What is community to you? We are all here because we care about improving our communities. But your community can mean your actual neighborhood/city you live in, or it could mean your social media community, or it could mean your figure skating community. The definitions are endless. 

So before you begin, settle on the community you are trying to help. 

Got it? Ok, now answering these questions….

1. My community is __________ it's full of people who are _____________.
2. If I had to describe a community like it I have seen on tv or in a movie it would be ____________.
3. If I had to give it a color, it would be _______. (I know it's hard, just try it!)
4. If I had to give it a sound it would be _____________.
5. When things are good in my community I feel ______________.
6. When I don’t feel aligned with my community it is usually because ___________ and it makes me feel________.
7. My favorite memory of my community is when  _________________.
8. My favorite person in my community is ___________ because they always make me feel ___________.
9. I would feel so much more supported by my community if everyone was more honest about __________ and talked more about __________.

Now take your answer to question 9 and free write about that for 10 minutes. Don’t worry about it making a lot of sense, just write about how it would make you feel, deep in your bones, to have this honesty in your community. Concentrate on how it would FEEL more than what you would do. 

Ok, now you can think about ways you could DO that. Identifying a feeling we deeply want to feel can motivate us in ways addressing a practical need can’t. 

For example… Living in a religious community that was honest about how their beliefs actually support loving everyone no matter who they choose to love would feel so freeing. Feeling free is one of life’s ultimate treasures, so what could be done to help foster that understanding so that you or people you love could feel that beautiful freedom? 

Identifying how you want people to feel after you accomplish the goals of your project is also a good way to keep your ideas in check. If you always come back to “In success, this 5K, this video, this talk will make people feel ______" you are staying true to your mission.