Allow yourself to indulge in the happy moments of life and channel this to the world around you. The healthier and happier you are as an individual, the better you can serve your community and environment.
1. Create a dedicated happy hour in your life
Creating a time in your day dedicated to you and only you is a very powerful thing. This time allows you to have a sense of control, relaxation, and possibly a time of increased self-reflection. This can be a time where a sense of accomplishment is felt because you may take this time to complete small personal projects that seemed out of reach before. This happy time can also be a time dedicated to creative, athletic, or meditative tasks. It’s important to treat and show love to yourself. Treat your body as your temple and allow it time to restore energy and nutrients it requires to live a happy, healthy life on this earth.
2. Take a walk and bring a plastic bag with you
When we take this idea of treating yourself well and expand it to the environment around you, great, positive things can be achieved. For example, if you enjoy going on walks in your local neighbourhood, at a park, or down main street, a way to give back is to bring a plastic bag with you. As you are walking, you can continuously pick up litter you see on the ground. This is a great and easy way to show your love for the environment. Not only will you feel happy and proud of yourself after cleaning up your community, you will also benefit the people and animals around you.
3. Pack an extra lunch for a homeless person
A second example of channeling your positive energy into the world is taking time to help the homeless population within your community. Since most universities are located in relatively large cities, it is not uncommon for students to encounter homelessness within their communities. An easy, and significant, way you can help these individuals is by packing an extra lunch. Packing an extra lunch provides you with the chance to give food to a homeless person you may see. A great time to do this is on a day or night that you are going downtown. This action is easy, simple, and so meaningful to the person you help. Providing someone with a meal helps nourish them and makes you feel great because you’re clearly making the world a better place.
4. Use a mason jar as your room’s garbage can to see how much waste you create
This one is for the stay at home people. If you do live at home, listen up because it’s your chance to give back in a way that impacts yourself, the community, and environment. If you have ever heard the term carbon footprint, you have probably reflected on how much waste you create and how impactful it is on the planet. One way to be mindful of how much waste you’re producing is to use a mason jar (or any jar) in place of your regular garbage can. You can use this at your desk, in your bathroom, or where ever you want. The great thing about this idea is that you start to see how much waste you create at a different level. From this you can learn what products you are using that contribute to your waste, and how you can work towards reducing how much waste you produce. As North Americans, we can all work at reducing our waste production. Taking this step will help you realize how much waste you create, and making this acknowledgment can be a huge milestone for yourself, community, and environment.
I hope you can take away some great ways to spread love to the world around you and integrate them within your life. Making a choice about how you want to leave this planet is up to you and only you.