“Even though I don’t expect it, when I give from my heart it always comes back to me in wonderful ways. That’s the way of life.” –Reuben del Rio, hotel bellman quoted in How We Choose to be Happy, pg. 168.
Because it’s more focused on action than mindset, giving can offer large rewards for little effort. It can be simple: holding the door for someone; or complex: volunteering for Doctors without Borders.
In either case, volunteering our time, money and skills can be richly rewarding. With that in mind, I offer you an opportunity on the simple end of the scale.
My husband forwarded me an email from a co-worker of his, a musician who’s involved with a program called BAYCAT, which teaches audio/visual skills to underserved members of the community. He said:
I worked with a group of high school kids, ages 14-17, on a digital filmmaking project. The project ended being a video for one of my songs, “Higher”. Together with the assistance of Mr. Will Hammond (myspace/willhammondjr), the kids put together a pretty sharp video. [here] Have a look if you’re interested. If you like what you see, please leave a comment or send an email to info@baycat.org. Public support is one way to keep funding coming in.
The video is worth checking out, even if you don’t respond, and those of you doing the Naikan Challenge: if you take the time to comment or email these folks, be sure to note it in your daily reflection.
If you already volunteer, has it made you happier? What do you do? How did you get involved? If you don’t already give, what would make it possible?
(”To render ourselves happy” comes from a quote from Francoise de Moteville that I ran into here.)
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