Share Your Experiences of Helping Others

This thread is dedicated to all who have gone that extra mile to help someone else in need. Some would say that this is bragging about how good you are. I would highly disagree and don't put those kind of judgements on other's experiences.

In sharing, we not only come into recognition of how we've raised our own vibration, but others will have their vibration raised in the joy of it. By example, we teach each other and learn to recognize our own evolvement. This is a thread about hope, caring, and the transference of the Highest Energy there Is...Love.

I have to say that Beekeeper's sharing about her own story regarding helping one of her students inspired me to start this. I would like to move that story here. So, who will step forward and proclaim to all that you have stepped into the vibration of love? :D

[Beekeeper]

Good, then I've told mine so I can share kindnesses done to me. In fact, I'll never forget this.

I've already mentioned a rocky patch in my marriage that happened 9 years ago and culminated in my husband leaving for 7 months (happy to report it's all good now). I was left with a 3 year old and a 3 month old baby. I was really depressed, as you can imagine, and totally exhausted. It didn't help that I developed mastitis. The really nice bit happens now. A friend, not a close friend but just a friend, decided I needed a rest. She came and spent a night. When I got up to feed the baby through the night, she got up too. I fell asleep with the baby feeding. Next I knew, I was being gently prodded awake. She wouldn't hear of me changing a nappy and she burped the baby and sent me to bed. The next morning, she basically hung around and looked after the little ones so I could have a sleep in.

Another friend would turn up with disposable nappies when it rained. She had her own little kids and not much money but she'd be there on my doorstep with the biggest bag imaginable, just in case I was having trouble getting my washing done.

One of my neighbours, a construction worker, would bring in my washing if it looked like it was going to rain and place it under cover for me if I wasn't home. Another male neighbour picked me up from the airport in my car (about an hour each way). During the return trip the baby screamed almost the whole way but he was an absolute angel about it.

Other friends would invite me over for hours or come and visit for hours, making my day go much quicker. In fact, I never really knew what sensational friends and neighbours I had until that period of my life.

Oh, and I did something honest and honourable then too. (I was certainly in no mood to tempt karma). I damaged someone's car in the shopping centre carpark and I left a note on the windscreen. They were blown away that I actually did that and, when I paid for the damage, the lady who owned the car turned up with flowers to say thank you for being honest.

[enoch]

Good topic, phg. I believe in recipricol altruism because it makes perfectly good sense, but I also believe that there is pure altruism that transcends our selfish instinct and this purity is what ancient religion was rooting for constantly. Jesus (as an example) was aware of this when he taught that we should do good deeds but never do it in public or boast about it. He was teaching that, by doing this, we are eliminating our selfish desires and touching upon this purity which exists and can be embraced, giving us an opportunity to find the light within us.

I was hoping this thread wouldn't turn into a debate about whether it is a good thing or not to share your stories of your own progress and evolvement. No one is being forced to post here. But, here is my opinion. If you do an act of kindness, without expecting reward or the thought of talking about it, that is a wonderful thing. If later on, you decide to share it as an act of love in encouraging others to do acts of kindness, I can hardly see fault in that. While I agree that Jesus' words are wise, I believe he is talking about doing a good deed with the intention of parading it around afterward to show all how "good" you are. I also believe that judging another's joy in sharing their stories is hardly an act of love. We are all One, and in sharing our stories, we are also recognizing that what we do for another, we are doing for ourselves.

To use Beekeeper as an example (hope you don't mind, Bee), I believe she is a good teacher and shares in the joy of her students when something she teaches affects their life positively. I hardly think that her motive in being a good teacher is so that she can later on brag to everyone what a great teacher she is. The joy she found when her student shared the story of how she affected his life is something she wanted to share with us. Not for self-glory, but for the sheer joy of sharing it.

[enoch]

I wasn't intending to turn it into a debate, I just can't think of anything right now except for a dog that I helped when it was run over a month back. I don't go out of the house much so.....

One of the coolest things that ever happened because of some small influence I had:

A very good friend of mine had been divorced for about a year and was in a new relationship. She and her previous husband had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years. They tried everything short of in vitro fertilization, and had completely given up. There was nothing physically wrong with either one of them and should have been able to conceive according to their many doctors.

I am a hypnotherapist who specializes in past life regression. The purpose of this kind of work is to help people to solve problems in their life that they can't get past or don't understand by helping them to see the connections between past lives and the current one. It almost always works either immediately or faster than talk therapy, in my experience.

My friend is an atheist. One day, she asked me to regress her. I was quite surprised, but you don't really need to believe in past lives to be regressed. So, we did a session together. She went back to a lifetime where she lost a baby. She was crying very hard as she relived the experience. When I brought her out, she was amazed at how real the experience was and how deeply her emotions went.

Several months later, I got a call from her in a very excited state. She was pregnant! Her new boyfriend and she were very happy and making plans for this new little life. AND, she was telling everyone that I got her pregnant! I told her I hoped she went into more detail than that when telling people this. :lol: She now has a darling baby boy and is extremely happy (though sleep deprived). :D

[Beekeeper]

Great story PHG. I love the idea of what you do for a living! I hope this thread takes off because, as interesting as all the philosophical debates become, I just love reading other people's experiences.

I actually think that people will find it easier to talk about kind acts others performed towards them than their own acts of kindness. But, I agree, you can talk about your own act of kindness without being boastful. I saw my post on my beautiful student in the light of how great kids are rather than what a sensational teacher I am. Let's face it, I get paid for what I do and if they do well I look good.

I believe it's easy to be kind to some people, much harder with others. When we take the harder option, we're probably closer to being truly alturistic. I also believe that some of us need to learn how to accept the kindness of others (in whatever form that may take) and to express gratitude. At least this was something I needed to learn.

[Shannanigans]

reviving a great thread

My favourite good deed was something I experienced out of the blue
I was at the Tim Horton's drive through (for non-canadians, it is like dunkin donuts or starbucks but wayyy better) and I ordered my coffee and croissant. When I got to the window to pay, the girl said it had already been paid for. I didn't know what she was talking about, and she told me the lady ahead of me paid for my order and to pay it forward
I was walking on air the whole rest of the day. A complete stranger did this with no recognition after the fact, no ulterior motive.
Needless to say I told EVERYONE about this and now I try to do it whenever I can. Just to know that even though no one will thank me for it, I made someone's day brighter. It's fun to imagine the look on their face, or how that small gesture may have improved their whole day. I think the not knowing makes it even better!

[Beekeeper]

Great story. Random acts of kindness. I love it!