Affirmations:
I am here to be truly helpful.
I am here to bring the love I have and give and Am.
I teach others to be helpful as I model true helpfulness.
I forgive areas of neglect or regret in allowing others dependency.
When no one helps,
each person is on their own.
When no one is
helped, each person feels alone.
When no one feels
like helping, each person is left uncared for.
When someone calls
for help, there is no one listening.
When we cannot
take care of ourselves, we cannot help others.
When we cannot
take care of others who cannot take care of themselves, who is helping?
How do we begin
to learn to listen within to care for ourselves?
How do we teach
others to be helpful if we are not helpful to and for ourselves?
Where is the
balance between helping myself and helping others?
Where do we find
the strength to be helpful, when we have not been helped?
How do we learn
to care and share responsibility with others?
When will we create families where everyone helps everyone?
When I grew up, everyone was
helpful.
Parents encouraged their children to be helpful to those younger by
teaching them.
Everyone was helpful to the youngest and oldest who had limited ability to
help themselves.
Everyone enjoyed being helpful and all needs were met.
There were always chores to be
done that everyone could do.
Even helping someone learn to tie their own shoes.
Everyone was pleased to be helpful and kind.
Sometimes we taught , encouraged and sometimes we would remind.
There was no place or time when
all needs were not met.
We shared work together without conflict or regret.
There was no nagging or arguing, bribing or enticement.
We did the work as a family, all together and as one.
Some are truly
helpful and teach others to join in with helpfulness.
Some are too helpful
and create dependency on their helpfulness.
Some wish they could
be helpful but need too much help themselves.
Some won’t allow
others to help and prefer to help themselves.
Do you feed
others or teach them to plant a garden and learn to feed themselves?
Do you give money or
help people find a job to make money?
Do you give your
kids/grandkids what they ask for or help them earn their presents?
Do you fill the
needs you see or show people how to share what they have?
Helpfulness may
not always be helpful.
We can be helpful so
we don’t have to hear complaints and demands.
Helpfulness can be
done from a position of self pity or from sincere caring and love.
Helpfulness done
with respect and gratitude is a gift to giver and receiver.
Do for others what you would have them do for you.
Teach your family,
partner, co workers to work together as a team.
It may take more
time and effort to begin, but in the end is worth the work.
We all can succeed
and prosper together when everyone helps everyone.
Grateful for
working, teaching, helping and sharing everyday,
Betty Lue
When
we are helping everyone, we are in service to the One We Are.
You
can translate helping into serving when you know we are One.
Helping, Fixing, Serving
--by
Rachel Remen (May 29, 2000)
Service
is not the same as
helping.
Helping
is based on inequality,
it's not a relationship between equals. When you help, you use your own
strength to help someone with less strength. It's a one up, one down
relationship, and people feel this inequality. When we help, we may
inadvertently take away more than we give, diminishing the person's sense of
self-worth and self-esteem.
Now, when
I help I am very aware of my own strength, but we don't serve with our
strength, we serve with ourselves. We draw from all our
experiences: our wounds serve, our limitations serve, even our darkness serves.
The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in the other, and the wholeness in
life. Helping incurs debt: when you help someone, they owe you. But service is
mutual. When I help I have a feeling of satisfaction, but when I serve I have a
feeling of gratitude.
Serving is also different from fixing. We
fix broken pipes, we don't fix people. When I set about fixing another person,
it's because I see them as broken. Fixing is a form of judgment that
separates us from one another; it creates a distance.
So,
fundamentally, helping, fixing and serving are ways of seeing life. When
you help, you see life as weak; when you fix, you see life as broken; and when
you serve, you see life as whole.
When we
serve in this way, we understand that this person's suffering is also my
suffering, that their joy is also my joy and then the impulse to serve arises
naturally - our natural wisdom and compassion presents itself quite simply. A
server knows that they're being used and has the willingness to be used in the
service of something greater.
We may
help or fix many things in our lives, but when we serve, we are always in
the service of wholeness.
--Rachel
Remen, from Zen Hospice