I love listening to John Jay and Rich on iHeart Radio. A #LoveUp movement was started when John Jay and Kurt Warner were texting. Kurt tried to text “Love it” but the phone autocorrected to “Love up”.
The radio team took this slogan and ran with it as a way to pay it forward and show compassion. This movement has been going on for over a year now.
I think the world can use more compassion and love. As a therapist, I teach clients coping skills to tolerate their own stressors. One of these skills is to contribute to someone else.
This is very similar to the love up movement. When someone is in distress, they can spend some of their mental and physical energy to focus on helping someone else. This takes up some of the space that is being used for stress. This may not take away all the stress, but is helpful in relieving some of the stress.
Ways to Contribute
Contributions don’t have to monetary! Contributions can be simple activities with the intention of showing compassion and support to someone else. Here are some ideas of how to contribute:
- Hold the door open
- Give a compliment
- Say “thank you”
- Write a letter
- Smile
- Spend time with someone
- Help with chores
- Volunteer
- Donate unused items
- Take turns
- Share
- Bake cookies for someone
- Buy coffee (monetary)
- Buy a meal (monetary)
Spread Love
I was having a bad morning the other day. It was one of those mornings that nothing was going right. I spent about 20 minutes stewing over everything that went wrong.
I was driving to work and kept thinking “I have to get myself out of this.” I decided to start thinking about what I’m grateful for and how I could spend energy helping someone else.
As I got in line for my usual Starbucks tea, I decided to buy the drinks for the person in line behind me. I didn’t do this for acknowledgement or for a thank you, I did this because it made me happy to know that this anonymous person would get a nice surprise.
I thought about how I would feel if I were that stranger. I thought that this might make their day a little bit better. After I decided to do this, I felt so much better and was out of my grouchy mood.
I try to do contributions as much as possible. Sometimes it’s just holding the door open for someone or smiling to a stranger in passing. That doesn’t cost me anything but it does make me feel good. How can you #loveup?
This Post Written By:
Rachel Thomas, Owner, LMFT – Therapy With Heart
8737 E. Via De Commercio, Suite 200
Scottsdale, Arizona 85258
Phone: (480) 888-5380
Fax: (480) 203-2881
Email: Rachel@TherapyWithHeart.com
Website: https://therapywithheart.com
