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By : Juliana Essen April 17, 2021April 17, 2021

Make Mutuality Mutually Supportive with These 5 Principles

Mutuality is all about treating each other with respect and consideration, even under conditions of asymmetric power (like parent/child). We definitely want mutuality for its own sake, but also because it sets a foundation for mutual support. Note that having a foundations doesn’t mean we have a house to live in. We have to build

round up week 15: 8 ways to find wellbeing in a community commons (pile of large orange squash) Read More
By : Juliana Essen April 3, 2021April 3, 2021

8 Ways to Find Wellbeing in a Community Commons

The community commons plays a vital role in social wellbeing by knitting together the fabric of society and helping the interdependent individuals within it to thrive. Here are 8 ways to get the most out of commons-based relationships. Tip #101: Contemplate Communal Support Last week I wrote about how the concept of reciprocity improves current research

round up week 14: energize social support (lightbulb orange background) Read More
By : Juliana Essen April 1, 2021April 1, 2021

The Feeling’s Mutual: Energize Social Support through Give & Take

I have long romanticized living in a commune where people help each other freely, for the good of all. After living in an intentional community, I know that communal life is not all peace, love, and happiness. Nevertheless, I’m still drawn to the ideal. Especially when I think of all the people who are grappling

SOS - Save our social skills: 6 ways to rescue kids now (life preserver) Read More
By : Juliana Essen March 18, 2021April 1, 2021

“SOS: Save Our Social Skills” 6 Ways to Rescue Kids Now

After a year of pandemic-induced isolation, we’re all suffering socially — especially kids. If we’re totally honest, we’d have to admit that a lot of kids didn’t have the best social lives to begin with. They’re often over-scheduled and under-socialized, thanks to too much homework, resume-building extracurriculars, and screen time. Now, as schools are reopening,

week 10 round up: how good friends help us be better people (fire extinguisher) Read More
By : Juliana Essen March 12, 2021April 1, 2021

How Good Friends Help Us to Be Better People

Good friends offer more than a fun night out or a shoulder to cry on. Good friends also share our values and goals and influence us positively. This is the prime reason an intentional community forms – like the Buddhist community in Thailand I studied. Community members explained that it’s much easier to follow their

8 environmental exercise examples (tree with sun behind it) Read More
By : Juliana Essen March 1, 2021March 3, 2021

8 Environmental Exercise Examples that will Energize You

Living in an intentional Buddhist community in Thailand taught me about “right exercise.” For true physical wellbeing, exercise should be integrated into daily life and motivated by meaning. As Zen-inspired Buddhadasa Bhikkhu might say, “The broom sweeps the ground; the Dharma sweeps the heart.” And because most Thai Buddhists I know have an interdependent sense

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By : Juliana Essen February 15, 2021March 3, 2021

Child’s Play: How To Boost Kids’ Physical Activity

The adults I know tend to be nostalgic about our childhood. We roamed freely around the neighborhood: riding bikes, playing tag, skating, climbing, and swinging until the streetlights came on. We lament how kids these days can’t or don’t get the same quality outdoor exercise. And it’s worse now that the pandemic has turned the

10 tips to integrate exercise into your daily life Read More
By : Juliana Essen February 10, 2021March 3, 2021

How to Get Fit for Life: 10 Tips to Integrate Exercise

Americans are certainly no strangers to exercise, though we seem to favor working out at fitness clubs. Just after New Years in 2017, Google searches for “improved health” saw a 315% increase in more specific queries for gyms. Unfortunately, this intent doesn’t always translate into action. I’m not crazy about gyms myself, but I do

9 Powerful ways to feed the world and end hunger Read More
By : Juliana Essen January 30, 2021March 3, 2021

How to End Hunger: 9 Powerful Ways to Feed the World

Hard to believe we’ve made to the end of the first month of INTENT 365 daily wellbeing tips! This month has been all about boosting our physical (and mental) wellbeing, a.k.a., getting “In-shape” via energizing food. Tips from week 1, week 2, and week 3 have spun out from the core lesson I learned during

7 simple ways to eat organic for sustainability and wellbeing Read More
By : Juliana Essen January 21, 2021March 3, 2021

