He that does good to another does good also to himself. – Seneca
What does that mean?
It says to me that the act of doing a service to another rarely, if ever, harms you. In nearly all cases, when you help someone else, you help yourself as well. Even when your action on behalf of another puts you at some slight temporary disadvantage, the overall net in the long run will almost certainly be better for you than if you had done nothing. Even if it is only the warm feeling you get from helping another, something good will accrue to you from that beneficent action.
Why is service important?
Service of humanity, or even of one member thereof, is a wise and noble pursuit. Helping one another is how humanity has arisen from it’s savage beginnings to it’s present level of savagery. While war is far more terrible than ever before, man’s humanity towards their fellow man has also increased, more than keeping pace (in my opinion) with man’s inhumanity towards their fellow man.
Service, like so much of life, begins at home. Service to the people who share your life (friends, family, co-habitants, even your pets) is an essential part of our lives as humans. Yes, there are some who have taken the path of Ebenezer Scrooge, and feel no connection to their fellow humans. They are to be pitied and, when possible, urged to return to the fold.
Think of a time when you helped someone who truly needed your help. Not something trivial, but something significant, like holding open a door for someone who wouldn’t have been able to get in without your help, delivering a trunk full of food to a family that was hungry, or helping someone get back on their feet at a shelter. How did that feel? I don’t know about you, but when I have done things like those which are described above, I have felt more connected to my fellow man and richer in spirit, than at any other time in my life.
Where can I apply this in my life?
Think of a couple times when you felt really good after helping someone. Take a moment and relive the feeling. Felt pretty good, didn’t it? Now let’s write down all the different things you did that gave you that rewarding feeling. How many of them can you do again and how many were random or coincidental? Put check marks next to the ones you can repeat again (like delivering meals to shut ins, doing some work at a shelter or volunteering to help troubled or slow kids at a local school). Now all you have to do is schedule these wonderful things into your already crazy and busy schedule!
If you have an instance or two of spontaneous helping that you would like to replicate, consider what went into the unlikely meeting. How would you replicate such an event in an ongoing and maintainable manner? If that proves unreasonable or too difficult, consider what other helpful things you could do that would be similar in nature, but more easily reproduced. This may require some trial and error, and probably more than a little effort on your part, but the rewards are amazing.
If you haven’t ever felt this way before, then we need to get you busy. Start with your ‘inner circle’ – friends, family, and close associates. Do any of them need some help doing something? Even if it’s only being the person who refills the beverage glasses while the others work, that is a useful service. Trust me, once you get a rhythm going, you don’t want to stop just to go get another round of cool, refreshing beverages. Once you’ve helped your friends a bit, try going a little farther afield. How about some of the things listed above? Shelters and services for poor, disadvantaged, home-bound and animals are always looking for people to help out. Do what you can to the best of your ability.
All we have covered to this point is the good feeling that comes from helping. There are often tangible benefits from doing good deeds. There are groups that honor volunteers throughout the year, and some with annual awards. Plus it takes some effort to do all these things without being noticed. Perhaps it will only be that your friends notice how helpful you have been and decide to help you back. Or someone else in the community might notice how much you have helped and try to help you out in a more significant way. Some call it luck, some call it fortuitous circumstances, others call it fate, still others call it karma. Whatever you choose to call it, it is real and it is a force to be reckoned with. I don’t know about you, but I really want this mysterious force working with me, not against me, how about you?
How much good do you think you can do? How much are you willing to do? It can warm your heart and pave your road to happiness. All you need to do is walk it. Well, decide what you’re going to do and then do it. Well, decide what you’re going to do, plan it, and then implement it. However you choose to do it, please get busy! Humanity needs all the good deeds it can get!
From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/luciusanna121131.html
