The Gift of Service

Good morning,

 After taking a few weeks off due to the Holidays and passing the good old Covid baton through my family, I jumped back onto my Wholistic Health Your Way Facebook Page to post today.

On my drive in to treat patients this morning I started thinking about service.

I am a health care provider, a physical therapist and a coach. 

I have been in this profession for almost 25 years, 21 of which owning these businesses.

I have always provided acts of service for my patients and my clients.

And I love it in so many ways...

But what stood out to me as I was thinking about what I wanted to post about was the idea of service, while certainly honorable, is in itself a gift to the giver.

I don't remember exactly what I wrote in my FB post, but I do remember focusing on how one gift I have found over the years is getting out of my own head when I was having a difficult time.  The gift of focusing on someone else, of doing what I can to facilitate their healing, took me away from my own pain or issues.

Giving can do this.

Think about it.

Do you remember a time when you were feeling some big feelings or struggling with some sort of difficulty and a friend, co-worker or loved one needed help?   

What happened when you changed your focus and put it on helping them?

Maybe your pain lessened.

Maybe you got out of your head for a little while.

Maybe your mood shifted. 

Or maybe you were just able to have a newer level of compassion for someone else and what they were going through.

Giving can be a true gift to the giver.

If you are struggling, sometimes it can be helpful for you to take the focus off of yourself for a while.

On the other hand, maybe you tend to be the giver in your life too?

If this is the case, then I maybe your growth is being the receiver.

"When you refuse help, you sometimes refuse people the pleasure of helping."  
      -Annonymous

Either way, my invitation is for you to look for ways to serve others, either in giving or in receiving.  Which is in your highest?  

In Kindness,

Jen

P.S.  I will continue to explore this idea of giving and serving, as well as receiving in future blogs.  I hope you find these thoughts helpful.  If you do, please subscribe to these blogs. I would love to hear your thoughts.  Have you found any gifts in acts of service for those around you?