If you’re reading this post on your computer, laptop, mobile device, iPad, or some other pricey piece of technology consider yourself lucky. I’m sitting here at Starbucks late on a thursday night enjoying a cup of chamomile tea and thinking about how I really lucked out in life. I mean seriously, what the heck can I complain about?
- I have a job that I enjoy
- I’ve been given the opportunity to receive an education
- I have my health
- Good friends and family
- My own bed and roof to fall asleep under tonight
- A reliable vehicle that gets me to and from
- My shower works so I can get so fresh and so clean
- The ability to grab a meal when I need one
I literally just bought a new toilet seat and sleeping mask so I can comfortably use the restroom and to help me get a better nights sleep (the seats for the restroom the mask is for the sleep… just wanted to make that clear). Talk about first world problems right?
I mean the list goes on and on and I’m sure it does for you as well. However, when things are going right, resources are abundant, and we almost have more than we know what to do with and a sense of entitlement can sometimes come about. When things become such commonplace it’s easy to take them for granted.
- We expect that we’ll always have good health even if we miss a workout here or there, or eat a few bad meals.
- We can neglect personal relationships and loved ones but yet continue to expect them to love us unconditionally and always be there.
- When the money is rolling in we expect it to keep rolling in and spend it lavishly, mostly on things we don’t need and on material goods that don’t contribute much to ours, others, or the universes happiness and well-being.
Many of you reading this now, just like me are given a multitude of choices every day as to whether or not we would like to do something. You have the ability to decide how you want to spend your money, how you want to treat your friends, what foods you would like to eat, and for those of you in school or work the decision to either go or not.
We’ll continue to get, get, get, and receive, receive, receive but there are some that are just not as fortunate. Well this is your chance to give back to something greater than the self.
Higher Ed Haiti
It’s no secret I’m not a huge advocate of the traditional form of education in the States but at least I had the opportunity to choose whether or not I would like to go or not. Other areas of the world do not offer the same educational opportunities for their people. Either costs are too high or classrooms are overcrowded and taught by teachers whose level of education is barely above that of the students they teach.
Enter my friend Jodi Sagorin and here project Higher Ed Haiti
The goal is to raise enough cash so that 5 bright young Haitian students are able to get the quality healthcare college education they need to save lives. Without these funds, these dedicated students may never reach their goals due to cost alone. I have assembled an incredible team of passionate people who each have pledged to raise one semesters tuition amount and we need your support to make this happen!
Dr. Siskind and I just got home from working at the Partners in Development (PID) clinic in Blanchard, Haiti. This was my second trip to Haiti and Siskind’s sixth. The PID clinic serves those living in extreme poverty, including those living in two tent cities.
Isabelle, one of the lab technicians working at the clinic, mentioned that she was trying to go to nursing school but couldn’t afford her tuition. PID asked Dr. Siskind if he would be interested in sponsoring her education.
Sponsoring an entire college degree sounds like a crazy endeavor, until you realize that in Haiti, full tuition for one year only costs $360!
Seeing that PID employs more incredible Haitian staff members who would also love to continue their education in healthcare, we couldn’t resist starting this campaign.
Higher education in healthcare is the gift that keeps on giving. With a proper education, these students will be able to initiate health education campaigns and treat patients in their communities.
The goal is to finance 5 students’ entire higher education costs.
Rallying together with an incredible team, we can make sure that these amazing future healthcare workers get the education they need to save lives. Without these funds, these dedicated students may never reach their goals due to cost alone.
All funds will be handled by Partners in Development through wepay, the amazing folks running the clinic where the students work, who will handle tuition payments directly.
Partners In Development strives to help the extreme poor attain independence and whole life improvement. PIDcombines a variety of programs, (including healthcare and education of course!) in order to achieve community transformation in places where hope is often lost in the cycle of poverty.
To learn more about this amazing organization, click here.
Spread the word! Let’s do this!
All the best,
Jodi Sagorin
rogiro via Compfight
So why help
Because if you don’t I’ll sock you in the eye 😀 just kidding. Seriously, why should you help? What’s in it for you? Will you even be able to make a difference?
