“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

To All Those Loners Out There…

I was taught not to ask for things, it’s just how my parents were brought up and what they thought was right. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to that.

I’m now an adult who struggles to ask for things — I’ve got this, ‘I’ll do it myself’ attitude. It’s got me far in life — I’ve learnt a lot and can achieve almost anything I set my mind to — but not as far as I could have got had I just bitten the bullet and asked for help when I needed to.

Let’s face it, sometimes we hit rough spots on our journey and we could use an extra helping hand.

Related article: How To Ask For Help and Let Love In

In light of this new discover, I’ve been a bit more loquacious in areas where I feel I need a bit of help.

For instance: At the beginning of the year I started teaching a craft class at our local center for disadvantaged kids (called ‘Net vir Pret’ — Afrikaans for ‘Just for Fun’).

There was a ton of things I needed and the center provides the funds for me to get what I want for the classes but I have about 10 students, so I need quite a bit of stuff. This got me pondering — what would happen if I just put out, into cyberspace (aka on our towns local Facebook page and e-mail chain), that I needed crafty things — goodies that are lying about the house gathering dust?

So I did. I said that anything from beads, paint and cardboard to coloring pens and crayons would be most welcome.

Hold Onto Your Hats!

Well, as you can imagine, I got one hell of a response from the community and was collecting box after box of the most amazing craft supplies.

My class is ablaze with color, vitality and super things for the kids to do thanks to team spirit! People were SO willing to give that it truly warmed my heart.

Lessons in Life

Doing things for yourself can build character, strength, perseverance and all sorts of other desirable traits — however, there is nothing wrong with asking for a little boost when you need to. Especially when pooled effort has a ripple effect (i.e. benefits all).

The one thing I have learned from this experience is that most people love to give. When you don’t ask, you deny others of this gift. A lot of our locals wanted to be of service to the center but didn’t know what they could do to contribute — they were only too pleased that they could contribute in this way.

Related article: Are You Having Problems Receiving? You May be Interested to Know That it is Just as Important as Giving…

It is wonderful to receive but giving can also be one of the best feelings in the world! Don’t deny people the chance to step up to the plate if you honestly need assistance. Giving makes people feel useful.

Givers: I’m not talking about being someones doormat — you’ve got to decide for yourself whether something or someone is worthy of your giving.

Receivers: Don’t take advantage of people, that’s also not what this is about.

Cherie Roe Dirksen is a self-empowerment author, multi-media artist and musician from South Africa.

To date, she has published 3 self-help and motivational books and brings out weekly inspirational blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.com. Get stuck into finding your passion, purpose and joy by downloading some of those books gratis when you click HERE.

Her ambition is to help you to connect with your innate gift of creativity and living the life you came here to experience by taking responsibility for your actions and becoming the co-creator of your reality. You can follow Cherie on Facebook (The Art of Empowerment — for article updates). She also has just recently launched her official art Facebook page (Cherie Roe Dirksen – for new art updates).

Cherie posts a new article on CLN every Thursday. To view her articles, click HERE.

This article (Giving: You’ll be Amazed What’s in it for You!) was originally written for and published by Conscious Life News and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Cherie Roe Dirksen and ConsciousLifeNews.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons statement.

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