FEED EACH OTHER

Tasty Food Abundance in Healthy Europe (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Further proof inspiration can strike nearly anytime. Last Sunday I was having a few cocktails at a local establishment I visit when I ran into a friend of mine, Matt, that I have known a while. He shared with me this very interesting story that truly helps explain why it is so important to be kind to others. Understand I am recalling this from memory and it is a night I was having some cocktails as mentioned above.

A gentleman was in the hospital after a serious car crash. He slipped into a coma while recovering. During such time he left his body and was taken up to heaven. His excitement was short-lived as God told him the reason he had brought him there was so he could visit both heaven and hell and tell the world about it. Given the choice of which place he could visit first he chose hell so he could get it over with. Down he went expected fire and people crying out in pain. When he arrived all he could see was a lavish banquet sent with some of the finest dishes available. This isn’t so bad he thought. Then he saw the people arrive. Attached to the end of their arms were extra long utensils. Try as the may the could not get the food to their mouth. Time sped up and he watched as day after day these people tried every different idea they had, yet all of them ended up starving while sitting in front of a table full of food. He felt helpless and sad, then he started to rise up and was soon back in heaven. Again he was at the same lavish banquet. Again the people came in the same utensils attached to their arms. “Surely this must be a mistake” he thought. how could the same suffering that existed in hell exist in heaven? He saw the people begin to try in vain to eat unable to get the food to their mouths. He felt confused and disillusioned. He heard the voice of good tell him to keep watching. Eventually the people figured out a solution, they began to feed each other. As time sped up here he watched as all the people stayed happy and satisfied. In addition they seemed to be happier and better connected with each other.

No matter what your spiritual belief may be this story shows something very important. When we try to rely on and only help ourselves we will surely starve. Not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. When we dedicate our lives to helping others it shall be returned in kind and everyone will prosper. So look where you can feed others. Feed them physically, spiritually, emotionally. Give them some of your time, an ear when they need to be heard, a shoulder when they need one to cry on. The more of us who do this the more this world will resemble heaven.

Bucket of balls

Golf balls, pebbles sand. Important stuff, sand small stuff

Here is a great story I read online the other day.

A professor took a bucket and filled it right to the top with golf balls. He then asked the class if the bucket was full. They all looked and agreed it was. The professor than took out a bag of pebbles and poured them in the bucket where they quickly filled the spaces between the golf balls. He then held up the bucket again and asked if it was full. The class, a little more hesitant, replied that it was. The professor again reached down to find a bag of sand which he carefully poured over the pebbles. The bucket quite heavy seemed it could hold no more. Then a cup of water was poured on top of the sand. The professor explained that the bucket represented a life. The golf balls were all the important things in life. Family, friends, health and one’s spiritual beliefs. The pebbles represented things that were a little less important, jobs, money, car and coworkers. The sand represented the small insignificant things in our life. The professor mentioned if our bucket was filled with sand there would be no room for the pebbles, and if we filled it with pebbles there would be no room for the golf balls. When one fills the bucket the way the professor did there is room for everything.

So what is the moral behind this story? Simply put, priorities. We must first fill our lives with things that our important. How many of us know people who are totally committed to their work and seem to have no time for their family? Being hard-working is a noble quality to be sure, but it must be done in its place. How many people do we know that worry so much about politics or what their neighbor is doing or the local gossip that they seem to have no time for their own life? Are we guilty of this in our own lives? I would imagine the answer to be yes. I know I have been at times to be sure. The important thing to realize is what is sand, what is a pebble and what is a golf ball. So the question is not “Is your life full?” but “Is your life full of the right things?” It may be helpful to think of this analogy once in a while.

BECOME, DO NOT JUST ACCOMPLISH

As 2014 begins a lot of us begin to lay out a few ‘new years resolutions’ a set of goals which we hope to accomplish in the coming year. Goals are important to be sure. They give us a point to aim for and direction to head. Still most of our resolutions fall flat and gyms that were full in January and February are empty by March and April. Why does this happen? Why do we give up on our goals so quickly? I think the answer is two-fold. First, a lot of our goals both at New Years and throughout the year are more about what we wish to accomplish. I can imagine you scratching your head asking “Isn’t that what goals are supposed to be about?” Well, yes and no. If your only focus is on accomplishing something say losing 20 pounds, it is outside of us. We are not very attached to it. Those 20 pounds are something separate from us. True, we only are wishing they were separate from us, but there is not emotional investment in something to accomplish. So how can we become someone who sticks to their resolutions and improves on who they were last year? The first step is to change accomplishing something to becoming more. Take the weight loss example. What seems like a more powerful goal, to lose 20 pounds or to become a healthier and more physically fit person? You could lose weight by starving yourself or taking some unhealthy weight loss pill, but is that really improving? So how do we stick to our goals of wanting to become more? Add a why. Most people have a goal, but there is no passion behind it. The easiest way to establish that is to decide why we want that goal. If your goal is to become a more physically fit person list why. Perhaps it is to be able to keep up with your children or even be around for them longer. Perhaps there was a painful situation that being out of shape caused, write that down! Pain can be a very powerful motivator if we use it properly. So write a list of what you wish to become in your life, then below each goal write several whys. The more powerful the better. Then as you start to stray from your commitment review that list. Remembering why you want to do something can be for more powerful than just remembering you want to do it. Try to remain positive about your goals and picture how life will be better when they are accomplished. That will make the goals your friends not your enemy. Any other ideas for sticking to your goals? Please feel free to share with the rest of us!

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