Many people make New Year's Resolutions to exercise, start a new diet, loose weight or break a bad habit and most of the time about a month later their New Year's Resolution is forgotten right up until the new year starts over and they try again. I was told one time that if you keep doing the same thing over and over the same way & you keep getting the same result then it's time to change the way you do things to get a different result.
So this year I propose to stop the typical non-sense resolutions that never get accomplished and do something that will not only benefit yourself but benefit someone else. Take a couple of minutes each day to give a gift to someone. I'm not talking about going out and spending money on someone each day but
there are tons of things out there you can do for others. I read a book by Cami Walker called "29 gifts in 29 days: How a month of giving can change your life." You see Cami like myself has MS and she had got herself into a rut of sorts where her thinking was centered around "me me me." Her friend told her that she needed to quit thinking about herself and that she needed to commit to giving a gift each day to someone for 29 days. You must give the gift willfully with purpose each day and you keep a journal of your gifts.
Your gifts can be anything from: opening a door for someone, smiling at everyone you see that day, calling and talking to a friend, sending a card to someone, cooking dinner for someone, paying it backwards (paying for the person behind you in line), leaving a quarter in the candy machine or even taking time for yourself to take a long hot bath. It can be anything as long as you give it mindfully & willfully each day. You will really notice a shift in your life and you will find that once you start giving you will start receiving gifts as well. You can find all the information at www.29gifts.org.
There are also other websites that you can check out to help others. There is www.wegivebooks.com and for every children's book you read online they will donate a book to a child that doesn't have one. You can visit www.freerice.com and play vocabulary games and for each answer you get right they donate rice to the World Hunger Program.
There is a couple of websites where you can help out our military: www.greenbeanscoffee.com go there & you can donate $2 and they will send a cup of coffee to a soldier with a personal note from you and you can even become a pen pal with a soldier. The other site is www.anysoldier.com and there you can get names & address of members of the military who could use some support from home. You can write to them and send care packages etc. They do really good work and you should check it out!
Another website is www.dropalovebomb.com. It only takes 5 minutes once a week to make a big difference in someone's life on their site. They search during the week and find someone on the internet who is in need of some support, going through a rough time or maybe needs cheering up. Usually on a blog or something and then everyone sends a positive comment on their blog that day to try to give that person a boost and let them know that there are people out there who care. They could get anywhere from 30-70+ comments on their blog in one day. Can you imagine if you were having a really tough time and you got 50 people who all of a sudden comment to let you know your not alone and they are sending positive thoughts your way? I've done it two weeks in a row now & I wish I had found this earlier. It's a wonderful thing to be a part of.
There are a lot more sites out there and there is a lot you can do in your house, or for your family or your city. Clean out your closets and take donate your stuff that you don't need to a charity resale shop like the Salvation Army etc. You can donate money, food or your time at a local food pantry. Stop and give a couple of dollars to a homeless person on the street. If you think about it most people are one paycheck or one missed payment away from being homeless. There are all kinds of things that you can do and the www.29gifts.org website has lots of ideas on the things you can do. The important is that once you start giving even if it's a smile to a stranger you will start to receive things in return and you will be a much happier person.
So take a chance this year and make a commitment to give something every day. I promise you that you won't regret it!
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