With January comes the big resolutions we (almost) never stick to and have long forgotten by January 10. So rather than thinking of it in terms of ‘resolutions’ which sets you up for failure, let’s face it. Why don’t we look at with kindness and consciousness. Today’s ‘non-resolution’ explores how we can spend with a conscience.
The way I spend tends to pivot around these three question:
Is it kind to me? Is it kind to others? Is it kind to the planet?
Which are the three questions we use to help people develop their KindSet (Your KindSet is like your Mindset, except that it’s all about Kindness).
In terms of being kind to myself, I’m someone that doesn’t enjoy clutter and thrives in open clear space, so I don’t tend to spend much on things. I like the garden so that’s where most of my spending on myself goes. Find out what makes you thrive and happy.
Being kind to others normally involves spending of either time, energy or money on people that matter to me, or need my help. As my time and energy are my most precious resource, - because they’re limited - I really try and make sure I connect with the people I interact with and pay attention to what’s happening for them, I’m very aware of that. Financially, I like to directly tie everything I do with an act of giving. So when I had my acupuncture practice, I’d feed and educate a child for a week or a month depending if they were a new patient, or a follow-on treatment.
With Five Institute and our Kindness mission, we’re setting up a local community company called Light Up Lives which directly gives to local communities, plus were setting up a new international initiative with Molly Bedingfield and Global Angels, which is a wonderful organization that makes sure 100% of what you give arrives where it’s intended, plus they have very focused work. Think about how your spending can benefit others.
As for Is this Kind to the planet? That’s a real area of spending with a conscience for me, and a very tricky one to know the level of impact you’re making. Here, I don’t spend my money on things that are unnecessary or I know I will harm the planet on the long term. So, for example, I don’t buy plastic water bottles and tend to support and buy from companies that have an environmental conscience. It’s ordinary things really and I know I could do better here, but it’s a start and that sort of kindness will always have some positive impact. That’s what it means to spend consciously with kindness as a mindset.
I think for me it’s thinking beyond how much I spend as a percentage of my earnings and more how it ties in with the bigger picture of what I do and want to leave behind me.
Nicholas Haines is the Kindness Ambassador, founder of the Five Institute and author of The Story of Boxes.
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