Cambodia
Over the weekend I attended my first Love Toronto event. I had the opportunity to write letters of hope with an organization that supports victims of Human Sex Trafficking. Upon my arrival, I was astonished at the amount of men and teenagers in the room. It was a pleasant and heart- warming surprise for me. As I watched everyone writing away and putting together care packages for those in need, I had a moment of realization – every person in the room could have been doing something else.
Why were they here? At a time when the streets of any city are lined with charity fundraising workers, we can make a donation and return to whatever we were doing on our smart phone in less than 5 minutes.
So why were people willing to take hours out of their day to do something kind for strangers for free?
This got me thinking about our relationship with money. They say that ‘money is power’ but if this is true, why do we often feel powerless when we save, spend and give? We save in an attempt to feel powerful, so our next vacation can be fancy or we can get a nicer car. We spend in an attempt to feel powerful, on clothes and gadgets so we appear cooler, more interesting and more important. And we give in an attempt to feel powerful, like we have an impact on others. But so often there is very little evidence of this impact and we don’t feel like we are doing much. The money is never enough because it cannot buy the feeling we are looking for.
What we truly long for, is connection and intimacy. We want to have greater understanding and be understood. We want to participate, to feel connected to the process, we want there to be meaning to our choices and to our lives. We want to see the results of our actions - ‘seeing is believing,’ whether we experience that from showing up in our community or through technology connecting us to the rest of the world.
It seems like anyone growing up at this point in time, in a prosperous country, can have whatever they want whenever they want. I believe this generation was born on a higher point on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We grew up in Safety, Love and Belonging and are reaching for Esteem and Self-Actualization. None of the people I went to school with are fighting for peace or freedom. And our excessive lifestyles are losing appeal quickly. Quality, transparency and fulfillment is becoming more important as Self-Actualization is at our grasp.
If we do not have to worry as much about our immediate well-being as generations past, our primary battles become internal and emotional. There is nothing wrong with this, I believe, it means we are moving in the right direction.
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with the founders of Gimme360, an organization that supports charities in becoming more transparent and building connection between Givers and the impact they are creating around the world.
We met at a coffee shop. Unlike a typical business meeting, I was greeted with hugs and generosity. They were young, warm and friendly but what I noticed most of all was, they were at ease. They weren’t ‘hustling’ trying to build an empire. They believe in what they are doing and they are seeing the impact in real time. Gimme360 is supporting the building of water wells around the world by making products embedded with chips that provide Givers access to VR of the building sites and communities with a simple tap of their smart phone.
The interaction with them left me feeling joyful, uplifted and impressed with the depth of wisdom growing in the generations to come. They understand the value of social consciousness simply because it feels better and they act on that feeling. In some way, all businesses are built to serve but often the meaning and fulfillment is lost when we experience a mismatch with our deepest values as individuals.
What Gimme360 has figured out is that the way we serve is part of our identity. What we support reflects our character and becomes part of our personal brand. The organizations that give us the opportunity to experience life in a more meaningful way, giving us the opportunity to be moved, are the organizations of the future.
So many people get the houses, and cars, and money and relationships still feeling dissatisfied, wondering what it is all for. The younger generations were born into that, we watched our parents suffer and could not live under the illusion that those things would bring happiness. And under such a beginning, meaning becomes important right away - quality, real connection, real intimacy, real love.
There is no reason to repeat the learning curve of the previous generation - burnout, exhaustion, the sacrifice of health and relationships for money, we know what that looks like already.
Now it is time to see what we create when we put fulfillment, service, quality, connection and impact first.
A Little Love From Mala
“Its Cool To BE Happy”