Focus on Serving Others
The Self-Help industry continues to boom. You can pretty much find resources on anything you want to help you reach your goals. Overall, I think this is good, but I wish there were an equally strong Others-Help industry, too. Focusing on ourselves is absolutely necessary, but it is only one piece of the puzzle.
If we only focus on ourselves, we will miss many gifts that come from being connected to others. You don’t need to go out and do some big mission trip somewhere to be of service to others; you just need a change of mindset to be present with the people in your proximity. This could be family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. Focusing on others is essential to healing because it takes the focus off of ourselves and reminds us that we are connected to a larger whole. And when we feel connected to the larger whole, our perspective shifts, which decreases our psychological suffering.
For example, my church is sending a group of kids to camp this summer. The adults have rallied around the kids to support them and raise up to half of the cost of going to camp for each kid. On a recent Sunday, the kids held a free-will-offering bake sale. It wasn’t anything fancy. Simple baked goods, average coffee, and grade-school-aged kiddos holding up hand-made signs and shaking down the adults. It was a blast.
That Sunday, there was a buzz, excitement, and different energy. Kids were stoked, adults had a pep in their step, and overall, things felt alive and humming. Things seemed lighter that morning throughout the community. I love our church, and I think we do a pretty decent job of cultivating a high-joy environment, but it did make me wonder about the efficacy of bake sales vs. sermons when it comes to improving people’s overall well-being.
Generally, self-help books, sermons, podcasts, etc., are about delivering helpful information. In healing work, information is necessary but not sufficient. We must actually engage and put the information to work. And serving others is a great way to do that.
Now, some of you truly need to say NO more often. You tend to overfunction and leave little room for your own rest and rejuvenation. I am not advocating for you to pick up one more thing. But the rest of us need to up our service game. If you don’t know where to start, maybe keep your eye out for a local bake sale.
Happy to be in your corner,
Tom Page, LCPC
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