Few things have been as impactful in my life as volunteering.
Serving has taught me a crucial fact about human nature:
We have the power to create happiness and joy in our hearts and the hearts of all we touch with the simplest of actions.
We take for granted how powerful just listening and being present with someone is, yet this simple action is perhaps the greatest support we can offer another.
I urge you to discover that power, and share your light. Serving others and making the world a better place truly makes you heroic, especially with the world in such a troubled state.
Even better is to find a place where you can give of yourself over time.
In doing so, you weave together a narrative, a story with characters, setting and events. A story made of your service–the ups and downs, the people you connect with and those that go away–and most importantly the joy and transformation you are destined to experience throughout your journey.
My Story of Service
I want to share my story of service in hopes of inspiring your own.
Selfless service or seva as it’s called in Sanskrit, can be done in any area of your life, but it’s most powerful when offered to those in need.
You can find a pet shelter, food bank, non-profit organization, or like me, a nursing facility to volunteer your time.
Look to your community (I volunteered right down the street from my parent’s house) and look within yourself. You’ll find the right fit.
If you can’t find a good fit somewhere, or don’t have the time, then you can be of service throughout the many interactions you have in your daily life with family, friends, and even strangers.
There’s always work to be done, and help to offer.
It can be as simple as a smile at the grocery store check-out lady, or a compliment to someone you see walking past you.
You’ll be amazed how quickly and easily your selfless service positively impacts your life and the lives of others.
As we each write our own story of service, we weave our individual chapters together into a grand narrative that expresses the power and light of positive transformation, and goodness in the world.
If you doubt that power, then reading my story will definitely help.
Let’s start at the beginning of my own:
It all started in middle school…
When I was in middle school, there was an outreach program that took us into different parts of the local community. We were given different options, like going to a daycare center for disadvantaged children, or helping out at a food bank. For whatever reason, I chose to go to a nursing facility called Westchester Care Center.
Each month during the outreach program, a group of us middle schoolers went to play bingo with the elderly, sick and disabled residents living there. We were paired up with a resident and helped them mark their bingo cards. The residents would get candy as a prize when they won, and they always shared their prizes with us kids. I loved it: connecting with the person I was paired with (often a kind and gentle elderly person), playing bingo with them, and, of course, getting candy. I felt so happy doing it.
Little did I know, my experiences on the program would foreshadow many future games of bingo, and a deep connection to the facility and residents living there later in my life.
Fast forward 10 years, and I’m 22 years old back home living with my parents. This was during a period of intense change and challenges. However, it was during this time of great suffering that I found the spiritual path.
As I started out on my spiritual journey meditating daily, learning with my first teacher Ed Muzika, and studying spiritual texts, I also felt called to give back–to help others.
I thought what good is making myself better, and not helping others in the process?
I wanted to work directly with people and remembered my time at Westchester. It seemed like the perfect fit, so I applied to volunteer.
It was one of the best choices I ever made.
Way before meditation, service gave me my first experiences of transcendent joy on the spiritual path. A joy unlike I’d ever experienced before–pure, light and unbounded
Meeting Tina
Naomi’s Inspiration
I instantly connected with visiting the residents, helping with activities, and assisting around the facility.
I discovered the most profound activity was simply being present with residents and listening to them. I loved hearing about their lives and the lessons they had to share. I was amazed how powerful an impact just being present with someone had.
I learned to talk to anyone about pretty much anything, even with people who weren’t ‘all there.’
There were many times I experienced uncomfortable situations: bad smells, resident drama, and grumpy people.
The hardest part by far was losing people I made friendships and deeper connections with.
One of the most incredible people I met during my time volunteering at Westchester was Tina.
Tina immediately stood out from the rest of the residents with her playful nature and wry sense of humor. She was also younger and more vibrant than many of the residents who lived there. She loved owls, her dangly earrings and cracking crude jokes.
I loved visiting her: hanging out, playing games, and talking about life. Over the years we developed an amazing friendship. We always kept in touch and I looked forward to visiting her every summer.
Around her 30’s, Tina started developing health problems. She had cancer several times, had to have the lower half of her left leg removed, became wheelchair bound, had spinal surgery and lost her sense of hearing.
She had a neurological condition (the same that took her hearing) that slowly limited her mobility, and was slowly paralyzing her body.
