"THINKING
OF OTHERS"
SOH
Productions
I just came back
with some volunteers from visiting one of
the nursing homes that we visit regularly. We like to go and spend time
with
residents that don’t get many visits from relatives or friends. Some of
them
don’t get any visits at all.
They
appreciate our company so much, just having a listening
ear, and brightening up their day, that it makes me want to keep going
back
again. In a way I feel like I have a lot of adopted grandparents.
But
every time I go, it helps me see things from a different
perspective and gives me a truer sense of values. These people are very
limited
in some ways, and some of them have sad stories to tell, yet they still
manage
to be happy and to retain a good sense of humor.
Then I
think about the times I start feeling a little
depressed or discontent or wishing things were better, and I realize
how
horrible and shameful that is. Here I am, I can see, I can walk, I can
hear, I
can talk, I can eat anything, and I still manage to find reasons to
complain.
How horrible!
As soon
as I set foot in one of these dear people’s rooms
any and every thought of self disappears and all I care about is them
and being
a blessing to them, because I realize how blessed I am, and how
shameful it is
to complain, that life is not all about me.
I truly
believe that the formula for happiness is getting
out of yourself and doing something for someone else unselfishly
without the
hope of any reward. Knowing that you were the cause of someone else’s
happiness
is the reward itself.
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