Service for the Soul

It's a truth I've known for a long time.  That the giver is the greatest beneficiary of the gift.  That volunteering and helping people out really helps us more than anyone else. 

These past few months, being away from my little community, I've come to see that truth with a new clarity.

I need to work.  I need to serve.  To be useful.  To push a wheelchair down the street and have coffee with my neighbour.  I need to pack meals and give them to the guys in the square that wait for us every Friday.  I need to shop for groceries and cook and serve and share a meal with the volunteers and guests who join us for our monthly lunch. 

The service isn't for them.  It's for me.  I need it.  Like my lungs need air and my stomach needs food.  My soul needs service.

Activation energy

In chemistry, the activation energy is the energy you need to start a chemcal reaction.  Once this energy is put into the system, the reaction will go on its own, often producing much more than the energy required to start it.  For example, a little bit of heat is required to start a fire.  Once we have that spark, the fire burns on its own, releasing much more energy than that little spark used to light it.

I find that a lot of the things we do are like that chemical reaction.  You have to put a little bit of effort into it to begin with, but once you get started, the ball starts rolling and in the end, you get a lot more out of it than you put in.  For example, today, I went out for a run for the first time in a long time.  All I really had to do was decide to go, put on my sneakers and get outside.  Once I'm out there with my running buddy, the running takes care of itself and in the end, I feel great.

Similarly, I love visiting people.  I always find that it makes me really happy.  All I need to do is pick up the phone, set a time and date and the rest takes care of itself.  And in the end, I've gotten so much more out of it than I put in.

The same thing happens with my sewing.  I just pick the fabric and a project as simple as a drawstring bag and fifteen minutes later, I've got a new reusable bag, reduced my fabric stash, and I feel awesome.

The thing is, sometimes, even that little bit of activation energy becomes a barrier.  This is especially true when there are so many options that require almost no activation energy -- things like surfing the internet or checking my email or watching TV.  They're not just attention leaks, they're time and opportunity leaks too. That's just another reason why I try to limit my media consumption.

Almost invariably, once I do invest the energy to start some activity, I don't regret it and, on the contrary, I'm very happy that I made that decision.  I just need to remind myself that the activation energy of the activities is but a small investment for a much larger reward.

Thankfulness

There is a verse in the Qur'an that can be translated as: "If you are thankful, I will surely give you more." (14:7).

It's a guarantee.

So much so, that when people complained to some scholars about their straitened circumstances, these scholars would ask them to reflect on the quality of their thankfulness.

Because the verse says, "If you are thankful, I will surely give you more." (14:7).

The joys of doing

There is so much at our fingertips.  We can read about anything, talk to anyone, buy anything we need from anywhere in the world without even getting out of bed.  It's all so convenient.

Just like anything else, convenience also has a cost.  I'm not referring to cost in terms of dollars and cents.  I mean cost in terms of what we've lost or what we give up in exchange for convenience.  These costs include loss of skills, self-reliance and the sheer joy of doing.

But they're not really lost.  They're just available through alternative options.

The great thing with conveniences it that they're optional.  We don't have to do things the easy way.  We can cook instead of eat out, sew something instead of buy it, do something ourselves instead of paying someone else to do it.  Along with the final product of a meal to eat or an item to use or something that's been fixed, doing things with our own two hands gives us experience, improved skills and satisfaction that money can't buy.

Freedom and responsibility

I've been taking time off lately.  After finishing my PhD I wanted to spend some time thinking and looking around before jumping into my next big project or job or time commitment.  So, for the past few months, I've been pretty much doing whatever I want, whenever I want.  It's pretty awesome.

Today, it hit me that with this freedom comes responsibility.  It's great to be able to choose what to do each day but that means that I have to choose what to do each day.  There's no boss telling me what to do.  The responsibility of using my time wisely lies squarely on my shoulders.  I can't delegate it to someone else.

It's very easy to take the easy road and lose hours and hours to reading news commentary or watching YouTube.  But like that standing-on-a-hill analogy, although it's fun to run down the hill, it's not much fun afterwards, when you find yourself at the bottom.  I need to keep that empty, at-the-bottom-of-the-hill feeling in mind before I start down the slippery slope of YouTube or Huffington Post.

Freedom is wonderful.  But in and of itself, it's no key to happiness.  That key lies in the choices I make with the freedom I've been given