52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 17

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 17

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Support a business in your neighborhood.

Hello friend! We hope this neighboring tip finds you well.

This week, we’re thinking about how part of neighboring is simply supporting the various assets throughout our neighborhoods. We know that a lot of businesses have experienced hardship in the midst of this pandemic, so this week, we encourage you to support one of your neighborhood businesses.

Before experimenting with this tip, we encourage you to think through four questions:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 16

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 16

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Take a walk in your neighborhood and collect trash.

Happy Sunday, folks!

This week’s neighboring tip classic comes to us from Neighboring Movement co-founder Matt Johnson, but he borrowed the tip from his mom, Glenna, so we give her the credit (for a great idea and for a clean neighborhood).

Glenna began taking walks around her neighborhood a few years ago, and upon doing this, she started to take bags with her in order to pick up trash….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 15

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 15

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Help develop your love for your neighborhood by writing down 3 things each day that you like about your neighborhood.

Greetings friends! Can you believe June is almost upon us?

After reading this week’s tip, you may be asking yourself, “How does practicing this experiment help us to become better neighbors?”

Well, at The Neighboring Movement, we believe one first step to becoming a better neighbor is simply to love your neighborhood.

And we have a secret for you:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 14

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 14

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Greetings on this fine Sunday, friend!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every eight weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every eight weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 13

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 13

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Borrow something, like a tool or a cake pan, from a neighbor.

Good day, friend!

In the last couple months, we’ve presented a few neighboring tips on spring projects. If you get in the middle of one of these projects and discover you need something you don’t already have, don’t head to the nearest store…head to a neighbor’s front door! (Yes, we realize that rhymed…)

The idea for this tip originated from one of our founder’s, Catherine’s, neighboring experiments….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 12

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 12

Neighboring Tip of the Week - If you see one of your neighbors outside, intentionally strike up a conversation with them.

Happy May, friend! We hope this neighboring tip finds you full of joy!

This week, we’re proposing a tip that may seem somewhat obvious for neighboring: If you see one of your neighbors outside, intentionally strike up a conversation with them.

Again, this tip may seem fairly obvious for neighboring; doesn’t neighboring imply having conversations with my neighbors? It does, but again, because so many of us have fallen out of touch with these neighboring practices, we often have to start with the basics, and these basics can be hard! There’s no denying that experimenting with this tip could feel really awkward. If you haven’t really intentionally struck up a conversation like this with your neighbors before, and/or you and your neighbors have lived on the block for a while, this could feel quite awkward indeed. But this kind of simple conversation is so human, and it’s so neighboring! And, we guarantee you, it’s also so worth it!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 11

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 11

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Reflect on the neighboring experiments you’ve attempted in the last few months.

Every few months, we like to stop and reflect upon our neighboring experiments. Doing so helps us celebrate and grieve these experiences, and it also helps us move forward in a way that allows our past experiments to shape our future ones. Have you attempted any neighboring experiments in the last few months? If not, we understand, and now you have the opportunity to reflect upon if you feel energized to experiment with any in the next few months! If so, that’s awesome, and now you have the opportunity to reflect upon what those experiences were like! Remember, even if any of your experiments feel like failures, you can still learn so much from them! “The greatest teacher, failure is.” - Jedi Master Yoda

Here are some of our tips for neighboring experiments from the last few months:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 10

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 10

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Plant a garden in your FRONT yard.

Hello friend!

We hope you are enjoying some spring weather, wherever you are! We know that the pandemic continues to change Spring plans for all of us, but one activity we can all continue to do throughout this time is gardening. Most of the time, folks plant gardens in their backyards because this offers more privacy. With this neighboring experiment, we’re turning that idea upside down. We propose you plant a garden in your FRONT yard! Planting a garden in your front yard is awesome for neighboring in the time of coronavirus for a variety of different reasons. Here are a few:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 9

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 9

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Make an intentional space on your calendar to be present with your neighbors.

Hello all! This week’s tip is a short and sweet one!

With neighboring, we sometimes have to learn to be instead of learn to do. In light of this, for this week’s tip, we propose that you simply be present with your neighbors and make an intentional space on your calendar to do so.

Being present with our neighbors first involves making an intentional choice to be in the same physical space as our neighbors….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 8

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 8

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project.

Happy Easter!

We hope this tip finds you and yours enjoying the holiday!

Spring has sprung, and so have the spring projects! A couple of weeks ago, we encouraged you to offer to help a neighbor with a spring project. This week, we’re flipping that tip on its head and encouraging you to take part in a neighboring experiment that’s perhaps a little bit harder in the context of our often individualistic American culture; this week, we encourage you to ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 7

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 7

Happy Spring, all!

