I am easily influenced by my surroundings. The other day I read a few articles about the dastardly deeds of Monsanto and the Koch brothers and found myself in a foul mood. How could there be such unbridled greed? John asked a simple question while I was steeped in the Rollingstone article and I raised my head long enough to bark. 

Later I picked up one of my Chicken Soup for the Soul books and reread a few stories about love and compassion. There are incredible accounts of generosity, and the miraculous timing of providence. One of my favorites is when a Make a Wish organization was broken into the day before a Christmas party. They had 170 gifts wrapped and ready to give to terminally ill children. But someone smashed the store front window, and they disappeared. The co founder got on the phone, and called the media, churches and a slew of friends. Within eighteen hours, they had a fixed window, gratis, a mountain of food for the party and ten times as many gifts as they originally had. 

Another was when a shoe factory burned down. The competition decided to compress their production into a four day week and offered the facility to the company with no way to stay in business on the other three days. Instead of capitalizing on the misfortune of the other shoe company, they gave them a way to rebuild. 

There was a man who had a strong dream about a certain kind of dog, and felt compelled to adopt one. He looked at the local shelter and after seeing a hundred dogs almost gave up. Then as he was leaving he saw another person who was undecided about two puppies. One of them was the dog in his dream! He explained the situation, without pressure, and the person gave him the puppy. Their relationship grew quickly but the real miracle was that the man developed epilepsy, and the dog instinctively knew how to predict and protect his master from the seizures. He was one in a million. 

Letting those stories into my awareness is a way to bring more beauty into the world around me, by reflecting what is good.