The Gift of Giving.

Over the past few years in the Knixter household we have very much been on a journey of minimalism - well, Nicola and I have been as we don't want to force our views on our children! As with any potentially positive change to the way we live our lives, we want to be an inspiration to other people, including our children, and for them to see the positive changes that we have made and wonder what it is that has caused us to be happier, and whether it would be a good thing for them to try.

We will be writing a lot more about our journey with minimalism in future blogs!

Minimalism for us though isn't just about getting rid of all of your stuff - it is also about decluttering every area of your life - mental, emotional, financial, spiritual - the list goes on! The idea behind this is that you then have the simplicity and the space, to find out what truly matters to you and you can start living the kind of life that you really want to live.

The title of this blog is 'The Gift of Giving' which may not seem overly minimalist at first glance, but if we dig deeper what is really meant is contribution. How can we make this world a better place and enrich people's lives?

One of the things that was highlighted for me was my desire to give something back and be involved in the local community. Before the pandemic I was a Scout leader for a local Scout group and I got so much out of watching young people grow and develop skills for life, having new experiences and making friends. It is a challenging thing to do and you can find yourself devoting a lot of your time to running a successful Scout group, but there are many roles you can assist with, from running a group through to being an occasional helper, or helping out with fundraising from time to time.

After a few years away I will be rejoining my local Scout group in September, this time helping with Cub Scouts, children between the ages of 8-10 and I am really looking forward to watching them all have fun!

The secret to living is giving.

The power of contribution cannot be overstated - in fact Tony Robbins (if you haven't heard of him, please do go check him out!) defines contribution as being one of the 6 human needs and defines it as "a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others". The following video is a perfect summary of the magic of contribution -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iFiWh14_X4

There are many ways in which you can contribute and below are a few ideas that will hopefully spark some ideas on how you can get involved, not only in your local community but also further afield!

1. Volunteering. As above, volunteering with my local Scout section is something that I have done, and will be doing again. There are many Scout groups around the world, and most areas are short of leaders - in fact there are over 50,000 young people on waiting lists in the UK alone! There are of course other groups such as girl guides, boys and girls brigades and many youth groups that also need plenty of volunteers to help run their group.

2. Help out with a food bank. This could be in terms of volunteering again, or it could be donating food items, lots of supermarkets have 'bins' that you can put food into that are then given to local food banks, With a record number of people having to rely on food banks to be able to feed their families their services are very much needed.

3. Share local businesses on social media. If you use social media and have had a good experience with a local business - even if not local to you, the power of a positive review can be massive. Recognition of good service can go a long way and even in supermarkets, a lot of businesses have rewards for staff who are praised by customers.

4. Get involved with local parks. Most parks have 'friends' who meet up once a week, or month, to help tidy up the park, pick litter and help out with maintenance. With our green spaces providing a space for wildlife as well as being a place that children and adults can go to enjoy the many positive benefits of being outside in nature, it is important that we do all we can to help these areas remain clean and tidy.

5. Give blood. Blood banks are always in need of blood to help save the lives of others. It may not be something we want to do, but if the situation was reversed and us or a family member needed a blood transfusion, we would very much want there to be enough available!

6. Giving money. If you have extra money once all of your outgoings have been accounted for and you have put money into savings, then there are a lot of charities and organisations that need donations in order to help them to keep providing their services. Find one that is close to your heart and give what you can, if you can, no matter how small. Feel free to add any more ideas that you have to give back, in the comments below. We would love to hear your suggestions.