'If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else.' - Booker Washington
Most of the times, the human spirit prevails over the tough struggles of life. Knowing that this too shall pass, the spirit keeps moving in life, undeterred by the obstacles that it finds on its way.
Yet, sometimes, the human spirit surrenders. It does not even take a tough situation to bring the spirit down; sometimes, we feel low just like that. No reason at all! Boredom, lack of enthusiasm in life, inability to deal with our emotions, loneliness - these manage to bring down our zest for living. You find yourself meandering through the days without any purpose, wondering what can be changed about your life, or about yourself, to feel better again and to regain the zest to live.
When we are in deep misery, it becomes difficult to think about anyone or anything else. And yet, this is exactly what will get us out of our misery! We can sit and brood for hours, thinking about everything that is going wrong with our life. But how productive is this?! Will it help us to feel better? Does brooding lead to some fruitful result? It doesn't. We keep sinking further in misery, oblivious to the world around us.
It has been proven that we have a subtle layer of consciousness surrounding us, called as the aura. When we are miserable, our aura shrinks and makes us feel phantom pain. The wise have recommended that the best way to come out of our misery is by helping someone else. When we do any kind of service to others, it is said to expand our aura and increase our consciousness.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who needs no introduction, has beautifully summed up the essence of helping others in these priceless lines containing a world of wisdom:
The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share others' sorrow and joy. As you grow, your consciousness should also grow. When you expand in Knowledge with time, then depression is not possible. Your inner most source is joy. The way to overcome personal misery is to share universal misery! The way to expand personal joy is to share universal joy. Instead of thinking "what about me?" "what can I gain from this world?" think "what can I do for the world?" When everyone comes from the point of contributing to society, you have a Divine society. We have to educate and culture our individual consciousness in order to expand in time with the Knowledge . . . from "what about me?" to "what can I contribute?"
Indeed, when we come out of our small miserable world and look outside, we can see so many people going through tough times and needing our help. When we take into account, their sorrow and troubles, we will forget our own and think about how we can help them. The main point to remember is that we are not the only ones struggling and that everyone around us is going through difficult times and facing tough situations.
You need not go out of your way to help others. Sometimes, your presence is enough to help them. Just being beside someone during their struggles and lending a kind and encouraging word will work wonders in helping them feel better. Service done selflessly will greatly uplift our spirit and make us feel wholesome. The secret is to think in a greater context. Our miseries are small and few, compared to the world in general. Any act done with the noble motive of uplifting others will only help us. Ultimately, we all are connected, one giant thread of consciousness running through zillions of reflections of the soul!
A life of purpose is that which helps others and brings in a good difference in their lives. We all have been blessed with the ability to make the world a better place. It could be as simple an act as having a conversation with someone, or it could be a magnanimous gesture like donating some amount for charity. Whatever way you feel you can help, please do that with the firm belief that your own troubles will be taken care of by the benevolent Divine. As you help people, you will find help flowing in your way. As you heal others, you yourself will heal. The happiness that you spread around you will always find its way back to you only!
You can either wallow in self-pity and misery and waste valuable time, or you can decide to get rid of your own misery by helping others in need. The choice is entirely yours!
Uplift yourselves by uplifting others.
Help yourself by helping others.
Serve the Divine by serving others!
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