Why Go Organic? 7 Simple Ways to Eat More Sustainably

Right – continuing on with more tips on boosting our mental and physical wellbeing by eating a whole, plant-based, chemical-free (a.k.a., organic) diet. Week 1 of INTENT 365 shared 7 tips to help your personal shift to a plant-based diet, and week 7 offered 7 more. This week, we focus more on the organic part

7 tips for a successful plant-based diet Read More
By : Juliana Essen January 7, 2021March 3, 2021

7 Tips for a Successful Plant-based Diet

Raise your hand if you made a New Year’s resolution to get in shape (again). I always start out the year enthusiastically and then fizzle out. If you’ve had the same experience, I suggest we take a different approach this year. Instead of struggling to shed pounds or firm flab, why don’t we try to

INTENT 365 daily tips to create wellbeing for people and the planet Read More
By : Juliana Essen January 2, 2021March 3, 2021

How to Live Well on a Small Planet: 365 Days of INTENT

They say you have to walk a mile in a person’s shoes to truly understand what her life is like. For me, it was six miles, barefoot, across irrigation ditches and rice fields in northeast Thailand. The people I hoped to understand were members of the Santi Asoke Buddhist Reform Movement—a fringe Buddhist group who

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1st principle of mutuality: dignity. Dignity is at 1st principle of mutuality: dignity. Dignity is at the core of universal human rights. In Kant’s reckoning, there are two types of value: price and dignity. Humans inherently have dignity. We must respect it in others and defend it at all costs. Our wellbeing depends on it.
INTENT 365 week 15 round-up of wellbeing tips, all INTENT 365 week 15 round-up of wellbeing tips, all about the #commons. A commons includes tangible & intangible resources plus relationships that create, maintain, and share it. Here's how to make the most of it for our collective #wellbeing. http://ow.ly/RvXI50EfX2Y
#Commons Day 8: #SharingEconomy allows practical s #Commons Day 8: #SharingEconomy allows practical support & promotes positive relationships. Yet is this really sharing? @gorenflo of @Shareable distinguishes transactional from transformational sharing, which @postgrowth says adds a power shift. That's true communal #wellbeing.
#Commons Day 7: The #SharingEconomy facilitates sh #Commons Day 7: The #SharingEconomy facilitates sharing resources among individuals  who lack a ready social network to share with. There are platforms for sharing houses 🏠, cars 🚗, skills. Peer-to-peer industries lack the spirit of the commons, but they are still useful.
#Commons Day 6: You don't have to formally incorpo #Commons Day 6: You don't have to formally incorporate to reap the benefits of a cooperative. You just need a group of people with a common goal and the will to make it happen. With risks & gains shared equally among all members, it's total win for communal #wellbeing 🌎💚
#Commons Day 5: In the US, there are 42,000 cooper #Commons Day 5: In the US, there are 42,000 cooperative businesses worth  nearly $3 trillion. Co-ops build strong social support networks for their members, allowing smaller investment burden, large purchases as a group, collective bargaining power & pooled risk. Shop @ co-ops 😁
#Commons Day 4: Think about what shared resource m #Commons Day 4: Think about what shared resource makes a community special - there you’ll find the commons & the motivation to care for it. If we don't all "do our part," we won't be able to enjoy it. This means maintenance +  protecting it from threats like climate change. 💙🌎
#Commons Day 3: We typically associate commons wit #Commons Day 3: We typically associate commons with physical resources & livelihoods, but what about common identity? It comes from shared beliefs, customs, & practices (culture) + what Emile Durkheim called "collective effervescence" - moments of communal joy & pain. #wellbeing
#Commons Day 2: Forget "tragedy of the commons." #Commons Day 2:  Forget "tragedy of the commons." Elinor Ostrom (1st woman to win Econ Nobel Prize) showed that people can in fact collectively manage shared resources sustainably & equitably for the good of the group. How? Organize locally. That's good news for 👬 & 🌎.
Day 1 of #commons: a community's shared physical r Day 1 of #commons: a community's shared physical resources + intangibles (knowledge, tech, laws, skills, customs, beliefs) that sustain livelihoods. Contributing to the commons serves community needs & reinforces identity. Relationships that create, maintain & share it are key🔑.
Week 14 round-up of #wellbeing tips: These 10 tips Week 14 round-up of #wellbeing tips: These 10 tips show how to ensure that social support contributes to wellbeing through mutuality, reciprocity, and gratitude 🙏. http://ow.ly/QwdO50EfrVT
Everyone likes to be appreciated - so write thank Everyone likes to be appreciated - so write thank you 🙏notes & send them! It strengthens social bonds & helps keep up the motivation to continue support. Even better: hand delivering it results in the biggest boost in #wellbeing, with benefits lasting a month 😁.
Being thankful 🙏 for social support further boo Being thankful 🙏 for social support further boosts #wellbeing.  A recent study found that gratitude letters used fewer negative emotion words & more “we” words. Only 23% of the participants sent their letters but still felt benefits. So keep a journal 📕& be appreciative daily.
When I saw Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk on the Art o When I saw Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk on the Art of Asking, I was moved. She talked about being a street performer: an all-white living statue who offered a flower + intense eye contact. When you ask 🙏, you offer opportunity for connection where giving & receiving meet. #wellbeing
When big life events happen, caring, organized fri When big life events happen, caring, organized friends may set up a system for support & invite others to contribute. Using Meal Train, you can sign up to bring dinner 🌮to a family with a new baby 👶. We felt truly cared for and happy to take a meal to others later! #wellbeing
The tricky part of giving support is that people r The tricky part of giving support is that people rarely ask for it. So we have to take the initiative: tune in 📻to what others need, then offer it. These are not “random acts of kindness” but purposeful ones that lay the groundwork for a circle ⭕of support & #wellbeing.
Reciprocity has to start somewhere, so why not be Reciprocity has to start somewhere, so why not be the first to give? No gift 🎁 is too small: a holiday card, the proverbial cup of sugar, garden surplus, hand-me-downs. Nice to have mutual practical, social & emotional benefits 💙. A #wellbeing win for all!
More on reciprocity: it's vital for social support More on reciprocity: it's vital for social support in communities of unrelated 👬with weak emotional ties. Stanford  psych says for social support to work, givers must be emotionally invested. Not true! We give thru our social contract & trust what goes around comes around ⭕.
As anthropologist, I ♥️ reciprocity. Psych res As anthropologist, I ♥️ reciprocity. Psych research on social support is limited to benefits for health & resiliency, but anthropologists explain how reciprocity works to build/maintain social bonds that lead to support. #Wellbeing can be as easy as exchanging small gifts 🎁 😁
Resiliency research shows that social support 🤝 Resiliency research shows that social support 🤝in all its forms—practical, emotional, support with how we think about things—all help us face challenges and recover #wellbeing. To bounce back, we have to recognize when we need support, seek it, & accept it 🙏.
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JulianaEssenJuliana Essen@JulianaEssen·
2h

2nd principle of mutuality: compassion. For Buddhists, compassion means that we feel empathy for another’s suffering, and we take action to ease it. Buddhists understand that our #wellbeing is interconnected so we must take responsibility for each other.

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JulianaEssenJuliana Essen@JulianaEssen·
19 Apr

1st principle of mutuality: dignity. Dignity is at the core of universal human rights. In Kant’s reckoning, there are two types of value: price and dignity. Humans inherently have dignity. We must respect it in others and defend it at all costs. Our wellbeing depends on it.

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JulianaEssenJuliana Essen@JulianaEssen·
18 Apr

INTENT 365 week 15 round-up of wellbeing tips, all about the #commons. A commons includes tangible & intangible resources plus relationships that create, maintain, and share it. Here's how to make the most of it for our collective #wellbeing. http://ow.ly/EdLF50EfX30

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JulianaEssenJuliana Essen@JulianaEssen·
18 Apr

#Commons Day 8: #SharingEconomy allows practical support & promotes positive relationships. Yet is this really sharing? @gorenflo of @Shareable distinguishes transactional from transformational sharing, which @postgrowth says adds a power shift. That's true communal #wellbeing.

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