In a world that is overrun by media, I often feel that there is way too much negativity going on. The old adage, bad news sells, is owed in part to humankind itself with its morbid curiosity. There are however pages dedicated solely to feel-good stories. Pages such as #I’mStaying also warm the heart regularly with stories of people that honour someone special in their lives, or have a happy story to tell.
It’s stories such as these that I enjoy reading. Because whatever you focus on is what you will cultivate.
This being said, there are very small things that I have started doing over the years. I’ve noticed that focusing on the positive and making time to help other people really improves my own mood.
It can be something as small as smiling and recalling the name of the cashier that you are buying your groceries from – they wear tags for a reason.
You can smile and wave at the people selling the newspapers, and maybe find out how their morning has been.
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We all have battles to fight and the more you try to lift others up, the easier everyone’s battles will become.
There are also plenty of organisations that you can donate to; either with time or resources.
CANSA had their Shavathon last week. If you missed that – there is the Relay For Life coming up this weekend. Attending a function like this will provide them with the necessary funds for them to do what they do best – help others.
Or there are the SPCA or Pro-Life. There are many options in these organisations. The obvious being you can adopt a pet (and similarly remembering to get your own pets spayed). You can also donate food or sponsor a pet per month if you can’t adopt one. A mere R30 a month will make a huge difference and you’ll only have lost one coffee’s worth of money.
These are only off the top of my head and there are so many other organisations in Mbombela that really make a difference in people’s lives.
We often think that we need to make big gestures to better the situation for others, but it can be something as little as giving up one Saturday a month to do some community work.
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