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Thought of the Day: The Power of Now “Leave your analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Bring yourself to the Now, the exact moment you are in, where we find our joy, embrace our true selves and discover that we are already complete and perfect.” --Lynn
It’s difficult to write about my genuine experience without sounding cheesy. There are many generic adjectives that one might use to describe an experience like this—wonderful, enriching, challenging, satisfying, fruitful, etc—And this experience was all of these and more, but its hard to describe exactly what it was that gives substance to all these words. Of course, I can simply say, ‘Well, basically I did some construction work in the morning and taught English in the afternoon” and then top it all off by saying it was wonderful, enriching, challenging, etc. But there are already hundreds of testimonies like this, which say the same thing in a thousand different ways, and perhaps this is not different. Though it may be true that I indeed did do a little work and taught English for a week and that it was rewarding in the aforementioned ways, I feel drawn to express myself in another direction.
As a volunteer, it may come off funny and selfish of me to way that I feel as if I am the one who benefited the most from my “services.” I found that I can go to a different part of the world and hold a conversation with a taxi driver and find a simple joy in it, I can tell jokes to kids and adults alike and laugh together with them, and I can feel as if my greatest cultural difference of company for one short week. Tomorrow I will go back home and continue my life and college education, and the children at Puericultorio will stay as they always have unless they’re too old to stay and they have to go on to something else. But the sliver of greatness in this experience is not something to speak of in an ‘after-the-matter’ tone, the children’s lives are not any better now that I am gone—it was better when I was there, that is what I feel now.
Upon reflection, I think I share similar feelings, which I imagine the children to feel upon enjoying the company of volunteers who are only here to stay temporarily. I have connected deeply with some of my fellow volunteers and feel a tinge of sadness as I think I will never see them again with all probability considered, however- such is how I look at this project and life in general. We are all here, now, but perhaps tomorrow that will not be so- and in my view that is no reason for despair or disconnection, but only another reason why it is important to make life good for yourself and those around you by just being there and sharing yourself as wisely as you can every single day…
I told you this would end up sounding cheesy.
Cheers, Brinton R.
It’s difficult to write about my genuine experience without sounding cheesy. There are many generic adjectives that one might use to describe an experience like this—wonderful, enriching, challenging, satisfying, fruitful, etc—And this experience was all of these and more, but its hard to describe exactly what it was that gives substance to all these words. Of course, I can simply say, ‘Well, basically I did some construction work in the morning and taught English in the afternoon” and then top it all off by saying it was wonderful, enriching, challenging, etc. But there are already hundreds of testimonies like this, which say the same thing in a thousand different ways, and perhaps this is not different. Though it may be true that I indeed did do a little work and taught English for a week and that it was rewarding in the aforementioned ways, I feel drawn to express myself in another direction.
As a volunteer, it may come off funny and selfish of me to way that I feel as if I am the one who benefited the most from my “services.” I found that I can go to a different part of the world and hold a conversation with a taxi driver and find a simple joy in it, I can tell jokes to kids and adults alike and laugh together with them, and I can feel as if my greatest cultural difference of company for one short week. Tomorrow I will go back home and continue my life and college education, and the children at Puericultorio will stay as they always have unless they’re too old to stay and they have to go on to something else. But the sliver of greatness in this experience is not something to speak of in an ‘after-the-matter’ tone, the children’s lives are not any better now that I am gone—it was better when I was there, that is what I feel now.
Upon reflection, I think I share similar feelings, which I imagine the children to feel upon enjoying the company of volunteers who are only here to stay temporarily. I have connected deeply with some of my fellow volunteers and feel a tinge of sadness as I think I will never see them again with all probability considered, however- such is how I look at this project and life in general. We are all here, now, but perhaps tomorrow that will not be so- and in my view that is no reason for despair or disconnection, but only another reason why it is important to make life good for yourself and those around you by just being there and sharing yourself as wisely as you can every single day…
I told you this would end up sounding cheesy.
Cheers, Brinton R.
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