Sunday, July 8, 2012

Altruistic

You have faults. Many, many of them. Admit this to yourself every day.
Admit: I sometimes pick my nose in private. I am sometimes an aggressive driver. I think about myself or myself and others 85% of the time. Etc. etc.
A new one every day.

Selfishness is very easy to pin down. Being unselfish always has selfish tendencies.
Examples: When a person donates money, this is considered charity. However, the percentage of their income they are sharing (a rich man giving $100 verses a poor woman giving $5) determines how charitable they seem. Also, giving money versus giving time. Perhaps they are lazy, or hate the causes they give to. The always popular "they just want to appear unselfish so they are justified in spending money on themselves." Etc. etc.
Ignore these contingencies.

Give intangible things. Give tangible things. Time is not money.
Collecting food for the hungry is just as kind as feeding the hungry. Donating a hammer and nails is just as kind as helping put in the floor of a house. One makes you feel different than the other.
Mix them up.

Continue to live your daily life. Turn daily tasks into charity.
Running to lose weight becomes running a 5k for a dozen causes. Cleaning the pantry becomes food collection. Organizing clothing becomes consigning. Yard sale proceeds become donation worthy. Cutting wood for the woodpile becomes cutting wood for all the neighbors (charity does not only mean helping those in dire need, it means helping those with any need). Pulling weeds or cleaning the bay is a good way to get a tan and Vitamin D. Planting or building is a good work out.
Consider paying forward.

Those faults that you list are fine. Forgive yourself for them. Then, forgive others for their mistakes too.
When you are cut off in traffic, consider how stressed the driver is and the amount of times you've done the very same thing in desperation to get into another lane. When you make wishes for yourself, wish them for other people too: I wish that I did not have this cold. I wish that no one ever had to suffer through a cold. I'm so lucky to be able to afford cold medicine.
Forgive.

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