Betterment and Praxis

I was listening to the radio, and I found this podcast called Democracy Vibe Check. It's about civics and being active in your comunity. Give it a listen!

The episode I was listening to was about how to nurture your community, mainly through volunteering. An interesting few renarks I heard from the episode was that you can volunteer more than time and money. You can also volunteer your talent and experiences to help out a certain group of people. Volunteering is also a great way to get new skills that can be used elsewhere in your career.

This has made me think a little more deeply about how I can volunteer, and ehat strengths I can bring to volunteering. I hope this helps some of you as well, too!

After giving my first presentation at our local community council meeting I've come to the conclusion that the show is a real documentary. While my presentation went great (who doesn't love a conveniently located garden and free food?!?), there was heckling of other presenters for having the audacity to get university educations on the topics they were presenting and an attempted coup on the council board by a frighteningly large group of anti 5g truthers. Ironically, making and consuming videos over their 4g. My favourite part was the community theatre group rehearsing in the next room, giving the meeting a dramatic soundtrack. My partner has had to do meetings through work and said he has had similar experiences. It was all a lot funnier when I was watching it on a screen and not real people in my community but at least I can try to make some changes i guess 😅

Communities can only thrive when a representative group of it's members are pushing for change, don't let it just be fringe groups! In times with amplified hate, its crucial for those of us who have the time and energy to go to the monthly meetings to fight for the rights of those who can't. You don't need to be overly involved or start any projects, you just need to sign up, attend some meetings and vote!

This isn’t something I’m doing, but it is something to keep in mind if you want to work designing or implementing emergency housing.

I think I’m having a bit of an autistic burnout moment over politics. I’m moving a lot more left over the years but just don’t feel like I can do anything. I have 2 years left on a work contract and it would be killer to lose that job, but also I want to help people in ways where quitting might be the best option. I want to learn about politics and history more, but I also don’t want to stress about it because I don’t feel like it changes things that much. Id like a community that talks about these feelings and I feel like this should be that community for me. Let’s just chat about it.

Is it a favourite park or walking track? The library? Do you have a really fun festival that your community is known for? Tells us about it!

The mini pantry movement is a grassroots, crowdsourced solution to immediate and local need. Whether a need for food or a need to give, mini pantries help feed neighbors, nourishing neighborhoods.

the website also provides steps on how to make one yourself, how to promote that you've made one, and issues you may or may not run into in making one. if that's not comprehensive enough for you, here's an even bigger list of resources.

if you learn by video, Hallmark Channel also has a video linked on the website:

DIY Little Free Pantry - Home & Family

and of course, if one already exists nearby and you don't have the resources to make one? stock it up! or take what you need from it!

This is just one good resource. I’d recommend the social.coop mastodon instance for more!

Every city should have a toy library. With limited space and limited income our toy library has been essential to my daughters playtime happiness. It's sustainable, teaches responsible toy care, allows her to try out new things and access the flash toys we wouldn't be able to otherwise. It also creates a sense of community from a young age. She sees her friends playing with the same truck she borrowed the week before and gets excited about taking home the castle toy she's seen. The anticipation of waiting for the next toy she's been eyeing brings Christmas-morning like joy all year round without adding to over consumption of new products that end up neglected.

Our toy library has things like dressups, large outdoor toys, play sets, baby activity centres, boardgames, and pretty much everything in between. It's been an equaliser for lower income families as their kids can have access to those motorised cars, the fancy pickler triangle/climbing sets, and name brand toys without actually having to buy them.

a quick intro on how to get started

It's such a neat concept that can make certain expensive services like lawyers or therapists more accessible. I could trade a few hours gardening, sewing, cleaning, or baking, for someone else to give me a hand building a larger project. It's a beautiful way to connect a community through acts of service 🥰

no doubt some of you are already quite familiar with these--they might even be a staple in your community already--but for those of you who have not heard of repair cafes before, here's a concept of how the most organized ones work:

Repair Cafés are free meeting places and they’re all about repairing things (together). In the place where a Repair Café is located, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, et cetera. You’ll also find expert volunteers, with repair skills in all kinds of fields.

