Volunteering can be an incredibly rewarding experience, but it can also be draining, disheartening and disenchanting. Many well-meaning individuals enter into volunteer arrangements with grand hopes and goals, only to find that they aren’t able to foster the kind of change they desire to. Many others give far too much of themselves, far too quickly, […]
With all the talk of crime, war, terrorism and Trump buzzing around us like a persistent fly, it’s easy to get down about the state of the world – to start losing faith in humanity. It’s helpful, then, to be reminded that there are good people on this planet. Lots of them. Around 2.2 billion, […]
“Self love” needn’t be a sniggered at phrase like the ubiquitous and undesirable “selfie” and it certainly needn’t require extra support from sticks and lenses to perfect its place in our life. Self love doesn’t require you to pose pouted for hours on end as you put your phone’s front camera to the test and […]
Yesterday, Thursday, 21 March, was Human Rights Day, a public holiday designed to commemorate the progress South Africa has made in the promotion of citizens’ basic rights. To rectify ills of the past, we now have a progressive constitution that outlines the freedoms we’re entitled to – it exists to protect us, but also to […]
It’s impossible to give abundantly and consistently without being impacted by the process. Anyone who’s dedicated time and resources to helping others will tell you, giving changes who you are and how you think. And if you change, it follows that the quality of your relationships would change too. It’s also worth noting that being […]
I remember my first day of work like it was yesterday. I felt hopelessly lost and out of my depth. Nothing during my studies or the years leading to my professional debut prepared me for the reality of work life. Nothing really could. Because the truth is, nothing beats real-world experience. This unspoken truth applies […]
By volunteering your time and efforts, you don’t just get to give back to the world around you; you teach yourself to see beyond your own reality. You open your mind and heart to others’ experiences, and cultivate gratitude and generosity within yourself. In short – you become a better person. But for volunteer work to have the […]
We’ve been brought up in a culture of lack. Parents and teachers dutifully drumming age-old (and positively expired) mental models into our minds. No you can’t have this, no we can’t afford that, no you’ll never be good enough for any of it… Instead of being told how much we do have, and are capable […]
Many may think meditation is simply a means to turn the amp down on mental chatter and up the volume of inner silence. While this is of course true, it is only one merit of meditation. Once you begin developing and deepening your own practice you start seeing how meditation makes you a better, kinder and […]
“Calculated generosity” – the words sunk to the bottom of my heart like two heavy weights. Sometimes the truth is too hard to handle so we ignore it in hopes it will go away. But in two stinging words my mother had called it – the people I’d let into my life, the ones I […]