These days, it’s everywhere, like many extracurricular activities including volunteering that has become part of mainstream for all young people and also adults. Volunteering – working for a cause alongside others helps keeps us in the moment is a great way to extend our individual network. In Myanmar, many volunteering opportunities are widespread popular for all youngsters to keep in very close contacts with community service.
Why do people like to volunteer?
Volunteering offers vital help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community, but the benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer. While it’s true that the more you volunteer, the more benefits you’ll experience, volunteering doesn’t have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day. Giving in even simple ways can help those in need and improve your health and happiness.
A group of young people made a charity at the monastic education high school
Starting with a highlighted story of my friend, Waiyan Htut who is a BA English (Dagon University), Dip in ELT (University of Yangon) shared his personal experience. “When I was in 2nd year university life in 2013, I had nothing to do outside as an extracurricular activity, so the situation was like my mind was wandering and lost the way to focus on what I wanted to do, maybe, I had nothing to do. But, one day I was invited to join an activity of a charity group founded by my senior so I joined it. After joining, I could get on my track back, and focus on what I wanted to do, for example, I used to tell the stories to the students wherever we went charity to the monastic education high school. That was a good start for my career and later it turned me out as a teacher, my primary career so far”. He also added, “Volunteering can help us find our inspiration, interest and professional to move forward”.
What is more, “Knowledge I got from volunteering helped me realize what my personal values are and that made my future career path clearer than ever. It also develops a particular set of communication skills and leaderships over a period of time. As a youth, it is very important to be mindful so that I would see as a chance to make myself grow and live everyday by making an impact from somewhere around the world,” shared by Thin Thazin, Third year English Specialization Student from Yangon University of Foreign Languages who is also a volunteer of AIESEC.
Global Volunteer Info Session at Dagon University from AIESEC Yangon
How does volunteering relate to mindfulness?
I already knew about the mental health benefits of volunteering because studies have shown that volunteering helps people who donate their time feel more socially connected, thus warding off loneliness and depression. A growing body of evidence suggests that people who give their time to others might also be rewarded with better physical health and also mindfulness— including lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan.
Counseling and Wellness Center of Pittsburgh (Source: Internet)
Recent evidence from The National Institute of Health’s Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, suggests that mindfulness has the potential to switch off the expression of genes activated by stress and can reduce the effects of many diseases. On the one hand, volunteering can also reduce stress and pressure so that volunteering and mindfulness are a very powerful set of tools with the potential to help us manage the symptoms of diseases and illnesses as well as lead happy, more connected, and more meaningful lives.
From all this, when we focus our attention outward, it remains our present much happier and the practice of volunteerism is moving towards the potential benefits of mindfulness altogether. Such exposures of these experiences include thinking about some problems, analyzing some issues and solutions while we are volunteering with groups or teams. Thus, it is a very great opportunity to clear our mind and simultaneously practice our compassion and awareness on our own.