People with a strong sense of purpose spend their lives giving and doing for others. Today’s post discusses daily purpose moments—simple ways you can brighten someone’s day…in just a minute.

Welcome to the 106^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. In addition to purpose moments, this week’s edition looks at the memory-boosting benefits of exercise, the effectiveness of London’s low-emission zones, bear facts, and simplifying life with a budget.  

On my mind this week: Make a difference with purpose moments

This week, at the Retirement Coaches Association Spring Symposium, I heard a talk by Richard Leider. He’s a recognized expert on purpose, and the author of many books including The Power of Purpose.

Richard said something that made me pause.

Purpose always exists outside ourselves. It’s an act or contribution to others.

Richard Leider

I had never really thought about purpose that way, but it’s true. People with a strong sense of purpose spend their lives giving and doing for others—in their families, workplaces, or communities.

Take a minute to make a difference

It’s easy to think that we don’t have time to do good for others, but Richard said each of us has 1,440 “purpose moments” every day. Each minute of each day is an opportunity to make a difference in some small way. With that in mind, I quickly made a list of 10 ways to lift someone’s spirits that take less than a minute…and most of them don’t cost anything other than the 60 seconds it takes to make them happen. Here they are…

• Smiling at a stranger on the street, on the bus, or at the airport.
• Offering a kind word of gratitude to the person serving you at the supermarket, coffee shop, or restaurant.
• Saying (or thinking) a quick prayer for someone in need.
• Sending a short text or email to let someone know they are in your thoughts.
• Writing something nice on a post-it note and leaving it on someone’s desk.
• Expressing a genuine compliment.
• Buying a coffee or tea for someone.
• Helping someone carry their groceries.
• Hugging a friend who looks like they need it.
• Offering to take a photo for someone struggling to take a selfie.

The 4^th edition of The Power of Purpose is subtitled “To grow and to give for life.” I haven’t read this book but I’ve added it to my reading list. Because we all need more purpose moments!

What other purpose moments would you add to this list? Drop me a comment below and let me know.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• Monday was St. Patrick’s Day. I went to visit my Mum and we enjoyed a Guinness together.
• Wednesday felt like summer with the temperature hitting 20C for the first time this year. After my conference sessions were finished for the day, I grabbed a lawn chair and spent some time on the deck. Thursday was back to winter, but that’s March in Canada for you.
• Friday was the latest instalment of the ABCD lunch series with my high school girlfriends. E is for the lovely small town of Erin—about an hour’s drive from here. We had a delicious lunch at the Maddie Hatter Tea Shop & Café. It’s such a charming little place and it’s always so much fun to catch up with old friends. It’s my turn to plan our next lunch. F is for … Stay tuned!

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Memory-boosting benefits of exercise

The physical health benefits of exercise are well documented, but new research shows that physical activity also boosts memory. A British study of middle-aged and older adults found that people who did moderate-to-vigorous physical activity performed better on memory tests the following day. 

(Source: goodtimes.ca)

London’s low-emission zones are working

The world’s largest ultra low-emission zone in London, England is working. Since its implementation in 2023, there have been substantial improvements in air quality.

And despite what naysayers would have you think, the city hasn’t paid an economic price.  

(Source: The Progress Playbook)

Bear facts on World Bear Day

Today is World Bear Day. Did you know there are just eight species of bears in the world? They are: the North American black bear, the Asiatic black bear, the brown bear (also known as the grizzly bear), the giant panda, the polar bear, the Andean bear, the sloth bear, and the sun bear.

Sadly, six of the eight species are threatened or endangered. The North American black bear and the brown bear are of least concern.

Here are some other bear facts:

• When bears hibernate, they can sleep for 100 days without waking up.
• The polar bear is the largest bear species. Males can weigh up to 600 kilograms (1200 pounds).
• Other than Australia and Antarctica, every continent has a native bear species.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

This week’s simple living challenge – Make a budget

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly tasks.

This week’s challenge is to make a budget. That might sound like a lot of work, but knowing how you spend your money, and how much money you have to spend really will simplify your life. Give it a try!

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.