Despite all of her hardship, she was a loving, happy, caring and positive person. She uplifted everyone around her. The residents, staff, nurses and CNAs at Westchester loved her. Her sense of humor and loving personality kept everyone around her smiling and entertained.
With all of Tina’s problems she could have easily given in to depression or negativity, but she kept going through everything with positivity, optimism and humor.
Tina showed me that we have a choice when suffering comes into our lives. We can choose to succumb to it, to ask “why me?”, to become bitter and resentful, to lash out and become angry. Or, we can choose to remain positive, to learn from our suffering, to see the deeper meaning in it, to accept it, surrender to it, and continue having faith in ourselves and the world.
Even when confronted with numerous debilitating health problems, she never succumbed to self-pity or gave up. Tina always had faith, even when she talked about being afraid.
Sadly, Tina passed away in 2020, but her memory, inspiration and spirit lives on in all those she touched.
Another incredible person I met at Westchester was Naomi. Naomi worked at Westchester as a volunteer and employee for over 20 years.
Her care and attention to the residents was another huge source of inspiration for me.
When I was volunteering with her she was in her late 70’s and early 80’s, older than many of the residents she was caring for. She was vibrant, healthy and energetic. Along with eating right and exercising, she attributed her service as one of the things that kept her feeling and looking young.
Naomi went above and beyond serving the residents, decorating the center for the holidays, planning creative activities, shopping for residents, and caring for their many needs.
I connected deeply with Naomi.
She was also a spiritual seeker and had spent many years going to India and visiting her guru there.
What blew me away about Naomi was that not only did she work tirelessly to help the residents at Westchester during the day, every night she would go home to her husband who was suffering from his own serious health issues.
Naomi’s husband was immobile and became cognitively impaired as he aged. He needed her help going to the bathroom, taking a shower, eating food and all the basic things we often take for granted.
Naomi’s life epitomized a selfless attitude of service. She also served her spiritual community, offering whatever help she could there too.
At one point, her kindnesses came back to her in a huge way, as they inevitably do.
Her car had broken down and the repair bill was huge. She couldn’t afford it, and unfortunately, she couldn’t afford a new car either.
She was feeling distraught and prayed for help.
Lo and behold, a few days later some members of her spiritual community offered to help her buy a new car.
Naomi was expecting that she would still have to pay for most of it, but to her great surprise and delight, her spiritual friends insisted they pay for the whole thing.
She had many other incredible stories like this. She gave without thinking of herself, and whenever she needed something, she always had it provided for her.
Naomi showed me that when you serve selflessly, the universe serves you.
Naomi has since retired and moved to Florida. We still stay in touch and message each other from time to time, and the inspiration of her service is always be with me.
The Heroic Gift of Service
I’ve volunteered at Westchester for over 16 years now. It’s since changed ownership (it’s now called Tempe Post Acute), but the things I learned there, the friends I made (and lost), and the experiences I had will always be close to my heart.
Whenever I visit home, I always connect back to the community and volunteer.
I share my story not as a ‘humble brag’, but to share with you the importance of service on my spiritual journey, and the powerful effects that simple acts of kindness can have on your life and the lives of others.
My volunteer experiences have inspired me to bring an attitude of service to every part of my life, as best as I can. I realized that when you let your life become about seva, and serving others, joy naturally fills your entire being and you’re taken care of–no matter how bad things might seem.
If you’re depressed or hurting, I truly feel there’s no activity more healing than helping another person in need. Seeing their joy and appreciation for your seemingly simple act will lift your spirits in a way that nothing else can.
In any case, serving others is the highest good. You simply cannot fail.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the legend of heroes himself, Marvel founder, Stan Lee:
“That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.
A Final Word of Encouragement
You don’t need to be famous to be a hero. You don’t need to accomplish Olympic feats to be an inspiration. To be a hero and an inspiration, you just need to overcome the odds life throws at you. To stand up strong even when life pushes you down, and help others do the same.
It’s these small acts of kindness that make the world go round, not the big dramatic ones that we see played out in media and entertainment.
Tina showed me this. Naomi showed me this. All the incredible people I’ve met through serving have shown me this. They do it everyday of their lives. They are the real heroes of this world, and you can join the ranks of their greatness with your own simple acts of kindness and courage.
