Weekly Soul - Week 26 - Service
Today's meditation from Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living by Dr. Frederic Craigie.
-26-
Not
everyone is called to a life of service—at least, not in the most obvious sense
of becoming a social worker or volunteering in a soup kitchen. Indeed, many who
take that path soon realize that even these activities can become divorced from
the rest of your life. Service, defined broadly, can be how you interact with
each person and in each situation, no matter what the circumstances are.
Gerald Jampolsky
Before she became a best-selling author,
Marianne Williamson had a job for a time as a cocktail waitress. She came to
realize that the most important part of this work was not serving up drinks; it
was reaching out and making a personal connection, one-by-one, with patrons. Reflecting
on this understanding of service, she commented that every business could be “a
front for a church.”
You see this understanding of service
reflected—or not—in what we call “service industries.” My typical interaction
with supermarket checkers, for instance, begins with them saying,
“hihowareyoudidyoufindeverythingok,” followed by an announcement of the total,
and concluding with “hereyougohaveagoodday.” When I smile and say thank you,
the customary closing is “no problem.” Alas. In fairness, the cohort of people
who do this work tend to be in their late teens, and I’m not sure that I would
have had the presence or confidence at that age to reach out to middle-aged
customers any better.
I imagine you have had the experience,
though, of workers in service industries who do make personal connections with
you. There are some specialty or niche grocers staffed by people a little
farther along in years, who tend to be more engaging. I remember a clerk at the
rural post office where we had a box for many years regularly comparing notes
about family, vacations, and the best recipes for chicken salad.
Jampolsky’s point particularly holds
accountable those of us who aspire to service in the sense of socially
redemptive roles. Whether you are a social worker or a community volunteer,
there is the opportunity to make a human connection with people that goes
beyond the material facts of your job. Indeed, in my long-time role as a
psychologist, I think that the formal, documentable elements of my work—setting
goals, developing treatment plans, engaging particular intervention approaches—may
have been less important than coming to people with a spirit of curiosity and
an open heart. Who are you? What do you care about? What do you love? What
brings you joy?
This is activism: recognizing that
whatever your formal role might be, your activism is grounded in how you
interact with each person whose path you cross.
Reflection
- Call to mind a story of
someone in a service industry who conveyed some interest in you as a
person. How did this feel? What difference did this make for you?
- Recall, if you have had this
experience, someone who provides service in what Jampolsky calls the
“obvious sense” of community activism, whose work expresses genuine
personal interest in people served. How do you think this human connection
adds to the material aspects of their work?
- In the coming week, be mindful
of how you interact with the people whose paths you cross, and recognize
that this is activism.
Author
Gerald Jampolsky, M.D., (b. 1925) is an American
psychiatrist and writer who is noted particularly for being the founder and
leading voice of Attitudinal Healing. Suffering, in the Attitudinal Healing
perspective, comes not from external circumstances but from judgmental and
self-deprecatory attitudes. The premise is that there are only two fundamental
human emotions; fear and love and that the journey toward healing and health is
one of letting go of fear and making decisions and life choices based on love. From
its initial emphasis on children living with life-threatening illnesses and on
HIV/AIDS, Attitudinal Healing has grown to provide free or
financially-accessible services and education for children and adults at more
than a hundred centers around the world. Often collaborating with his wife,
Diane Cirincione, Ph.D., Jampolsky is the author of award-winning books
including Love is Letting Go of Fear and Forgiveness, The Greatest
Healer of All. The quotation comes from a 2002 interview of Jampolsky by
Drs. Cassandra Vieten and Tina Amorok, reported in their book, Living
Deeply: The Art & Science of Transformation in Everyday Life (New
Harbinger, 2007).
Book Description:
Keywords:
meditation; reflection; inspiration; miracles; aliveness; purpose; laughter; joy; presence; mindfulness; activism; acceptance; gratitude; forgiveness; creativity; civility; hope; affirmation; wholeness; well-being; mental health; personal growth; transformation; inner peace; personal reflection; joy; joyful living; inspirational quotes; inspirational commentary
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