Even a small contribution is big this holiday season

Even a small contribution is big this holiday season

Over the years, I have had many conversations with individuals in my workshops about the meaning of life. As I age I ponder it more often than ever.

For most of us, a powerful sense of meaning comes from doing something that makes us feel as if we’re making a contribution to the world.

Making a contribution helps us to connect to our community, and society as a whole, in a way that makes us feel more fulfilled and essential. It also seems to make us healthier in mind/body and spirit.

Researchers have discovered a fascinating phenomenon that highlights how important goodwill and altruism toward each other is (such as the simple act of helping an elderly person cross the street). Even more interesting is that witnessing the event also boosts health.

Our culture rarely speaks to this essential ingredient that truly helps us become more evolved. The focus especially around the holidays is to get more “stuff.” It boggles my mind to see people camped outside stores waiting to stampede through the aisles like a herd of Bison so they can purchase a large screen TV. I doubt if anyone is camping outside a soup kitchen to be the first to serve the homeless.

The ads relentlessly parade in front of the screen trying to lure us into getting more gadgets, which will become obsolete in a matter of months. I know that giving gifts is part of the holidays for a large majority of the population and I don’t expect it to go away.

What I do wish is that the media would focus more time on making the world a better place. There are so many ways to make a difference. Many of us think that if we haven’t singlehandedly developed a cure for cancer, then we haven’t made a valuable contribution to the world. So, instead, we do nothing. There are many small ways to make a contribution. