Detail from Sculpture by Ron Mueck – In Bed, 2005

Wondering what to do this week?  Why not decide to donate something?  How about blood, or time, or effort, or your organs?  How about furniture, gadgets, a sense of purpose, an air of calmness about your person?

You can donate blood by first going to the relevant Red Cross website – here’s the link:Donate Blood.  There is information on how to make an appointment, how to determine if you’re eligible to donate blood, and how to find your nearest blood donation centre.

You can donate your time, effort, and skills by checking out this website at Volunteering Australia.  There’s a great deal of information about volunteering, plus you can locate your nearest Australian centre with the click of your mouse.

Deciding to donate your organs or tissue after death is an important decision for anyone to make, so why not go to the official government-sponsored website at Donate Life where you can find out all you should need to know about donating organs and tissue and how to go about it.  Highly recommended and preferable to rotting in the ground as worm bait, or sitting in a niche or under a rose tree somewhere in a pile of ash.  Ok?  Ok.

If you want to declutter and feel very morally superior, why not go through those drawers, those cupboards, the shed, the entire house, including the secret place where you stash the things you just can’t bring yourself to part with but you know they just aren’t part of your life anymore?  If you want to keep a record of things you have a sentimental attachment to but which could do a power of good for someone else in need, take pictures of them and you’ll always be able to see them whenever you want to.  Take lots of pictures of everything you’re donating to charity and watch the roominess grow, the sense of helpfulness expand, and the clutter disappear.  Get onto the Salvos, or Lifeline, or Vinnie’s and organise a pickup.

Donating a sense of purpose?  An air of calm?  Hmm.  May I suggest meditation?  Sit quietly for five minutes at first, and focus on your breath.  When your thoughts stray, gently bring them back to your breath and continue.  Just let those thoughts come and go, and don’t latch onto them.  The breath is the thing.  Simple and yet not so easy. 

And why not check out Eckhart Tolle’s website for more information about how to be in the moment and mindful of what you’re doing, how to then make mindful decisions in a calm, considered way.  I highly recommend Eckhart’s books, A New Earth and The Power of Now, if you want to find out more about mindfulness.  It’s a way of being decisive in the moment and living your life decisively now.

That’s all for today, grasshoppers.  Enjoy beginning to live a decisive donating life.  Do-nutting every so often doesn’t hurt either – Dreamy Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ – wherever you are, you can donate to your own sugary need and reward your new donor decisive lifestyle with a treat.