Personal Engagement is choosing the same thing again and again whether or not we’re aware of it.

You’re already engaged in a lot of things right now! Throughout your own life, within yourself, everyday you’re choosing a lot of things over and over. Here is a list of 100 things you might already be engaged in that can form the basis of your understanding of personal engagement.

100 Ways You’re Already Engaged With

1. Home—Get engaged in your day-to-day life.
2. Family—Engage with people you are born to and choose: brothers, sisters, parents, children, others.
3. Learning—Find ways to engage in your own learning no matter how old you are.
4. Water—Engaging in the surface cover of 72% of Earth includes swimming, drinking, and enjoying it.
5. Beauty—Becoming engaged in beautiful things can mean a lot to the beauty around you.
6. Work—Engaging in what you make your livelihood in may be the key to your happiness.
7. Reading—Exploring literature about new topics, your interests, or art can be engaging.
8. Play—Find engaging ways to dig into the things you enjoy, and enjoy them more.
9. Interdependence—Recognizing the invisible web connecting your individual choices to the broader collective growth.
10. Hospitals—Develop sustained connections with people who are recovering and emerging from care.
11. Breathing—Get consciously engaged in the moment-by-moment function of living, with purpose.
12. Advocacy—Standing with others and empowering the powerless can be very engaging.
13. Self-Empowerment—You can engage within yourself and discovering the role of yourself in the world.
14. Art—Engaging in art can mean creating it, viewing it, critiquing it, and more.
15. Peace—Fostering nonviolence in your life and the lives of others can be very engaging.
16. Friendships—Developing short or long term connections with people we choose can be engaging.
17. Wildlife—Surveying animals, studying birds, sustainable fishing and hunting can all be engaging.
18. Communication—It is engaging to share thoughts and wisdom with others in creative or direct ways.
19. Pets—Engaging in sustained connections to the animals kept as pets or helping others doing the same.
20. Critical Thinking—Developing sustained connections with honest, authentic, and real responses in you.
21. Parks—Go and walk, lay, eat, draw, paint, climb, run, paddle, swim, and have fun.
22. Physical Activity—Movement that supports healthy bodies can be very engaging.
23. Ethnicity—Engage in learning about the backgrounds of people from specific places.
24. Nature—Find engagement in the gardens, forests, ocean, lawns, and air around you.
25. Neighboring—Actively knowing and interacting with the people around us can be engaging.
26. Grief—Engaging with the painful but necessary process of honoring, navigating, and moving through loss.
27. Community—Stand with people you relate to and engage with them.
28. Culture—Engage in the shared attitudes, traditions, and actions of a connected background.
29. Libraries—Be in these public places designed to share free learning with the masses.
30. Coaching—Engage in providing encouragement and support to people trying to achieve things.
31. Music—Sharing melodies within or outside yourself can be very engaging.
32. Health—Getting engaged in your health and well-being can connect you deeply with your body.
33. Vulnerability—Intentionally letting down your guard so you can connect authentically with the world.
34. Neighborhood—Engage in the place you live, work, play, and grow everyday.
35. Homemaking—Nurturing family by building the capacity of children and parents can be engaging.
36. Anti-Racism—Challenging racist thinking and action can be very engaging.
37. Your Place—Living rural, urban, or broadly can be engaging when done intentionally.
38. Teaching—Facilitating others learning experiences can be a deep avenue for engagement.
39. Mediation—Developing deep connection in resolving self-conflict and other’s can be illuminating.
40. Self-Development—Engage in challenging negative assumptions or building skills and knowledge.
41. Gratitude—The repeated choice to notice, name, and celebrate the abundance already present in your life
42. Globalization—Engaging in enriching world perspectives and uniting cultures.
43. Hiking—Walking, climbing, and otherwise traveling by foot can be very engaging.
44. Nonprofits—Engaging with staff who are building on missions to help the world.
45. Poetry—Engaging in the feelings, motions, ideas, and thoughts of others can happen through poetry.
46. Refugees—Supporting people who escape from oppression or suffering can be engaging.
47. Love—Know the greatest engagement in deep love for the universe and all that is within it.
48. Silence—Choosing to step away from the noise to sit quietly within yourself, listening to what emerges.
49. Cooking—Engaging in foods and meal-making can be sustained throughout a lifetime.
50. Homelessness—Create lasting connection with youth, families, and others without a permanent home.
