Spreading the Spirit of Gratitude This Season

Gift-giving is a strong tradition in many cultures all over the world, but some gifts are best received from the inside-out; from a place where love and appreciation begins. Move through this season of thanks and giving with awareness, and not just going through the motions.  The best gifts aren't bought from a store, they come through spending quality time with the people you care about, or from gifts that come from the heart

Here are a few gifts of gratitude your friends and family will love:

Donate in Someone’s Name.  The perfect gift for the person who has everything: something for someone in need. Make a donation in a family member’s name this year, choosing a charity you think they would be passionate about. Maybe even suggest making charitable donations a new tradition.

Give the Gift of Time.  This can be as simple as an IOU for a task that you know needs doing.  

Make a homemade card or gift.  Taking the extra time to give something that's not "off the shelf" makes whatever you give so much more special.  Because these gifts can be quite cost effective, be extra generous and bestow your goodies on your hair stylist, babysitter, and landlord too.

Shop Local.  If making homemade gifts is too intimidating, bless local business owners.

Host a Party and Ask People to Pay “Cover”.  Time celebrating with family, friends and neighbors is what creates the best memories, and strengthens relationships. If you host a party, ask guests to bring cash for charity, or canned goods for the local food bank, as their “cover” for the night.
 

Volunteer.  Make volunteering a holiday tradition. Get some friends together and spend time with seniors, or in a local soup kitchen. If you have kids, get them involved, too. If you buy toys for a toy drive, bring them to the drop-off zone to help them understand the importance, and rewards, of generosity.  Excerpted from eHarmony

And for yourself, be thankful for those things that you may normally take for granted (and that some people are unable to experience) — the ability to breathe, to walk, to eat, to speak, to grow, to connect, to love, to live.

As the new year begins, remember to take the time to recognize and express your gratitude for important people in your life.  Whether it be in person or with a thank you note. 

Gratitude is a glue that binds people together. To give it is to receive it because to receive it you must first give it. This is a beautiful circle. When your friends and family engage with you in this flow of thanks, you’ll never again be alone and wanting for help.
 

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”    - G. K. Chesterton

 

A Thankful State of Being

When we are in the state of thankfulness, we are in a higher state of awareness.

Often when we practice being thankful, we go through the process of counting our blessings, acknowledging the wonderful people, things and places that make up our reality. While it is fine to be grateful for the good fortune we have accumulated, true thankfulness stems from a powerful comprehension of the gift of simply being alive, and when we feel it, we feel it regardless of our circumstances. In this deep state of gratitude, we recognize the purity of the experience of being, in and of itself, and our thankfulness is part and parcel of our awareness that we are one with this great mystery that is life.

It is difficult for most of us to access this level of consciousness as we are very caught up in the ups and downs of our individual experiences in the world. The thing to remember about the world, though, is that it ebbs and flows, expands and contracts, gives and takes, and is by its very nature somewhat unreliable. If we only feel gratitude when it serves our desires, this is not true thankfulness. No one is exempt from the twists and turns of fate, which may, at any time, take the possessions, situations, and people we love away from us. Ironically, it is sometimes this kind of loss that awakens us to a thankfulness that goes deeper than just being grateful when things go our way. Illness and near-miss accidents can also serve as wake-up calls to the deeper realization that we are truly lucky to be alive.

We do not have to wait to be shaken to experience this state of being truly thankful for our lives. Tuning in to our breath and making an effort to be fully present for a set period of time each day can do wonders for our ability to connect with true gratitude. We can also awaken ourselves with the intention to be more aware of the unconditional generosity of the life force that flows through us regardless of our circumstances.   Excerpted from the Daily Om  http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2010/26207.html

Gratitude isn’t something that we feel; it’s a something that I AM state of being. We can be disappointed that our desired outcome was elusive, or we can be grateful that we got the chance to try and learned some valuable lessons along the way. We can be angry that someone we trusted lied to us ,or we can be grateful that it didn't go on longer than it had to. We can be resentful of a lot of things and people that test our limits every day, or we can be grateful that they teach us more about ourselves. If you need another reason to give thanks at the dinner table on Thursday, how’s this: people who maintain an “attitude of gratitude” tend to be happier and healthier than those who don’t, according to a lengthy and instructive article in the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ‘s Melinda Beck reports that adults who feel grateful have “more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics.”

