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Today's
Quotation:
When you ignore your
soul's destiny, when you get caught up in
your own self-interests
and forget to care for others, you will not
feel "right."
Instead, you will feel empty and unfulfilled.
During these times, you are neglecting your soul--
you
are depriving it of nourishment. . . .
seek something
outside your nine-to-five job as an additional source
of
fulfillment and as a way to feel the joy of helping
others. You can do
any number of things to fulfill
this goal--volunteer at a community
hotline, coach a
Little League team, donate your time to a public school,
visit the sick. Whatever you choose, you will gain
a sense that you
are giving of yourself, that you are
sharing yourself
with the world, that you are fulfilling
the destiny of your soul.
Rabbi Harold Kushner |
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Today's
Meditation:
Sometimes
it's hard to give of ourselves, especially when we see
models of this behavior giving incredible amounts of time
and energy to others--it's easy to feel that there's no way
we could measure up to that kind of standard. I know a
man named Doug who's an incredible dynamo of activity.
He seems to be involved in everything that goes on in our
town, and he's always sharing of himself in some special
way. Compared
to him, I give very little to our community. But Doug
and I are different. He works right here in town,
while I work thirty miles away. He has constant
contact with people here, so he learns what needs to be
done. Because I work in a different state, most of my
contact is with the people there, and while I'm here at
home, I don't have nearly the number of contacts.
Doug's children are grown and have moved out, so he doesn't
have the responsibility of providing for their needs any
longer; I still have on step-child in college and two in
high school. My presence is necessary at home much
more than his is, because the kids are still there. So
is all this rationalization for not volunteering more of my
time? Not at all. All this is recognition that
each of us lives a different life, and the amount that we
can give in certain areas is limited by the amount that we
give in others. For the time being, my contribution is
to my family, to my job, and to the websites, all three of
which I feel are worthy contributions. I cannot be
expected to give as much as Doug in other areas because his
situation and mine are so different; the more I start to
give in other areas, the less I can give in the areas I give
now. I
guess my point is that if I were to look at Doug as a role
model for what I should do, I'd be a mess, without any sort
of focus or purpose. Yes, we must give if we're to
find any sort of happiness or fulfillment in our
lives. But we must be very careful of the models we
choose to follow in doing so, and allow ourselves to be just
who we are without comparing our giving to that of other
people. |
