Help. What is it good for?

A Scout is helpful. “When you give, you begin to live,” said Dave Matthews. “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” – Booker T. Washington

There is this thing, it’s called “being helpful.” We all know that being helpful is supposed to be a good thing. When you are known as a helpful person you are generally welcomed at more gatherings, appreciated by more strangers, thought of as someone others want to hang out with.

But help and the act of helping, in and of itself, can be a tricky, elusive thing for many of us; help can be tricky to ask for, help can be hard to accept, and the need for help, in ourselves and others, can be challenging to identify – should I ask for help? Does that person need help and just doesn’t know how to ask for it? So why strive to be helpful if it isn’t super easy?

The thing is, while being helpful takes practice and does not always seem to reap immediate rewards, most helpful people would encourage you to be more helpful. “This community is full of wonderful people. If you can’t find one, just become one.” -Celeste Alexander. And another quote you may be familiar with: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Ghandi. Yes, you have to make an effort to be helpful. Then, after a while, it will come naturally, just like any other habit. And those rewards I mentioned? It won’t be like God starts sending you money in the mail for being a good person, it’s actually better than that. Get this: You just start to feel better. You invite more happiness into your life when you share love and happiness with other people. It’s a fact. Today, science is able to prove what great thinkers and idea-makers have being saying all along, that giving back leads to a more fulfilling life. So actually, being helpful is super easy, it just takes you being conscience of your ways to make a difference.

 

Here are some easy ways to bring helpful into your vocabulary and your life.

1. Talk about it at dinner – with family or friends, ask “What is one thing you did today/this week to help someone?” “What is one thing someone did to help you today/this week?” You might be surprised how this spurs a positive discussion.
2. Make an effort – tell yourself, “Today is the day! I’m going to find someone to help!” and then go out and do it.
3. Keep it simple – the more you look around you and make an effort to care about others instead of yourself, the more the universe will give back to you. “When you give, you begin to live,” said a wise man. Need some simple ideas to get you started? Push a lone, dent-seeking grocery cart back to its corral in the parking lot, hold the door open a few seconds longer for that person ten feet behind you, offer to walk the dog or get up early to make coffee when your spouse or friend has a big meeting, write a random ‘Thank you’ note to someone that’s been on your mind. Shall I go on?

Acting helpful leads to being helpful. Practice makes habit. Good intentions are only that if you don’t act on them. Go forth and be helpful!

Comment below about your ideas to be helpful, or share your favorite quotes about being helpful! No matter how simple, every act of helpfulness makes a difference and I want to hear your ideas.

Calm after the storm.

Citrus trees. Backyard lizards. Spring peepers welcoming the night. It’s pretty neat down here in Southeast Texas. But when it rains, it pours. Literally. The road blends into the sky. The water sticks to the road. It fills up the road with inches…inches of water that don’t seem to move. The sewer drains fill up and are left with no more room so they overflow. Then the streets flood. Then they flood some more. And before you know it, you are out of school for five days straight. But it’s not fun. It’s not like snow days up north.

Snow Days stop. They go away when the sun comes out. The sun melts the snow which runs into the drains which clears the streets. Then you go back to school.

The flood in Houston this April doesn’t have a name…yet. It’s just called #houstonflood on Twitter. We have lots of floods. But I hear that this is the worst flood since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. That was fifteen years ago.

While my family and I figure out how we can do our part to help, I wanted to share some photos I just took in my backyard. These prove that the storms will pass. There is hope in some of the ugliest places. Not that Houston is ugly, that’s just a figure of speech, but perhaps it’s the wrong one. These prove that there is a future to look forward to. Thanks, Mother Nature.

One day old Monarch butterfly chrysalis

Baby Meyer lemon