What the bulk of the research suggests is that gratitude should be chronic in order to make a lasting difference in well-being. Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a pioneer in gratitude research, told the WSJ that in order to reap all of its benefits, feeling gratitude must be ingrained into your personality, and you must frequently acknowledge and be thankful for the role other people play in your happiness: “The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table,” he said.

This is a perfect time of year to teach our children about being thankful. The Thanksgiving holiday will be quickly followed by Christmas. Both holidays bring many opportunities to create new family traditions that will bring the real meaning of thankfulness and gratitude to a personal level for our children.

Helping our children recognize and show appreciation for things they have learned to take for granted can take some time. Kids are never too young to start learning how to see and show thanks for the good things in their lives. Although Thanksgiving, by its name alone, makes us think about giving thanks we should teach our children - by example - that being thankful and telling others how much they are appreciated should happen every day.

Even in the midst of extremely challenging circumstances, we can find something to be thankful for. In addition to helping us cope with challenges, this kind of grateful attitude can be contagious and is a wonderful life lesson to share with our children. Learning to be truly grateful can change your life. 

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was “Thank you”, that would suffice."  - Meister Eckhart

Growing Your Community

As I mentioned, a community can start with just one, and build one person at a time. 

 

One of the big tricks in our present world is to get people off of their devices to begin engaging with people, strangers, face to face.  One of the simplest ways to do this to engage people when they already inclined to open themselves up - over the holidays.  Then, use some creativity to make a welcoming environment where people can connect.  Doing this one-on-one can be intimidating, but once the group starts to build, a group environment dramatically lessens peoples fears. 

 

Another interesting tactic is to make your community more closed.  Allow each member of the community to invite 1 person per month.  If every member did this, the community would grow by 100% every month.  The exclusivity and being allowed to invite just 1 friend/colleague per month may encourage people to actually to find someone they really want in the community, and who they believe to be a good fit. 

Communities are like gardens, which can whither away by applying too much pressure and the wrong amount of water. Finding the balance for your unique community will take some trial and error.  But what creates an environment where people are motivated to build and grow the community together?

 

Articulate your vision.  Having a strong vision and really understanding your community will help create the forum where people are motivated to contribute.

 

Select your Community Manager. While it's the job of everyone to make sure the community works, there absolutely needs to be someone responsible for its health. Key attributes of this person is that they need to show up, be inspiring, know how to delegate, listen to and use feedback, and be a team player.

 

Make people feel invested in success.  Focus on the importance of starting small and involving the community in the process of building it. Too often, communities are launched with much fanfare and excitement, without asking members what they need. Invite your members to build the community with you early on. If you have a critical mass of people, content and conversations already in the community, you will show, not tell, new members what they can do. This will give them further motivation to participate. And the more that your members are involved, the more likely they are to educate others and entice them to participate.

 

Increase awareness of community. Can you partner with other like-minded groups?  Do you celebrate your success as a group?  Do you have ongoing ways for members to participate?  These are all important for helping your community to thrive.

 

Always think about building and growing.  Be sure you are constantly welcoming, encouraging and educating new members. The community manager is often the person paying it forward for everyone else, but be sure to allow enough flexibility to function without him/her. Developing community champions -- from the ranks of your early members, and new members who show desire and proclivity to lead -- is the number one job of the community manager. As more and more people join in, it's important to help them find their own why and how. Putting champions in charge of enabling their own groups helps increase motivation and builds the value of each individual contributor.

