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Thursday Quote Of The Day (Be Of Service)

- David Stidston

By David StidstonPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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"Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals." - Kallam Anji Reddy

Many people often get confused, when one minute I am encouraging everyone to prioritize helping, supporting, uplifting, encouraging, and giving generously, to others, yet in the next sentence I am stating that people should never go about pleasing others in life. Sounds a little contradictory, right? Surely when we go about helping others, or giving generously to others, we are in fact pleasing them, yeah? Well, there is actually a massive difference between pleasing others and helping others. Let's firstly determine what pleasing others looks like. Many people don't even have the awareness they are actually living their life pleasing others. The truth is, when we are not going about pleasing others, we would be instead going about pleasing ourselves. When pleasing ourselves, our decisions and our actions are based around what is best for us in life, what would be beneficial, advantageous, and perhaps profitable, to us. Our beliefs and opinions would be what we truly believe in our own heart, rather than from what others have told us, or what we have read. We would basically be living our life to our own design, and not to how others advise us to live, or not be influenced or manipulated into living life in any way but how we desire. We would not be following society, or the crowd. It may sound selfish, but it's vital that we are living our life to our own design, because we only get one shot at life, and we want to be living every single one of the days in happiness, success, and satisfaction. When we are happy, satisfied, and successful, we are more likely to become the best version of ourselves that we can be. When we are pleasing others though, that's when we start following what most other people are doing in life, such as finding a job just for income's sake, rather than finding work that we are truly passionate about, or we believe what the majority of other people believe, or we behave in a manner how most other people behave. We do this in order to fit in with society, to avoid being criticized, and labelled as being different and abnormal. We do this in order to avoid confrontation and being made to look foolish. We want to be admired, liked, respected, and accepted, therefore we follow what most others do, and believe what most others believe. The result in doing so though is that we deny ourselves the opportunity to follow our goals, to live life how we desire, and to live life in happiness.

It's no wonder that more and more people are being diagnosed with having a mental illness nowadays, such as depression and anxiety, as people are so fixed in their ways in living their life to exactly how we are all educated to live it, and from how others advise us to live it, which naturally creates unhappiness and frustration. Because of this constant peer pressure, influence, and manipulation, by society, which even extends to our friends and loved ones, we feel obligated to follow them, and we know that if we don't, we will cop that ridicule, criticism, and judgment. The truth is, we don't need to follow what everyone else is doing, nor do we need to adhere to the advice of others. We are a free spirit who is in total control of what decisions we make, and actions we take, in life, however too many of us relinquish that control to others because we don't have the courage and willpower to follow our own heart, and be working on creating a life of our own design. No one is really preventing us from doing so, it's just the fear of criticism, judgment, embarrassment, and ridicule, that we have manufactured in our mind. Enough of this pleasing others business, this making decisions and executing actions crap, that is based on what others want, or what others advise us to do. The only person in life we are obligated to please is ourselves. We should be doing everything we can to be striving for our goals, creating a fulfilling lifestyle for ourselves, working hard to create success for ourselves, and be ensuring we are truly happy in life. This is not selfishness, this is showing everyone that we truly do care for ourselves, our health, our happiness, our wellbeing, and our future. This is personal growth and development, which is paramount in life.

Now we come to the selflessness part, the serving, helping, supporting, and generosity, side of our life. Whilst we need to prioritize the actions in our life that are working towards our goals, success, and happiness, we should be asking ourselves, what are we doing for our community? What are we doing to help others live a fulfilling, happy, and successful life also? How can we uplift others, and provide them with hope for the future? Service is defined as "the action of helping or doing work for someone" and "an act of assistance". We are not following the advice of people we help or give generously to. We are not pleasing them in allowing them or anyone else to manipulate us to live our life the way they want us to live it, or what suits their agenda, or what is convenient to them. We are simply dedicating our time and effort into helping others live a better life, and provide them with hope for the future. That's the difference right there! That is service! Service may be as simple as placing money in the hat of a homeless person on the street. Service may be as simple as helping an elderly neighbor with their gardening, or the preparation of meals. Service may be running a business that offers a product or service that is of benefit to the community, to enhance and improve the lives of others. Service may be helping out someone in need financially, be it a friend, a family member, a work colleague, or even a total stranger. Service is about spontaneity, that random act of kindness without having the expectation of receiving anything in return. Service is about encouraging others to strive for their goals, supporting them with their decisions and actions, motivating them to keep persevering on their journey, and helping them maintain focus and a positive mindset. Service is celebrating in the success that others achieve. Service is about volunteering our time at a local community association, or voluntarily coaching a sporting team. Service is not impacting us in any way from achieving our goals, or from creating the life of our own design, provided we aren't doing so excessively, but just enough to be making a positive difference in the lives of others.

When we are serving others, and we see just a simple smile on their faces, or we hear their heartfelt appreciation for our help, or we see the impact it has on their life, the satisfaction that it brings us is indescribable. In itself, the act and result of service can bring a tremendous amount of happiness and fulfillment. We can have such a positive impact on this world from doing simple acts of service. We have the ability to change people's lives, let alone our own. Stop being a people pleaser, and start making decisions and executing actions that are working towards the life you desire, irrespective of what others think. Prioritize these actions in your daily schedule, but also schedule in time allocated to be of service to others. Achieving your own goals in life, whilst helping others to achieve theirs, goes hand in hand to fulfilling your purpose in life.

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About the Creator

David Stidston

My name is David Stidston, and I live in the beautiful city of Hobart, in Tasmania, Australia. My aim is to inspire and motivate as many people as possible, to pursue their goals, and create a future blessed with happiness and fulfillment.

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