This week I am including an excerpt of my book: Spiritual Reality:transforming the Ordinary into the Extraordinary. It comes from Chapter 10, on the Joy of Serving.
Oftentimes, you are not aware of all your talents.
You may underestimate yourself and be overly critical. There is pressure from society to perform in sometimes extreme ways. Television is telling you how you are to behave in an indirect and sometimes direct way. It is often sending a message of fear with negative news that is disempowering on a personal level. There are few examples of people empowered to help the society and succeeding. Society in general has assumed expectations of us. In the face of these messages, it is easy to be critical of who you are without necessarily looking for your strengths.
When you serve others, you find confidence in the positive things that you do.
You also start to see other aspects of your abilities and nature that may not otherwise manifest themselves. With these experiences, you may find that you are better at some things than others. It may be a surprise to you, or it can be an already known quantity.
An example could be that you may feel strongly that some environmental changes need to be made. With this in mind, you think that you should join a group working on those changes. However, at the same time, you are extremely uncomfortable with groups. The meetings you attended made you feel that you cannot contribute in a group environment, but you want to do something. There may be activities that better suit your personality and schedule—things that you enjoy, such as research or making calls. They still allow you to serve, but within the parameters of your talents and in a way that you enjoy and feel comfortable with.
Finding your place and understanding your own needs in serving others is a very liberating and growing experience. It also adds joy to the world.
Creates Purpose in Your Life
We all crave a purpose in life, so that our lives are not just about surviving and making a living, or even just about having fun.
It is important to you and your well-being to feel as if you make a difference on some level, even if it is only making someone you care about smile. The more you feel you have a purpose in life, the more confident you become, thus enabling you to have greater strength to be yourself. The annoying things in life are just that, annoying, but they’re not the focus of your life. When you have an overall focus in life, it puts the rest of your life into perspective.
What is it that you want to do with your life? You have a finite time here on earth.
What do you want to remember at the end of your life, and what do you want to be remembered for?
