6 Meaningful Ways to Help Others
by Ashleigh Hitchcock
Six Easy Tips for Living Smart on a Budget.
Part One: Enrich Your Life Through Service to Others.
We all work our fingers to the bone so that we can buy the things that make us “happy”.
In American culture today, advertisers’ aim is to convince we masses that we are lacking, and opportunities are scarce. We are lead to believe that having more of the right things will bring us greater happiness.
What if, instead, we simply decide to be of service and fill that void with the fulfilling joy of helping others?
Giving our time away in order to feel “richer” may seem counter intuitive, but it works!
One of the most important foundations of living an abundant life is to share the wealth.
My favorite way to give back is through service to others—prioritizing spending even a little time helping others makes it happen. We’re all busy in today’s world; this is not an excuse.
We each are given 24 hours in a day—everyone can make a little time to help others.
Being generous with our time and talents makes us feel happy and helps us attract prosperity. When we volunteer our services to others, we are paid back in the “currency” of smiles, hugs, thank you’s, high fives, gratitude and a sense of purpose. Another perk is that we are spending time thinking about others, instead of ourselves.
When we help others, it changes our perspective.
When we’re giving our time lending a hand, our lives are no longer defined by scarcity. Volunteering our time reminds us that everyone needs help. Easing someone else’s burden boosts our own mood.
Take action, help others.
Wondering how to start helping others? It’s different for everyone. Service can be planned or spontaneous, for someone we know or a stranger. What do we do best? Where is help needed right now?
Six meaningful ways to help others:
1. When there’s a natural disaster, pitch in.
During or in the aftermath of any disaster, simply make ourselves available to help with anything. In my town last summer, we had a flood. Every day I simply put on my rain boots, grabbed a shovel and a bag of homemade cookies and hit the streets. Everywhere I went there was mud to shovel, water to bail, a victim who needed a hug and a homemade treat or just someone to talk to. It wasn’t fancy or clean. But, I felt like I made a big difference, even when I was just doing a little.
A food bank is an organization that distributes food, free of charge, to the poor and hungry. Calories are a basic need and when someone is underfed, it’s challenging to accomplish the day’s tasks. There are many exciting and rewarding ways to help at a food bank: distributing or repackaging food, nutrition tutoring, delivery, fund raising, clerical work, face time with clients or stocking food. Volunteering at the food bank probably won’t make us millionaires, but it that’s okay because with all of the gratitude received, we’ll be living an abundant life.
3. Be a mentor for a child.
Mentorship is an ongoing relationship where a wiser person helps to guide a lesser-experienced person on the path towards personal development. A mentor becomes an experienced friend who guides the child. Positive outcomes for the child are higher self-esteem, heightened likelihood of staying in school, setting and attaining career goals, and better school attendance. When a child learns something new, their proud smile is payment enough.
Learn about the other steps by going directly to the source of this article.
