After more than a year of living under the global pandemic crisis, our family, our community and our world would need our kindness, more than ever. Front line workers have been working extra shifts. With the crazy heat wave in the summer, forest wild fires and recent mudslides and flooding in BC, many families have been ravaged, livelihoods have been destroyed. People are claiming that our government is not paying enough attention to the climate change. It’s time to be kind. Our family, our community and our Planet Earth need our kindness today, more than ever. According to the experts, when we help others, the hypothalamus in our brain would release a hormone called Oxytocin which has the effect to soothe ourselves in response to sources of pain and stress. It can potentially increase the feelings of generosity, forgiveness, trustworthiness, joy and security.
Before we start helping others, let’s start with ourselves first. Do something you enjoy most. For example, I have given myself a treat at end of this summer by joining Fitness World at the City of Lougheed Town Centre. To me, regular exercise is healthy and also a stress relief method. I could easily do exercise at home by following tutorials on YouTube. However, I found that it has never worked for me. I enjoyed the group workout classes offered by Fitness World, especially the Zumba and High Intensity Training classes. You may not like joining a gym during this pandemic time. Simply keep moving, keep active, such as walking is a good daily exercise. For other family members who may not like going to the gym or working out, you can try initiate going out for a walk with them, whenever possible. Furthermore, adjust your pace so that he/she may felt good about walking with you.
Since I exercise regularly, I would discipline myself to drink more water, especially after a workout. It helps me to recover faster. I try to lower my consumption of fat and sugar. One thing I have done was to replace the fruity-flavor yogurt with the Kirkland Organic no-fat-yogurt and mixed fresh berries and other fruits with it. They taste the best. You may also see me checking the labels before putting groceries into my shopping cart. However, I do indulge myself sometimes with croissants, egg tarts and cakes, which I like very much.
I told myself not to waste time in front of the screen. Do you stay up late to watch TV or Netflix? I go to bed early, before 11, and have a good night’s sleep. I need 7 to 8 of hours sleep to have energy on the next day.
I make an effort to call my elderly relatives every week, and offer to pick up the groceries for them. Regular phone calls to extended family members who are outside of my home area also help to stay in touch.
These are something I have done for myself and my family.
About the community, I have involved myself with the local Rotary Club Burnaby Deer Lake. Each year we raised funds through the Festival of Lights in order to support the Boots for Kids program. About 250 pairs of warm new winter boots would be delivered to 8 elementary schools in Burnaby. The student-recipients are selected by their teachers according to their needs. Because of the Pandemic, many companies are having financial hardship. There have been fewer sponsors last year, and this year. About 2 weeks ago I started my fundraising efforts. As a result, I have sponsored a Christmas tree. The next time when you visit the City of Lougheed Town Centre, walk towards CIBC and the children play area. Let me know if you can spot the Christmas tree that I sponsored.
In recent years, we have been inundated with news about the global climate crisis. Have you tried to recycle, reuse and regenerate? In our backyard, we have 2 big compost bins. They are always filled with raw food scraps in one, and yard waste in the other. Over time, our household has adapted to using electric cars. We believe that electric vehicles have lower emissions than the conventional I.C.E. (internal-combustion-engine) vehicles. After all, it saves us time & money from buying petroleum at the gas station. What can be more time efficient than having a fully overnight-charged-at-home vehicle, each morning? This is the way we are helping to reduce our carbon-footprint on this Earth.
In conclusion, doing good to others is doing good to ourselves.
Remember: It’s time to be kind.
Written by: Eva Li