 

 

 

Building a Strong Community (Part 2)

Here are 5 things you can do right now to improve your chances of building a strong community:

 

1. Actively engage people.  The foundation of a strong, wise, resilient community is people knowing and actively engaging with each other.
2. Start a group.  It could be a neighborhood sports team, a neighborhood association, book club, greenspace project, dinner exchange, neighborhood watch group, etc.  The goal is to bring people together and let the connections blossom organically.
3. Throw a party.  Nothing brings people together, of all ages, like having a good time.  And usually involving food.
4. Clean up the neighborhood.  Again, this could be a greenspace project, graffiti removal, art project, etc.  Simple projects where people of all stripes come together nurture community pride and mutual admiration.
5. Provide opportunities for learning.  Everyone in a community knows something someone else would love to learn, it's just a matter of connecting them.

There are good resources out there for more ideas and suggestions.  One is CommunityMatters. CommunityMatters is an organization that equips cities and towns to strengthen their places and inspire change. They champion the idea that through transparent, collaborative conversations, communities can steer change at home. And they offer tools, resources and expertise.

Any new project may seem daunting from the start, but it just takes one person to spark the change.  People want a strong community.  Build it one person at a time.

 

Building a Strong Community (Part 1)

Thanks in part to the global economic and environmental crises, individuals and agencies throughout the world are rediscovering the power of community. Community is the engine of people powered change. Government is effective, especially in terms of monetary support, but there's no substitute for people identifying with and caring for one another and the place they share.  Strong communities are the key to holding government accountable for protecting the rights of the most vulnerable. Social justice never comes from the top-down. People must be organized to support one another but also to demand that their government provide what the community can't or shouldn't do for itself. There are some things best done by community, some by government, and some that can only be accomplished by working in true partnership.
 

Communities have a unique role to play when it comes to much of what we most value – our environment, safety, welfare, health and happiness. Moreover, communities possess the local knowledge, passion, creativity, sustainability and holistic perspective that are often lacking in bureaucracies.

When we focus on people's needs, they become clients in a service system. When we focus on their strengths, they become citizens of a community. Everyone has both needs and strengths and everyone requires services as well as community, but we tend to divide our society into two camps – those with needs and those with strengths. When we fail to utilize everyone's strengths, our communities are less inclusive and powerful and the labeled individuals miss the joy of connection and contribution.  Excerpted from The Guardian

People can, and often will, come together in strong, united communities if they're encouraged and supported to:

• have shared aspirations, values and experiences
• have a strong sense of mutual commitments and obligations, promoting personal and social responsibility
• take part in local and national life and decision-making
• fulfil their potential to get on in life
• challenge extremism and hate crime

What have you done lately to help strengthen your community?


 

Expanding Nature in Your Community

If you're looking for an activity that people of all ages can enjoy, start a community garden.  Rallying support from your neighbors, friends or local organizations is a great way to start a garden in your back yard - so to speak.  From personal health to neighborhood development to environmental impact, the benefits of community gardening are increasingly good and overwhelmingly shared.  Community gardens have helped introduce healthier lifestyles into the homes of young and old for generations - and continue to grow today. 

Community Gardens

• Increase a sense of community ownership and stewardship

• Foster the development of a community identity and spirit

• Bring people together from a wide variety of backgrounds (age, race, culture, social class)

• Build community leaders

• Provide a focal point for community organizing, and can lead to community-based efforts to deal with other social concerns

Begin by bringing people and different organizations together to learn which issues are important to your community.  Discuss how a community garden – whether a communal space or individual plots – could serve the needs of the community.  Develop a plan of action.  Get people energized and organized.

Then, start gardening and implementing your community garden program. Once the project is up and running, let everyone know!  Gain greater community support by welcoming visitors and sharing updates on how the neighborhood is benefiting from the garden’s existence. Over time, revisit the plan and make any needed changes based on lessons learned or feedback from partners and neighbors.  Remember to plan ahead so that the garden will continue to grow for seasons, and generations, to come.