Visitors bring their broken items from home. Together with the specialists they start making their repairs in the Repair Café. It’s an ongoing learning process. If you have nothing to repair, you can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. Or you can lend a hand with someone else’s repair job. You can also get inspired at the reading table – by leafing through books on repairs and DIY.

the most "formally" organized of these are also frequently affiliated with Repair Café International Foundation, a foundation which exists to promote and advance the concept (they also collaborate with iFixit to produce repair guides). affiliated ones are also very common in Europe, which isn't surprising since the Foundation is based out of Amsterdam. on non-European continents, these are less frequent and mostly found in larger cities (the site keeps a list with contact information if you'd like to get in touch with one). if you're in a larger city and looking for a quick and simple way to get involved in something or volunteer a repair skill, you might be able to just check out one near you. if you want to start one affiliated with the Foundation i believe they have a whole kit and process for that detailed on the site.

but the idea of "organizing a space where people can come and get things fixed, help fix things, and learn how to fix things" is also a simple one that transcends any one group and can probably be organized just about anywhere. you don't have to be affiliated with anyone to make that happen, you just need the people, the tools, and a good scope of what you can offer between those two things. if you and a friend think you can offer literally any kind of basic repair--however humble--to people in your community, however large or small? that's a good seed to start something like this from.

First, I'm sorry if this isn't 100% on brand, I know that this is more of a community betterment aimed community, but I wanted to post here because it can be very hard/overwhelming to take on personal improvement projects when you're not sure how to do them. So I was hoping it would help people! Mods if this is too off topic, I 100% am good with you deleting it.

My wife and I have been complaining about how our trash cans keep getting infested with creepy crawlies that that build nests in the wheels out of the plan debris. I had no idea how go best go about fixing this, so I just did it. I bought ten of these 16x16" paver stones, dug downs a little, and used that big ass wood beam thing in the photo as a sort of leveler. Then I backfilled around the edges so they sit fairly flush and won't settle too much. It won't be perfect, but long term we want to replant this area of the yard anyway. Not every solution needs to be the very best or permanent, even if it just helps for a little while, it helps!

The Community Toolbox is a resource provided by the Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas, and I've referenced them from time to time in my college organizing work. It has a strong focus on non-profits, but there's still a lot of stuff that I think is really pertinent to community organizing in general.

Two of my friends wanted to keep bees in an urban environment. After a lot of brainstorming the idea of an educational beehive was born. With the Plexiglas enclosure it is safely possible to come up really close to the hives.

There were many volunteers, and I was part of the 6 core people who built the structure. This was 10 years ago, and I have learned a lot about bees and even given tours to the garden and hives for elementary school groups. We just had the 10th annual bee fest. It is so rewarding to see a project have this kind of longevity and positive impact in the community. I've met a lot of people through this effort, some have turned into really good friends.

I'll stop rambling now, but happy to answer questions below :)

Hello! Beehaw has been a wonderful new community that I joined this weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to connect with people all over the world.

I thought I would share some of the tips and practices I do on Sunday night ahead of another work week to avoid anxiety of “Sunday Scaries,” as we approach the end of the day. While I wrote this with the a 8-5 P, Monday-Friday perspective, a lot of the practices can be applied to other schedules.

I have found that on Sunday afternoon, getting the necessary things set up for the week ahead can really help me disconnect and enjoy my evening. Also, some mindfulness practices can always help ward off bad vibes.

• 30-60 minutes of chores and cleaning your spaces can really a difference. I find that a clean space is always easier to relax in. Also, chores like laundry can remove something from the week ahead.

• meal prep or planning out the week ahead in general is something that I will do on Sunday afternoons to make the week easier and can be a fun activity to do with a partner.

• In general, if you struggle with disconnecting from work, one technique is to practice with to-do lists. Creating a list on Friday afternoon of everything left over from the week, and what things you have to do on Monday morning. Keeping a list like this allows you to mentally disconnect and if work thoughts creep in, you can know that you’ve already kept track of everything and are ready to go for Monday.

• exercise is always a solid option, even something light like a walk can significantly improve your mental health. Only 3 hours of exercise a week is correlated with a significant impact on your physical health.

• Making sure to take extra time for something relaxing like a long shower can go a long way.

• Practices regarding mindfulness and meditation are powerful tools for creating internal space to help stabilize us in this busy world. Keeping a simple gratitude journal (I like the app DayOne), speciality apps like Daylio for tracking moods, or use of meditation apps like Insight Timer (Try a 5 minute session with Linda Hall).

• Even practices like setting out clothes, making lunch for the next day, anything where you can do a favor for your future morning self can go a long way on Monday morning.

Just wanted to share on this topic and some things that have worked for me in the past. A little bit of preparation goes a long way and helps really bring some elements of peace into the Sunday night routine.

Hi everyone! Saw the announcement and immediately ran here.

My question is this: do any of you have any goals that you've been actively working on?

For me, I've been trying to work on my GED that I abandoned a decade ago. Signed up for courses and everything.

Another thing I am trying to learn is more about Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and how that can help me learn how to cope with stress.

Finally, I have major ADHD so I've been trying to do note-taking in my day to day life. Started journaling, taking notes on Youtube videos I watch that I think are important for me to remember, habit tracking, so forth.

How about you? What are you trying to do to better yourself?