I don’t know when it was in my life when I made this decision to lead a life of service. It might have been from watching the video called Experiencing Miracles by Carlos Vivas on the Anthony Chene Youtube channel. This video instantly changed so many aspects of my life, it was THAT impactful, THAT amazing in so many ways. But this decision might have also come from an idea that grew slowly over time. A while back I began to see how the experience of the children and the families I worked with daily was a seamless connection to me, my thoughts, my moods, my actions. This direct correlation between my behavior and their level of joy is unmistakable. Or perhaps it was the growing knowledge gained from watching the near-death-experience testimonials online and becoming convinced that our very purpose here on Earth, at this time IS to help each other out. The reason could be any number of these listed above, but no matter. A life of service is what I call what I do now until the day I stop breathing.
What does this life of service looks like? So much as shifted from when I was simply existing, but the shift, the pivot, has been huge and noticeable to anyone paying attention. Here are the few ways I can think off the top of my head.
A life of service means being present for all the moments. The boring ones, the frustrating ones, the joyous ones, etc. For example, instead of videotaping a performance from my kids which I will never watch, actually sit there and take it in, fully, wholeheartedly.
A life of service means being genuine, not only to others but MORE importantly, to myself. If the intention to help does not come from a place of pure love it’s not the correct type of energy to make any meaningful positive impact, don’t even bother.
A life of service means quality over quantity. To make the world a better place one might think they needs to get behind many, many. causes to make an even bigger impact. You can do that, but the intensity if such an endeavor soon wears one out, it’s simple unsustainable to juggle so many battles all the same time. I believe one can be most impactful at helping in their most immediate sector, their community. It will be the one they most feel confident or knowledgeable in, and seeing the direct results of this will help recharge you creating an endless loop of giving and receiving. Last week I had to do a lot of reflecting. After the brutal police beating of Tyre Nichols, who later passed away from his injuries, I was left with this need to do something more global, more grand. His screams for his mother haunted me for day; I hear them today still. No one should be treated the way he was treated and the injustice of that situation forced me to think hard on ways I can alleviate such things from happening. After much reflection, I came to the conclusion that what was most lacking in the situation was compassion. People are not just born able to beat someone to death, the deterioration of humanity is deeply ingrained in a person who is willing to beat someone to death AND for no reason. I recognized that in the education sector I work in I could make a much more concerted effort to instill true compassion in my young elementary school students as a way to bring hope and light to our future generations. All of us, where we stand, can make those changes to pivot the world to a much more loving place.
A life of service means giving of your time. There is no way around this one. If you are going to live a life of service you must put time on the task. Sending a check will not cut it, posting about it on social media won’t cut it, forcing others to adopt your worldview won’t cut it. NO, you actually have to do one on one with each person you hope to affect. And how lucky we are that in this dimension we have linear time which means that we MUST be present at the time we are in, we can’t say we are visiting grandma but also be in the past and the future, you actually have to physically be there. Oh, how lucky we are that in our daily lives we have a finite amount of time in which we can dedicate our time to other things. Finite amount of time limits us to only a few things. Once it's all said and done, after making dinner, after eight hours of sleep, after spending time with family, after an eight hour work week we only have a few small hours to give to others. Because we have such a limited amount of time we must wisely choose the things we dedicate our time to. Times precious therefore, when we give our time to someone we are also saying to them that they are precious to us. Furthermore, when we tell others that they are precious to us by spending time with them we are also helping to heal them in the world.
A life of service means that you are completely and utterly aware of the laws of energy. For example, this year, I have made a goal to stop gossiping because I realized that in gossiping there is a very low energy vibration embedded in those types of conversations. Nothing good can ever come from holding such conversations. The negativity put out by such conversations will come back to you with the exact level of negativity with which it was put forth. Similarly, I have stopped thinking negative thoughts about myself to myself because, again, the low energy vibrations carried by such thoughts and the knowledge that these thoughts cause my being, including my physical body.
A life of service means loving ONESELF unconditionally first. When I fully embrace myself with all my glory and all my imperfections it opens up doors for those around me. This began when I have realized early on that I personally felt more comfortable around people where willing to accept their imperfections. I wanted to be like these people. Therefore, what a wonderful gift we give others when we except ourselves just as we are. I find that the minute I drop all forms of self-criticism people flock around me and want to be around me much more. In loving oneself unconditionally one is able to magnetize the self and the paths to communication are cleared for true communion, truer conversations, deeper relationships.
A life of service means TRUSTING that everyone we meet is on the correct path, for them. The only way to ever move past duality is to look past the tribes, past the labels, past the right/wrong continuum. How do we do that? with TRUST. trust that before you might be an individual who may very well have a worldview so drastically different than you is also correct, and just as you are correct in your worldview. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, especially people who are more outwardly focused, but that is true. In my experience being an "in between person "I have witnessed both sides of worldviews all my life. I've witnessed both sides of money, I've witnessed both sides of politics, I've witnessed both sides of different cultures and in each situation each side believes, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are correct. It is this very idea of “I am right” that keeps us separate. We must allow our opposite counterparts the same respect, the same space, the same voice, the same allowance to have whatever worldview they engender and TRUST that whatever conclusions they came to are correct, for them. Not only is this approach most respectful of others but it also frees up time for you not to worry about what other people do, think, or believe and truly do work that matters.