Many religions include a period of fasting or abstaining. During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, fasting is observed between dawn and nightfall. On the most sacred day of the year in the Jewish faith, Yom Kippur, Jews fast for a day to reflect, repent and atone. Hindus observe fasts during festivals, as well as specific days of the week and month. In Catholicism, one of the most well-known traditions is the act of fasting during the Lenten season.
This winter, TMCC dental hygiene students helped a veteran in need, and he wasn’t in a dental chair. Instead, veteran Mitch Mendler had planned on displaying the American flag in Carson City for a special ceremony, but as he arrived in the capital city, he received notice that plans had been changed and the volunteers who were scheduled to help him were not available.
As an energy engineer, and Bhakti yoga teacher, Priya Dey-Sarkar’s life may at first glance seem at odds with itself. But she only sees how connected it all is. “No matter what I do, I work with energy — helping it flow from point A to point B,” Dey-Sarkar explains.
There may be no other time of the year when folks feel so naturally drawn to donating gifts, money, and time. But what often happens is that the burst of charitable feelings that come in November and December often dissipate come January and February.
But as I shared in a previous post, community service not only provides rewards to those receiving your help, but the rewards that come from contributing something good into an often-difficult and even frightening world are enormous.
In October of 2017, Kirk Allaire had a crazy-big idea.
The roots of this idea: As the successful owner of a company called Gratis Payment Processing, he wanted to give back to a non-profit that held great meaning to him personally. In the early days of his company, he contacted this specific charity to try to initiate the process. But he found the simple idea of trying to donate to a national organization to be overwhelming for the company’s bandwidth at the time.
Some say the best karma is giving to those who need it most. Karma Boxes are starting to pop up all over town, providing non-perishable food, first aid and toiletries to those in need. The Karma Box Project can best be summed up by its slogan, “If it is empty, fill it. If you need it, it is yours.”
Positivity can and should (in our humble opinions) be part of daily life. But to make positivity a habit, you need to do it – deliberately and repeatedly – until it becomes second nature. Doing something positive for 30 days is a great way to change your outlook and positively impact your community, so we encourage you to embrace our 30 Days of Positivity Challenge this month -- or any month, really!
