Helped my son's anxiety - Seeds of Happiness

Helped my son's anxiety

Helped my son's anxiety

May 11, 2016

I wanted to share our Seed story with you. Several years ago, my son began struggling with anxiety. He was in 4th grade at the time. It got progressively worse and we had to seek counseling. I will spare you all the details, but we were in Grace 251 in Dalton, GA one day and saw the Seeds of Happiness display. Those pieces of clay made me smile. I bought one for each person in our family. When I got home I shared them with my family. I bought everyone their favorite color. Well, my son kept his seed in his pocket each day. This seed was something tangible he could touch and hang on to during his toughest days. Whenever, wherever he was, he could touch that seed and it brought him comfort and a smile. He carried that seed everywhere! Through lots of prayers and counseling he learned how to cope with his anxiety. Praise Jesus! He now has that blue seed to remind what he overcame. We all still have our seeds. and they still bring a smile to our faces. Thank you for your company and all the smiles they have brought to our family. I have since used them in my classroom for the little ones who also struggle being away from mommy and daddy during the day. Bless you and your business and keep those happy seeds coming!

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SPARK ⭕ Difficult times

May 05, 2025

I sent seeds of Happiness to a family that lost a child. Here is the note I sent along with it.


Dear Heather,

I wanted to say I am so, sorry to everyone in your family. A good friend of mine, Mark Borella, made Seeds of Happiness for a dear friend of his and the family who lost their son.

Mark gave his friends a handful of smiles and explained he felt helpless because there was nothing he could say or do to take their pain away. So he made them a handful of smiles, thinking they could hold onto them until they got their smile back. The family loved them and it actually helped bring a smile back to each of them. I'm hoping that these will do the same for you.

With my deepest sympathies

Charlotte and family

Thanks Mark. You guys are the best!

Charlotte

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SPARK ⭕ Gems of a puzzle

May 05, 2025

My name is Mark. I am from St. Louis. I went into the Seeds of Happiness store where I was picking up smiles to share on a cruise that my wife and I were taking with another couple. We've been vacationing with this other couple almost our entire adult life. Come to find out Mark, the Seeds of Happiness guy and I, in the small world fashion, our lives overlap. I work with Mark's wife from time to time.  That was enough for Mark to treat me like I was an insider at his studio. He asked me to try something out. Mark took me back in the studio, he dug through a few boxes. He  comes up with these four triangular-round blue and red puzzle pieces made of clay. I watched as he puts the four pieces down on the table and start spinning and turning them until they make a four inch Seeds of Happiness logo. He says to me, give one to your wife, one to your buddy, and one to his wife, and Mark told me to keep one for myself. He continued, during your trip, when you're going to dinner or if you're going to do something fun,  make sure when you guys all get together before you eat or before you do whatever you're going to do, put your puzzle together so you start that event off with a smile. Understanding that if everybody does not bring their piece of the puzzle, the smile is not complete.

Honestly I left the studio with the smiles that I was planning to give out on the cruise, thinking “whatever” about the puzzle. Me being a guy, I thought it seemed a little corny. Well, I got home and told my wife about the puzzle. She loved the idea. At the airport prior to leaving we divvied up the puzzle pieces. We told our friends that Mark said to put these together before we do anything fun or adventurous. So there, at the airport for the first time, we assembled the smile. Well, let me tell you, it was the funniest thing! We all absolutely had a ball with it. At two points during this vacation, somebody forgot their piece of the puzzle. Let me tell you, with all the joy Mark intended, they ran  back to their room to get their puzzle piece so that we would start our excursion with a smile. It was hilarious! It was fun! It worked! It was part of our trip! We vowed that we would never go on a vacation without our pieces of the puzzle. I can't wait for our next vacation. Who knows we might complete our smile in some other country.

I went by the Seeds of Happiness studio with my buddy, the husband in the other couple. We both told Mark that never in our imagination would we have guessed how big of a part of the trip this would become. Mark responded, I just gave you a reminder on how to start your days. You are the ones who made the memories. You see, you never know what one little creative act of kindness might lead to. He then said, it usually leads to another act of kindness. Think about it, two  couples confined on a cruise ship, nothing but fun and no problems? That tells me, you start and finished each day feeling kindness towards each other! 
We told Mark he should sell these little “gems of a puzzle”.

A little side note. Mark told me he had made these for companies for meetings, as a metaphor! You see, of the people that work in a department could put their pieces together to make a smile. This then sets a tone of understand that every job is important, and if you're missing one piece to the puzzle, the company’s happiness is not complete. 

 

I thought this was brilliant.

 

So thanks again Mark. I'll keep you posted on our next trip.

 

Mark

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SPARK ⭕ Big things can come in little packages

May 05, 2025

I keep a bag of Seeds in my car at all times. I share them with my circle of friends or complete strangers. It is a great inexpensive way to Touch somebody's heart and create a life lesson. Big things can come in little packages. 

May the Lord bless you and all of the rest of the work you do!

Dana

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