This is a question I ask myself every day. It is a question that guides me, that opens my mind and heart, and, what lead me to start this blog years ago, what can I contribute to life?
I was very blessed, when I began my journey in recovery, when I sought help it was there, an abundance of it, and it was stressed to me early on how important it was for me to give back, and I have, and still do, but after surviving a night I shouldn’t have, and working through survivors guilt, questioning why I had survived, I began to ask myself how I was really contributing to life, and, could I do more? That thinking got me out of feeling guilty and into action, and it’s what gets me into action each day still today. When I’m asking what I can do to be of service I am not thinking about myself, what I may not have, or what I want, who may have hurt me or angered me, it changes my thinking to positive thinking which leads to positive action. This line of thinking also opens the door to compassion, so when I do come across situations in my day, instead of making the problem worse, or perhaps getting myself involved where I don’t belong, I can see if there is a way for me to help the situation, which, in some cases is not getting involved at all. We need to check our own interests at the door because when we are asking ourselves how we can contribute we are not focusing on our own wants and needs, but how we can help as a whole. For me, this thinking keeps me out of ego and into support for those around me and my community and allows for me to remain teachable, which is a big step from the stubborn know-it-all I used to be.
I believe we are all here to help each other. We help each other learn, grow and support one another when we need that love, understanding and strength, and when we concentrate only on ourselves we cut ourselves off from that support. It is important that we connect and hook into the world around us to give back and appreciate what we may have received in times when we needed the love and support, keeping ourselves in a mode of giving back keeps us connected, keeps us in a positive place and keeps us firmly planted on the ground as we continue to move forward in our lives. When we focus only on our own wants and needs it’s easy to lose perspective, to romanticize things that may not be good for us and lose sight of how we fit into the world around us, it’s easy to isolate and feel alone and to get off track and into behaviors or choices that are not the best for us. Continually asking ourselves how we can contribute to life keeps us in the center of life, not in the fringes looking in.
During this challenging time it is especially important to ask ourselves how we can contribute to life as there are many ways each day to be of service to those around us, and when we do it takes us out of ourselves, perhaps our own fears, frustrations or disappointments and turns our thinking into helping one another, this action has a way of magically turning our negative thinking into positive action. We all have something to contribute, and all have something to offer, even on our worst days, and when we choose to focus our energy out instead of in, you may just be surprised how that bad day turns around into something good. SLAY on!
SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you ask yourself what you can do to contribute to life? If you do, what do you do? How do you contribute? If you don’t, why don’t you? What can you do to contribute? Can you contribute more? What have you learned by contributing? How as contributing to life helped you in your own life? Do you find that your attitude and outlook on life has changed? How so? When we consciously look to be of service we are directed to those places where we can be, and as we are taken outside of ourselves and given a new purpose in life.
S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you
State Of Slay™ 