Listicles: 10 Ways You Show Love

It's that time of the week again: Listicles. Time to put on the thinking cap & come up with a list of 10 ways you show love (this week's topic was chosen by Ashlee). Since I like to be different, I thought I'd open it up to ways I show love to other people/animals/things & even myself, rather than just listing off all the ways I love my kids or husband. Not that there's anything wrong with talking about how much you love your spouse/children. ;) 

Friend Love: the Lisas with our kids at drop-in play gym

1. Planet Love: Recycling & always trying to reduce the garbage we put out by reusing & reducing too. Using cloth diapers & wipes, cloth napkins, & avoiding disposable stuff whenever possible. Walking, biking & taking transit instead of driving, 95% of the time.
2. Local Love: Shopping at the businesses I can walk to from my house, promoting events & programs at the businesses & non-profits in my area. I love the vibrant independent businesses that are opening within a few blocks of my house--this neighbourhood is turning into such a cool place. Part of that means supporting them by spending my money there, rather than taking trips out of the 'hood to the big box stores to save a few pennies.
3. Friend Love: Trying to help my friends out whenever possible. Lately that's been saving baby hand-me-downs, babysitting, passing on maternity clothes, or just connecting people who might be able to help each other out. I love being the conduit for connections like that.
4. Body Love: Trying to love the skin I'm in,& the size I am by putting together funky outfits when inspired, wearing makeup sometimes & trying not to be overcritical of myself. This is the reason I joined the #365FeministSelfie project--to help me worry a little less about how I look. But in addition to that is trying to eat healthy food & getting exercise so this body will work better!
5. House Love: Gradually (at glacial pace, it often feels) fixing up this old house of ours to make it stronger, healthier, more efficient & a better home for us in general. Renovating rather than rebuilding (though, honestly, we couldn't afford to build a new home in this area) could be filed under #1, as it's a more environmentally friendly solution)
6. Community Love: Volunteering as a board member of the Mount Pleasant Family Centre, fundraising for the centre, & doing the social media for them is one way I try to contribute to the community I live in.
7. Bike Love: Riding as much as I can with my kid (soon to be with both), promoting cycling events & improvements to the city via social media. Also related to #1.
8. Animal Love: When we did have cats, treating them well, feeding them good quality food, & getting them vet care when needed. Now that they're both gone (snif), animal love means donating to the SPCA monthly, buying organic/free range & ethically raised animal products to eat when possible, & teaching my children to respect wild & domestic animals.
9. Blogger Love: Helping promote other bloggers' posts, campaigns, events on social media & by word of mouth. Offering advice or feedback when requested in the many blogging related Facebook groups I'm part of. This one's also related to #3, as I consider many of the bloggers I know to be friends.



Community Love: I heart MPFC!

10. Family Love: This includes not just my kids & husband, but my parents, sisters, in-laws, cousins, nieces & nephews. I am very lucky to have a lot of relatives living here in the Greater Vancouver area. I'm not really able to do the grunt work of helping move house, painting bedrooms these days, so family love is more about just keeping on top of birthdays & what's going on in their lives with the occasional chat on Facebook or phone call.  

Once I got going on this list, I realized it was becoming more of a manifesto on how I live my life. I appreciate how this Listicle topic gave me a new way to frame it: living a life based on love. :) 

What about you--do you have a personal manifesto or motto? I'd love to hear about it in the comments...

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