Why Compassion?
With the advent of the commercial internet in the past 25 years, humans can now gain access to information on a scale totally unbeknownst to the older generations. We can see tremendous suffering on a scale that previous generations were not exposed to. Social Media has backfired, causing more anxiety than connection. Unfortunately, this can leave an individual feeling powerless to combat the social, political and environmental imbalances that we can see locally, nationally and internationally.
As a result, we can succumb to a numbing or inward turn that attempts to shield us from this knowledge but leaves us with less empathy towards others and ourselves. To this end, we have created Benevolently.
Our challenge to you begins with setting your own view of helping someone without an expectation of return. The good feeling that comes from having helped someone for the sake of helping them without having an expectation for a return, is what we call “Goodness.”
1% of your time - 1 hour per week
The challenge is for you to take 1% of your time in a week and commit to helping someone else in a fashion that is sustainable, and with tasks that you feel comfortable with. The Challenge doesn’t ask you to move mountains on a weekly basis, but to help someone else as your life schedule reasonably allows. Ongoing giving of your time. Weekly.
We challenge you to treat this like a new “layer” or aspect to your life as an ongoing effort. Much like taking the time to go to the gym, or taking a dog for a walk, the Challenge of Empathy asks you to spend time doing something for another on a weekly basis. Benevolently will provide you curated opportunities that fit your schedule, your geographic area and skill set so that incorporating service to others will be with as little friction for your life as possible.
The secret in all of this is that helping others makes you feel great. You will feel connected, purposeful, and at ease. You are the leader in kindness, instigating a new way of being towards others, and in your small part, you are changing the world.
Join us.
