Ways to Give Back
You might already be acquainted with the feeling that you get when you’ve helped someone, done right by the planet, and contributed to your community. Or you might never look up from your life to realize there are ways that you could participate in the world around you that might help others as well as yourself.
Being of service, living a values-driven life, and working to end systemic inequalities might sound like things other people do, or these could be the core of your very being right now.
Wherever you are in relation to the idea of giving back, here we’ll be discovering more of the science behind it and its impact on our well-being, some ideas that might spark something in you and initiatives you might be drawn to support, as well as some questions to ask yourself to get started.
To ask:
How can you see yourself as part of the bigger picture – planet, society, neighborhood? This might be the corrective you need to work on bettering something in our world – environment, homelessness, food waste —, or your answer could help you deepen a life already dedicated to the practice of doing good.
Wherever you are on this, know that even small gestures are meaningful and that there are no comparisons to be had (you do not need to be Greta Thurnberg, Jameela Jamil, or Meghan Markle to be of value to our worlds). There is space for all of our actions, however big or small.
To read:
How to motivate people to do more good (hint: make observable, remove excuses)
How to be a Changemaker wherever you are and at whatever stage in life
To Do:
Become a new kind of philanthropist / participate in a Giving Circle
Lend your eyes, use your sight to help someone who is blind or has low vision
Support FoodCycle, working to end food poverty, loneliness and food waste through community dinners
Support (or start) an Honesty Box
Join a Good Gymn
Become a Book Fairy
To Discover:
One Love Community Fridge: working to end food insecurity and the stigma of hunger in Brooklyn (US)
Farming Hope: a San Francisco-based garden-to-table job training non-profit (US)
The London Community Kitchen: working towards zero-waste and zero-hunger in London (UK)
World Central Kitchen: providing meals in humanitarian, climate and community crises (worldwide)
The Bridge: a new kind of food market fighting hunger in Wigan (UK)
Change Please Foundation: changing the world one cup of coffee at a time (UK)
Give Your Best: providing clothes for refugees (UK)
How will you rethink what giving back means to you? How might the idea of the collective shift your own approach to mental well-being? What’s something you believe in, where you could be of service?
Let us know how you navigate this pathway. What’s something you’re discovering about yourself?
