Today is GivingTuesday. Created in 2012, GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement that empowers people and organizations to transform their communities.

Transformation sounds pretty good to us!

The good news is that it doesn’t need to be grand gestures. There are many ways you can impact and transform your community.

• You could reach out to the elderly and make sure they are safe.
• You could volunteer at a local food bank or local charity
• You could pay for the person’s coffee who is standing behind you in Starbuck’s
• You could show gratitude to essential workers by sending gift cards for food to your local fire, police, and paramedic stations (don’t forget to include a nice card).

The great thing about giving is that you will see benefits almost immediately.

You will feel connected to something bigger than yourself and part of the larger community.

1. When you give you are more likely to get back. This is called the Law of Reciprocity.
2. Giving will make you more grateful for what you have which will quiet the mental noise in your head and starve the Inner Mobster.
3. Giving makes us feel happy.

Don’t ignore that last one…

Giving also includes taking time for yourself for self-care. We call this Self-Loyalty and it’s one of the 7 Gangsta Secrets to living a happy and healthy life. You can grab a free copy of the 7 Gangsta Secrets here

In honor of #GivingTuesday, we are encouraging you to give. Give to your community and give yourself the gift of Self-Loyalty.

Here are the Top 3 ways to be Loyal to yourself:

1. Write a Gratitude list each and every day. Think of the things you do have and feel gratitude for them so they grow over time.
2. Take time every day to meditate. Meditation quiets the mental noise and tunes into a healing frequency that changes your energy.
3. Engage in active breath-work. Take a deep breath in through your nose, down into your belly and release. Inhale for a count of 4. Hold for 3 seconds. Breathe out for a count of 4 seconds. And repeat. This calms the body and allows you to have more patience and understanding.

Last week we gave back to our community by holding a virtual dance party. It was a blast!! Check out the video below.