Well it turns out that your happiness doesn’t cost much. In a research experiment conducted in 2008 participants it was found that people who were given $5 to spend on others were much happier than those who were given $20 to spend on themselves (1).
It has also been shown that those that spend a greater portion of their disposable income giving to others are happier than those that spend it solely on themselves (2)
Giving to others makes us feel good about ourselves because it gives us a sense of being a responsible, caring, and giving person. Giving to others helps create tighter social bonds and better personal relationships creates more positive feelings in our lives that lead to more happiness.
Associate professor at Harvard, Michael Norton explains in his Tedx talk just how exactly you can buy happiness. (REFRESH PAGE IF IT DOES NOT SHOW)
Aside from your happiness generosity has been shown to:
- Lower your risk of heart disease
- Lower your risk of and reduce symptoms of depression
- Boost your immune system
- Even MRI’s show that the feel good chemicals dopamine, endorphin, and oxytocin that are usually released during sex and physical exercise can be released when you are generous to others.
So if giving makes us so much happier why the heck don’t we do more of it?
One reason for this is the fear of scarcity and the lack of trust in life in general. Do you trust that your life will bring you:
- Money to feed yourself and your family
- Health to live a long and prosperous life
- Time to experience new things and adventures
- Friends and loved ones to share those experiences with
Unfortunately it has been in grained in us that you can never get enough and when you do, hold on to it with all your might because you just don’t know if it will return or if there is enough to go around. This has never been more evident than with our health and economy.
As a society we eat too much and often too much of the wrong things. Food is easily available to most of us and because we are wired subconsciously to believe that someday all this good food may not be available we consume, consume, and consume creating an obese society that has lost touch with what food really represents; energy and a resource to provide us with a healthy body and mind to do more of the things that we love.
Economically speaking the truth is for most of us our financial needs far exceed the requirements for our basic human needs of food, shelter, clothing, and I like to add personal relationships. For myself and the majority of you reading this we make plenty of money to provide us with those things and then some but for some reason we convince ourselves we need more in order to buy material goods we believe will promote more happiness in our lives. But as we discussed together before it’s your experiences that lead to a greater quality of life and not the money that you spend on possessions.
Ari Moore via Compfight
Donate if you’d like or just do this
This post isn’t just to pitch what I believe is a great cause and project Jodi, myself, and a terrific team are working on. It’s simply to get all of us to think more about ways in which we can give back. So if you don’t have a dollar, five dollars, or one hundred dollars to give to Higher Ed Haiti you can still help.
- Spread the word by posting this article to your Facebook timeline or link directly to the Higher Ed Haiti website
- Verbally tell someone about the project
- Shoot someone an email about it that you think would be interested
If you would like to donate to the cause you can click on the donate button below. It will direct you to the WePay donation site and even explain a little more about the project before you make a final decision. If you do decide to donate I’ll give you a virtual high five and hug 😉
Even if you are not interested in the Higher Ed Haiti cause you can still give back today in other ways that will not cost you a dime.
1. Give someone a hug
2. Pay for someone elses coffee
3. Look at the cashiers name tag and thank them by their first name
4. Call someone you love and tell them just how important they are to you
5. Donate some clothing
6. Sign up for a 5K where the money goes to a good cause
7. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or maybe Meals on Wheels
8. Read a book to a group of kids
9. Create a secret handshake with a friend
10. If you excel at something or have knowledge others might not share it for free today
There are so many opportunities we can give back. Lets start doing more of it with no expectations for anything in return.
Oh, and I almost forgot. As a thank you for reading this article today I created some more FREE resources for you. Below you’ll find a one week meal planner for yourself and a grocery shopping list. You can use them to create your own Paleo meal plans and shopping lists by taking some of your favorite Paleo recipes and typing them directly into the documents. This way you’ll have some nice and neat documents to help keep you on track, organized, and accountable.
Thank you in advance if you do decide to donate and if you do please drop me a line (email me) and let me know that you did so I can properly thank you.
Live limitless,
Justin