The Real Reasons (and Principles) for Living in a Community
People have been practicing the art of communal living throughout history. In the past, many of our ancestors lived together in large community camps, hunting and gathering animals, vegetables, and fruits. We even relied on each other for protection, childcare, and overall support.
You can weigh all the above against today’s developed and modern society. Families, friends, and people within communities still help each other. It is not as widespread as before because there are also many people that can happily live alone. They can work, earn money, and pay their way; whereas our ancestors many years ago did not understand the concept of money hence they remained in large communities to support each other.
Now perhaps living in shared spaces would not give you the privacy you want. However, some aspects of your life become less stressful and less time-consuming when you share. Things like cooking, household chores, and shopping can all be shared to make your life more efficient.
In this blog, we are going to look at the challenges, reasons, and principles why people choose, or maybe do not choose, to be part of a community!
Why Should You Be Living in Community?
The benefits of living in a community far outweigh the issues that it brings to the table. There is a sense of belonging and the ability to share hugs, affections, and even a slight pat on the back with other community members. You can find these and more in a healthy community.
1. Opportunity to Learn Different Experiences
Being in a community, especially a healthy one, allows you to learn diverse experiences. You get to meet and know people from different backgrounds and see life through their individual lenses.
Besides, communal living opens up your creativity. It encourages you to create and discover your talents and those of your community members when you perform tasks together. What this means is, most problems are solvable and less tedious when you choose to live with other families.
2. The Right Place to Always Feel Loved
As they say, human emotions affect our health, well-being, and happiness either positively or negatively. Thus, it is necessary to try your best to always be in a good mood. (Well, it is near impossible to be happy 24/7/365 but you get the idea.)
When you are in one of the many intentional communities available today, by no means will you ever feel lonely nor have no attention. Here you will see people to share your life and dreams with and will always feel loved, even on your gloomy days.
3. Complete Tasks and Achieve Goals Faster
Chores and tasks (such as cooking and cleaning) would require less time and energy when teamwork is in place. You cannot compare the results and input of 'many' people doing an enormous task versus only one person (or a few people) carrying out the same task. As such, the old saying goes 'Many hands make light work'.
Aside from tasks, goals (whether personal or communal) see a much faster rate of completion when done with motivated community members around you.
For instance, let's say you want to establish a successful business that would benefit both you and the community. This goal is much more possible when you and other members contribute the required resources together. It would be faster to complete as well.
The Key Principles of Successfully Living in Community
To achieve successful communal living, members need to apply certain principles to their way of life. Dealings with one another also need such ideas.
Below are some of the best principles to follow to have an exceptional communal experience, free of redundant problems.
1. Always Be Transparent
The act of being transparent in your actions and interactions with others represents attributes of openness and trust. We all know that actions and communication without transparency cannot solve anything.
There will be no need for hiding when you choose to live with people who are willing to be transparent.
Some of these acts of transparency include:
No gossiping (indirectly talking badly, venting, and nagging negatively about others)
Inform other community members about your choices and decisions, especially the ones that concern them
Confront and seek to resolve any challenges or issues you have with others, particularly the ones that hurt your feelings or disturb your emotions
2. Respect the Ideas and Experiences of Others
You've heard it before: respect is reciprocal! When living in a shared space with others, it is of the utmost importance to respect and value their ideas and life experiences. Especially if you would love to stay in tranquility and have others cherish your perspectives.
Sharing and respecting the experiences of your community does not only mean hearing their stories. You also have to understand and see that your personal experiences are not the same as others.
To better deepen the respect you have for others and build a chance for better communication, bear some pointers in mind.
Avoid shaming or making people feel wrong because their ideologies or thoughts don't tally with yours
Speak from the "I" perspective and do not assume that what benefits you will benefit others
Before judging or jumping to conclusions, always find out why someone is behaving or doing something in a particular manner
3. Be Active (in all sense of the word)
Everyone in intentional communities should be active in the goals, projects, development processes, and meetings of their community.
You cannot expect someone else to perform your duties and contributions. The growth of shared spaces rests on this mutual activeness. Each member should be a source of inspiration to the others and bring that needed transformation.
4. Be Responsible
Responsibility is key to the flourishing growth of intentional communities. And with a few accountable members, everyone would catch up with such a level of responsibility.
Creating an empowered, thriving, and motivating environment is easy through the act of responsibility. But how do you become a responsible member of the community?
Well, you could start by finding solutions to problems in your community (rather than creating or becoming one). You should know, accept, and correct yourself when you create an issue. Plus, be honest in your doings and dealings with others whilst upholding a high level of integrity.
What Are Time Banking Communities?
Time bank communities are the concept of swapping time as a currency. It uses equality throughout its system so the value of time is equal no matter the task at hand. Therefore, an accountant can spend 1 hour helping a hairdresser balance the books while the hairdresser can spend an hour cutting the accountant’s hair. In this scenario, they just swapped and hour for an hour!
When it comes to time banking communities people involved can bank their time, Therefore, maybe the accountant does not want his hair cut. He can simply balance the books and bank the hour for later use.
Maybe he will need a ride to the airport or another accountant to help him file tax returns for a client while he is away. As long as his time bank community has someone offering taxi services as a ‘time swap’ and an accountant that can file tax returns, then he can use his current hours in his time bank as the currency to ‘pay’ for these services.
To find out more about how time banking communities function in a community, check out our full blog.
Use Time Banking Apps to Get Involved in Your Community
If you are unsure about how to get involved in time banking, you can try out one of the many apps listed in our ‘Top 5 Time Bank Softwares blog’.
We would also like to invite you to our very own ‘Time Banking App’ here on nomos.net. You can sign up absolutely free and find ‘time banking’ organisations in your area. If there isn’t one near you, then you can use the app to start your own ‘Time Banking’ community.
We suggest giving it a try and signing up to our newsletter. You can learn more about what means to be involved in a community, and how time banking can help create a better community in your area.