Alright, I did it; I made the Giving Advent Calendar mock-up. There are some great ideas out there for giving back for December, like this interactive one, but I really wanted to focus on ways we could give back for free or low cost. That said, this is a super simple one I made up using Word, so I would love to see what other people have come up with for Giving Advent Calendars, both content and design.

Happy Advent!

I have seen November designated at the Month of Gratitude, and I was truly inspired by the list of 100 things you could do to make your neighborhood/community more playful.

I’ve been thinking, what about combining the two into a month of giving, or instead of an advent calendar where you get a treat, you make an advent calendar where you GIVE a treat.

This doesn’t need to cost you any money, either. You can give time at a volunteer effort. You can help someone move something heavy. You can give a compliment. You can build one of the 100 ideas posted before and put it in a public space where everyone can use it.

I really like this idea, and although we are all busy and poor and have way too much to do, myself included, I am going to try and do something for someone else at least up until Christmas, other than the usual obligatory caring and feeding of my dependents (dog, kid, fish, etc.), and preferably for free and/or using materials I’ve got laying around the house.

What kind of free giving are you planning on doing this season? Share it in the comments below.

Double-posting because I think this is so important; from the blogger James Clear:

In 2010, the American Journal of Public Health published a review titled, The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health. You can find it here.

In that article, researchers analyzed more than 100 studies about the impact of art on your health and your ability to heal yourself. The studies included everything from music and writing to dance and the visual arts.

As an example, here are the findings from five visual arts studies mentioned in that review (visual arts includes things like painting, drawing, photography, pottery, and textiles). Each study examined more than 30 patients who were battling chronic illness and cancer.

Here’s how the researchers described the impact that visual art activities had on the patients…

• “Art filled occupational voids, distracted thoughts of illness”
• “Improved well–being by decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive ones”
• “Improved medical outcomes, trends toward reduced depression”
• “Reductions in stress and anxiety; increases in positive emotions”
• “Reductions in distress and negative emotions”
• “Improvements in flow and spontaneity, expression of grief, positive identity, and social networks”

I don’t know about you, but I think the benefits listed above sound like they would be great not just for patients in hospitals, but for everyone. Who wouldn’t want to reduce stress and anxiety, increase positive emotions, and reduce the likelihood of depression?

James Clear goes on to explain some of the physical benefits of creativity. Go read it here, and then go get creative. 🙂

From Quickmeme:

From Distractify:

At first, artist Mica Angela Hendricks didn’t want her four-year-old daughter near her new sketchbook. But her daughter convinced her, and Mica let her daughter finish one of her sketches, and pretty soon, they had a whole collection of collaborations.

Mica claims that her amazing artistic experiences with her daughter have taught her a lot about being an artist, and that you have to let go of control for wonderful things to happen.

See more…