51. Farming—Growing food and consuming local farm food can be deeply engaging.
52. Heritage—Become engaged in the history of your neighborhood, family, or other identity.
53. Disconnection—Engaging in fostering healthy disconnection and bridging new ones can be vital.
54. Construction—Fostering lifelong connections to building homes and places for others matters.
55. Volunteering—Engaging in supporting others, places, or issues can be rich and exciting.
56. Relief—When places cannot get enough of what they need, it is engaging to provide relief.
57. Nutrition—Learning about healthy eating, food knowledge, and diverse food sourcing is engaging.
58. Sports—Being engaged in athletic play, competition, or achievement can be sustained.
59. Finances—Engaging in personal, community, company, or cultural economics can be rich.
60. Politics—Develop lasting connections to the formal and informal structures of influence and power.
61. Crafts—Creating homemade supplies, arts, food, clothing, and other items can be engaging.
62. Orphans—Engage with children and youth without parents through mentoring and other ways.
63. Schools—Teach, learn, or help others do the same in the formal places where education happens.
64. Outdoor Education—Deep connections in facilitating outdoor learning can change the world.
65. Decision-Making—Lean into the decisions you make everyday to engage in them meaningfully.
66. Government—Engage deeply in the social structures designed to ensure people can engage.
67. Small Business—Supporting and creating local, small, and nimble business can be very engaging.
68. Writing—Making imagination and knowledge pour on paper can be engaging.
69. Travel—Becoming engaged in visiting places you aren’t familiar with can defeat ignorance.
70. Restoration—To engage in bringing life to old things can be enlightening and powerful.
71. Evaluation—Look at your own life, the world you live in, and the people you are engaged with.
72. Repairs—Fixing broken things can be engaging.
73. Protesting—Engage in sharing concerns with lawmakers and officials about issues that concern you.
74. Internet—You can engage in connecting, learning, and creating content on the web.
75. Reporting—Engage in sharing news, stories, and details with others in dynamic ways.
76. Senior Centers—In can be very engaging to be with learned wisdom goes towards the end of life.
77. Tutoring—Helping learners discover their capabilities in any topic can be very engaging.
78. Strategic Thinking—Become engaged in new and logical avenues for seeing wisdom.
79. Environmental Restoration—Engage in rebuilding and enriching the natural cycle of life on Earth.
80. Emergencies—Engaging with others in times of need and crises matters immensely.
81. Clubs—Connecting over professional and personal interests can be engaging.
82. Parenting—Engaging with being intentional in childraising can be vital.
83. Compassion—Choosing to actively extend grace, understanding, and kindness to yourself and the people around you
84. Philanthropy—Engage with issues that matter by fundraising and giving money to causes.
85. Media-making—Engage in creating websites, newspapers, television, videos, and other media.
86. Fun—Engage in creating, becoming part of, or expanding fun in your own life or with others.
87. Driving—Exploring new spaces and examining where you already live can be engaging.
88. Languages—Engaging in languages can mean listening, speaking, or exploring communication.
89. Identities—Fostering and exploring connectivity between and within identities can be engaging.
90. Playgrounds—Engaging in play with your children is supporting their engagement in play.
91. Clothing—Establish deep connections with other’s and your own clothing needs.
92. Dance—Creative movement, motion, rhythm, and melodic play are all engaging activities.
93. Self-Teaching—Learning new things and developing your understandings can be engaging.
94. Intergenerational Partnerships—Engage in forming deep connections beyond your age group.
95. Civic Action—Volunteering, voting, connecting, and building in communities can be engaging.
96. Healthcare—Engaging in making sure everyone can access healthcare is important.
97. Social Action—Fostering sustainable actions to change the world around you can be awesome.
98. Inequality—Bridging social, cultural, and structural differences can be engaging.
99. Rituals—Choosing to practice daily, repetitive habits that anchor your stability and keep you grounded.
100. Consistency—Engaging in the quiet power of showing up for your commitments over and over, even when nobody is watching.

How do you engage within YOU?

After you’ve thought about that, you can ask yourself how you engage others, or how others engage you. If you think you’ve already got it figured out, then awesome—keep going.

People who think about personal engagement beyond here understand the basis of personal engagement and can really appreciate the rest of the Personal Engagement Tip Sheets.