Donate Your Time

We live in a global village, they say, Friends are the new family, they say. So when in your week do you spend time helping others, like we did in the villages and extended families of years ago?

I bet you have a spare hour or two each week, or maybe a week or two each year, that you can give to a cause you believe in.

www.do-it.org.uk
www.timebank.org.uk
www.volunteer.com.au

Get Creative

Maybe you are already in touch with your spiritual self. Maybe, then, it is time to find the creative being inside you! Think of something you like to do, and turn it into art. Actually print some of those digital photos you take by the hundred. Take yourself off to the great outdoors and immerse yourself in nature instead of family snaps. Enlarge your favourite, frame it and make your own work of art. Here's one I made earlier, called Hard Pause - it is exhibited online at the Hype Gallery www.hype.com . www.tdds.co.uk will turn your favourite photos into actual art: send them a digital photo and they will send it back to you printed on canvas. They will also turn any original artwork into limited edition prints for you. Why buy art when you can make your own? www.walkingworld.com offers countless UK walking maps of all distances and difficulty levels. Get out there! Take the bull by the horms and learn that skill you’ve dreamed of. Take a watercolour painting course, learn to throw a pot, carve your very own sculpture. Check out www.artcourses.co.uk for inspiration! Or why not make your holiday something a bit more special? Responsible Travel was launched in 2001 to help travellers book more real and authentic holidays that also benefit the environment and local people. Visit local tribes in Africa, go swimming with whales in Tonga, or go mountain biking in England. You might even learn something!