Follow these 10 steps to get yours started now.

Though it may be too soon to call it an urban wildlife movement, initiatives focused on urban greening and biodiversity seem to be catching on. The U.S. Forest Service, which once laughed off the idea that anything urban could be wild now supports a growing urban forest program.  Research has shown that oaks benefit everything from caterpillars to songbirds. Urban ecology and urban wildlife programs are also proliferating on university campuses. And in Baltimore County, officials now stipulate that canopy trees, rather than ornamental trees, must make up 80 percent of any planting on county land, and half of them need to be oaks. In an area where local nurseries hardly ever stocked oaks before, people sometimes balk, until the county’s natural resource manager, Don Outen, explains the logic of it: Research has shown that oaks benefit everything from caterpillars to songbirds. Even fish prosper, because the aquatic invertebrates they feed on favor oak leaves on stream bottoms. At that point, says Outen, the reaction tends to shift to, "Why haven’t we been doing this before?"  Accommodating wildlife in cities doesn’t necessarily require massive investment - you can bring in more birds just by cutting out pavement, or breaking up endless lawns with the right kinds of shrubs. Mowing those lawns a little less often - not weekly but every two or three weeks - will increase the population of native bees and other pollinators. Excerpted from Environment 360
 

 

The role of parks, community gardens, and green open spaces in urban areas is often underestimated, and the potential of these areas to improve both the quality of life of city dwellers and urban sustainability is not always being fully realized.  To make dramatic change, city governments need to get on-board and facilitate the change.  But, even a small group in a local community can do amazing things.

You can learn even more in the book, The Guide to Greening Cities. 

Nature. Community. Home.

Most of the time when people think about nature they think of places untouched by humans. “Nature” is often considered something that exists far away from cities. In reality, the division between nature and city is blurry. There is nature all around the city, even inside our homes.

You can find urban nature by:

Taking an early morning walk. Even in the busiest city you can find more animals in the early morning before the day’s bustle begins. Walk around your neighborhood, or your neighborhood park, as close to sunrise as possible, and see what animals you can spot. You might see bugs, worms, birds, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, rats, and mice. (Animals that many people think of as pests are part of nature too!)

Volunteering for a park invasive species removal. This is a great way to learn about plants in your city. Invasive species can harm native plants and animals.  Help restore the natural ecosystem.

Planting a community garden. A community garden has numerous benefits from community building, to health, to education.  Delicious and nutritious for the mind, body and soul of a community.  I'll expand in more detail on my next post.

Planting trees.  Many city agencies and organizations have initiatives to plant more trees. Having more trees helps reduce the urban heat island effect and promotes the well-being of its inhabitants, both human and animal.

For families, you can also start your own Wild Playgroup. When children connect with nature, they also connect with each other, their families and the community as they learn that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Their sense of identity and character is strengthened. Through experiences in nature, children can become passionate stewards of their special outdoor places. Additionally, adults are more likely to take care of their local environment if they have had time to experience it as a child. Learn more and download a toolkit here.

 

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act into law.  The primary author, Howard Zahniser, felt that given enough time, a majority of Americans would come to believe in the deep power of nature and support conservation.  He was sure that the challenge lay not so much in converting avowed opponents of the Wilderness Act, but in enlisting the support of the silent majority.  And he had an unwavering faith in education as the vital tool for getting people to make this step.  "It is a step that is so difficult no because it goes so far but because it must be taken by so many," he said in 1961.  "A whole nation steps forward with purpose in the enactment of such legislation, and it marches only when so many are ready to go that the others must move too."

 

"We have come to realize that we ourselves are creatures of the wild... that in the wilderness we are at home, that in maintaining thus our access to wilderness we are not, as some have thought, escaping from life, but rather are keeping ourselves in touch with our true reality, the fundamental reality of the universe of which we are a part."  - Howard Zahniser