts.pdf) Challenge yourself to be kind this October and build a habit of kindness in your life. Post by Katie Ranney

The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia will be accepting online applications for a Dispute Resolution Services Manager position in Richmond, Virginia, beginning September 3 and closing September 17. DRS Manager, Richmond, VA:  https://virginiajobs.peopleadmin.com/postings/243202

October is Conflict Resolution Month! CRA is celebrating the month with its 2021 Kindness Challenge: Month of Kindness. Go to CRA’s Instagram page to find inspiration for adding kindness to your life and the lives of those around you. From small gestures to grand acts of kindness, everyone could benefit from acting a little kinder and from receiving a little kindness. If you feel moved to do so, we encourage you to post about acts of kindness in your life. Remember to put @crahawaii in your description and #kindnesschallenge2021 We look forward to seeing the peace you bring into the world.

National Grief Awareness Day on August 30 is dedicated to raising awareness of the many ways in which individuals cope with loss. If you know a friend who is grieving, let’s support him/her the best we can. There are some resources available online on this topic: Kokua Mau’s Grief & Bereavement Resource page Hawai`i Psychological Association’s Bereavement Resources page “Coping with Grief & Loss” by HelpGuide.org  

Aloha, As our fight against COVID lingers on, the need to refine our ability to continue resolving disputes online is rising. Since the parties may be participating in the dispute resolution from different jurisdictions, thought you may find this article by  Melissa Kucinski posted on Mediation.com interesting. https://www.mediate.com/articles/MultiJurisdictionalIssues.cfm  

Aloha, Did you know that today is Work Like A Dog Day? We know that you are working hard everyday to resolve disputes and build peace in our community. (And there are lots of opportunities for our work everywhere.) Work Like a Dog Day is celebrated on August 5 and honors people who put in that extra bit of hard work. It is inspired by the reputed strong work ethic of canines, especially service dogs. Today, let’s pause to appreciate you and all the hard workers around you, who support your work!