Do Good, Feel Good

“A newly emerging school of thought suggests that a simple, age-old principle may be part of both the prevention and the cure:  Help others to help yourself”.

I enjoyed the recent study they cite in the article.  There is so much to the brain that we do not understand, we are not even on the tip of the iceberg.  I also enjoyed the article’s discussion of the negative of giving too much.

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A nice way to look at it

I was reading a magazine the other day and ran across a phrase that struck me – “If the sun is not shining on me, at least it is shining on someone else”.

What a nice way to look at it and avoid some of our self pity.  My day is total rubbish but at least someone is having a good day.  Of course the skeptic would think what if the sun is shining on no one today?  If this were true, then what a world we live in.

Positive World

The other day a patient was complaining how negative the world has become and that got me to thinking.  Why is the world so negative and the mystical past of better times so much better?  This is not an original thought or concept but the uniqueness for me was how I could apply it.  I saw the patient later that week and asked what have you done today that was positive?  Meaning if every person did one kind gesture a day how much nicer the world would be (again not original).  The spring in the mental step that is gained by a smile from a stranger, helping hand, etc. can not be measured.  It is a habit that must be mastered.  We must strive everyday to do our best, not comparing notes.  We can not let the actions of others determine our lives.  ‘He is always complaining’ leads to a negative action on our part, sort of a defense mechanism ingrained in our thinking.  We as a person lose while the overall negative world gains.  A few weeks later the patient came back and shared with me how now volunteering time at the church was helping him see a whole new insight into the world.

The interesting part is how by helping this patient with their view of the world it was also affecting mine.  It helped to show me how I had put up walls to brace myself from the negative impact of life.  I started to accept life in the ‘now’ and retrain my thinking of how to not absorb the negative but accept the positive.  I envisioned a mailbox that accepted all mail.  Sorted it for the positive mail and the negative could be left there for someone to stamp ADDRESS UNKNOWN, RETURN TO SENDER!