Bucket Filling in Your Community

Have you heard of the term “bucket filling”? I first heard of the concept from my son who learned about about it at his elementary school. My son told me that we all carry buckets with us. We fill people’s buckets when we are thoughtful and kind to them. We dip into their buckets when we say and do mean things to them.

You see, the bucket represents one’s emotional state. When you say a kind word, help out, are thoughtful and caring, you fill the buckets of others as well as your own. When your bucket is full of happiness, you feel good about yourself, and tend to do things that fill other people’s buckets. On the other hand, when your bucket is empty, you tend to say mean things, be disrespectful, thoughtless, a bully, and basically be a bucket dipper. Your own bucket’s level of happiness is affected by the behaviours of those around you as well as your own thoughts and self talk. [sociallocker id=”2279″]You can find out more about Bucket Filling here.

Now who wouldn’t rather have a full bucket and be happy versus having an empty bucket and being unhappy? I know I’d rather have a full bucket; with these dark, dreary days of winter, I need all the happiness I can get! Reflecting on ways that I am a bucket filler in my community helps to keep my own bucket full, so let me proceed in doing just that.

  • I help to promote environmental awareness at my children’s school, by volunteering as parent sponsor on the school’s Green Team.
  • I help students enrich their lives through an appreciation of Japanese language and culture, by volunteering at my children’s language school.
  • I regularly volunteer at events hosted by the local minor hockey association.
  • I help my neighbours out by looking after their house and garden while they are away on vacation.
  • I help to create a sense of community and belonging by having the neighbourhood kids over to our place to play, or walking them to or from school.
  • I pick up garbage around our neighbourhood.
  • I donate our gently used clothing and household items to the local thrift store that supports our hospital.
  • We stay home and hand out candy on Hallowe’en night.
  • I support our local food bank.

I could go on and on. What I’m finding out as I make this list is that even the little things count. But how about you? How are you a bucket filler in your community?[/sociallocker]

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