Spring is here and we at The Neighboring Movement couldn’t be more excited about it! Spring is beautiful and brings warmer temperatures - and along with those warmer temperatures...a whole new spectrum of neighboring tips to experiment with! Let’s go!

At the Neighboring Movement, we often talk about the importance of both visibility and availability when practicing neighboring. While these two concepts are related, and while both are helpful when neighboring, we think it is important to draw a distinction between them….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 6

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 6

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy Sunday, friends!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every seven or eight weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every seven weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 5

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 5

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Offer to help a neighbor with a spring project.

Hello friends!

The Spring Equinox approaches, and with it, spring projects! Now that the temperatures are warming, neighbors are generally starting to come outside, and hang around outside, so much more. With this outdoor activity comes outdoor projects, and that’s what this neighboring tip is all about!

So, this week, our tip is pretty simple:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 4

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 4

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus.

Happy Sunday to you! We hope this email finds you healthy and well.

This week, we are again repeating a neighboring tip that we have been presenting every few months. As coronavirus cases remain so high around the world, this tip continues to feel incredibly important. This week, we encourage you to continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus. “How is this a neighboring tip?”, you may ask. This is a neighboring tip because what we know about coronavirus will help shape our conversations and interactions with neighbors.

As you are probably well aware,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 3

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 3

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Double your favorite recipe and share extra with a neighbor.

This feels like one of the most classic neighboring tips, and for good reason; sharing food is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to a neighbor! We have a theory that 93% of all people are powerless against food. Seriously, there's something really magical about sharing out of our own abundance!

The simple act of sharing food touches upon a few key neighboring elements. First,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 2

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 2

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Participate in conflict transformation with a neighbor.

Hello friends!

We’re diving in headlong today and presenting a tip that’s perhaps on the more challenging end of the neighboring tip spectrum. The tip for today is this: Participate in conflict transformation with a neighbor.

Let’s start with the ideas of “conflict” and “transformation”. We would propose that conflict, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And actually, we would say that conflict can be a really good thing! Oddly enough, the fact that people have, or at least perceive themselves to have, different interests than other people, seems to be part of what makes our world such a diverse and beautiful place! The key to whether we experience positive or negative outcomes from conflict seems to lie within what we do when we experience the conflict itself, and that’s where transformation comes in. Can we take our conflicts and respond to them in a way that fosters healthier and more harmonious relationships, that brings about a greater sense of togetherness, of oneness? Adam, on our Neighboring Movement team, teaches all about the conflict and likes to say that “conflict is energy”. In other words, conflict is a force that can propel us forward, individually and collectively. As odd as it may seem, and as awkward and difficult it may be in the midst of the transformation, we believe that, together with our neighbors, we can transform the conflicts between us in order to foster healthier and more harmonious relationships and bring about a greater sense of togetherness and oneness on our blocks.

So, how do we do this? How do we start transforming conflict with our neighbors?…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 1

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 1

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Take a Valentine to each of the neighbors on your block or floor.

Welcome to Week 1 of Year 5 of the 52 Weeks of Neighboring, and…Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today, we encourage you to celebrate the holiday by taking a Valentine to each of the neighbors on your block or floor!

Of course, these Valentines may look however you wish. Whether they look like homemade Valentines, store-bought Valentines, or a plate of Valentines cookies, your neighbors will love them. This is also a very family friendly activity. Maybe your children can write each Valentine, and then you can deliver them together as a family? As always, we just ask that any delivery you make to your neighbors right now is done while practicing physical distancing!

Delivering Valentines is a simple way to promote neighborliness wherever you live. Each one helps to create a positive, welcoming spirit on your block or floor, and they are perfect conversation starters!

Happy neighboring!

P.S. Because this is Week 1,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 52

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 52

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Happy Week 52! Let’s celebrate! Reflect on the neighboring experiments you’ve attempted in the past year, and share your stories on one of our 52 Weeks of Neighboring platforms (our website, email, or Facebook page).

We can hardly believe it has already been FOUR years since we embarked on this 52 Weeks of Neighboring journey, and we are delighted by the growing number of folks, like you, who are joining the Neighboring Movement...this is why we wish to celebrate!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 51

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 51

Neighboring Tip of the Week - If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

Hello friends! Happy Sunday to you all!

This week, we’re thinking about meaningful ways that we can safely interact with our neighbors, in-person, in the midst of this pandemic. We know the weather has been cooler for most of us, but hey, the warmer weather is coming, so we think it’s important to be thinking about how our in-person interactions might look. Again, we think these in-person interactions are so important and meaningful for our neighbors! So, this week, we propose this: If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

It’s probably most ideal to experiment with this tip with….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 50

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 50

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy Sunday, friends!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every seven weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every seven weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

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