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It is strange the way a selfless act can bring more rewards than a carefully constructed and self- motivated event, but shifting your thoughts away from yourself can lead to that rarest of things, an unexpected pleasure! And if you look beyond the immediate sense of personal fulfillment, you’ll find the reward brings with it a valuable life lesson. Random acts of kindness, while not common, do happen; but they are usually done on impulse or when the opportunity presents itself. Excellent things for sure, but they do not really represent a thoughtful and considered approach to providing genuine help and support to those in need around us. A measured and common sense approach is often required for your efforts to be truly effective. Doing some voluntary work allows you to use your skill-set in a different way, but more importantly it brings to your attention other skills that perhaps you did not know you had. Moreover, exposure to those less fortunate can only help your personal perspective and sense of appreciation of what you already have. Any sense of lack or misfortune will quickly evaporate and you will find yourself approaching things with a bit more zest and optimism. Being a volunteer is about what you can contribute, as well as being about what you can learn about yourself and others. You do need to feel an incredible urge to make a difference - a much abused, and often clichéd term! Just a social conscience, a willingness to help out and the knowledge that doing something that is not about you once in a while is not bad thing! It helps if you stop to consider why you want to do something like this; it is all too easy to fall into the trap of doing something that is perceived by others as the right thing to do. Being clear about your personal motivations will mean a more focused and goal orientated effort and the avoidance of aimless and half-hearted good intentions. This cannot be about crossing something off your to-do list, rather true charity volunteering is about replacing personal achievement motivations with genuine and heartfelt efforts to help others achieve their goals. The real appeal in volunteering is the personal satisfaction that arises from seeing your help lighten the load of another person. Their smile or tangible sense of relief or encouragement is your payment! It’s what you cannot really achieve in the office or place of work - a lasting contribution. This contribution results in a feeling or inner knowing not experienced when completing a job accompanied by a salary. Only a selfless act will bring this kind of feeling, and it is hard to convey this feeling to those who have not experienced it. But, if the act is truly selfless, describing how it has affected you will be the last thing on your mind. Daniel Collins writes on a number of topics on behalf of a digital marketing agency and a variety of clients. As such, this article is to be considered a professional piece with business interests in mind.
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charity volunteering, life lesson, voluntary work, personal achievement.,
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