The First Step to a “Giving Mindset” What if you could…. Save a stranger from hunger // save a friend from their own thoughts // help find the cure for ___ disease // send a child to school with full belly // gave purpose & meaning to a soul who has neither // could save a stray // save the world What would it look like? If you’re expecting an answer - don’t. The truth is: “charity,” or a “Giving Mindset”, is different for absolutely all of us. To you it might mean spending your entire weekend volunteering at the food bank - but it doesn’t have to. Maybe that terrifies you and keeps you away from a Giving Mindset - but it doesn’t have to. Maybe it just means buying an extra burger for that down-on-his-luck fella, or maybe it’s just treating them like a person and saying hi. I cannot tell you what happens if you do any of those things. I cannot tell you what it will look like, how hard it will be, or what will come of it. But I can tell you that each and every one of those things shares the very same beginning: someone like you deciding they care a whole awful lot and taking the first steps towards having a Giving Mindset. It starts by… realizing you can help by buying an extra burger // texting your friend ‘how are you’ // putting a quarter in the donation jar // putting on your cape Today, we’re currently raising funds for ASPCA, so let’s highlight this example: It starts by giving a little piece of yourself (your time & energy to fill up a food bowl) that you can spare, to something or someone else. It doesn’t matter how little or big. When people think of charity, they often think of a grandeur vision of saving the world instead of saving a world. That’s a scary thought. An intimidating thought: How could I save the world? How could I give to someone else when I’m living paycheck to paycheck? How could I give to the world when I struggle to wake up, work, play with my kids, sleep? And even if I had money and time - where would I give it? What charity is important to me? To obtain the Giving Mindset, you need to move beyond your idea of Charity. It’s not spending all day Sunday picking up litter, and it probably doesn’t save the world. It’s A) Realizing there’s a need and then B) Giving a piece of yourself to that need. Those are the first steps to a Giving Mindset. Start by getting out of your own little world and paying attention to what’s around you. It starts by sitting in a drive through and shifting your thoughts from “Why is that weirdo just standing there” to “I wonder if that person doesn’t have anywhere to walk to….” It starts by seeing that dog in the road and shifting your thoughts from “WHY is that dog standing in the middle of the road!? I almost ran into that ditch!” to “That dog must be terrified to just stand in the road. I wonder if it’s lost” It starts by shifting your thinking from “I don’t want to embarrass myself by asking…” to “I don’t know this person, what do I have to lose? What do THEY have to gain?” and “I’m just going to get out of the car and check for a collar.” It starts by realizing that it doesn’t matter where you give your time to, but that giving your time whenever you see a hole you can fill. And that is The Giving Mindset. You shed your personal biases of the world. You don’t ask yourself “what if I had stopped and checked on that dog?” or “I wonder if that dog is okay.” Instead, you pull over and find out. You find out by taking one irrelevant moment of your day to do one small thing that is of the slightest inconvenience to you. And then another moment. And another. You do this over and over and over until you habitually drop a dollar in that jar or, as if bred into you, pulling over the car when you see that dog. What do you have to lose? Maybe: Not much What do they have to gain? Probably: A lot The first step is your next step. I implore & encourage you to take that and every step after with The Giving Mindset. And hey, if you’re still struggling with recognizing ways to help - we’d love to help you! We are currently raising funds for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The help this community gives them might just be the difference for saving a furry friend, and the help that furry friend gives its human friend might just save another life. https://www.commandthecause.org/donate.html As a personal note, the things Command the Cause does is 100% possible because of each and every one of you. If you’re reading this, you have helped Command the Cause and, by extension, all the charities we’ve supported just by being a part of our community. Play games, have fun, and help us grow so we don’t have to wonder ‘what if’ anymore ❤ HobbitWhoCould Lover, fighter, dreamer, schemer, and gamer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Major updates, milestones, and announcements will be posted here.
|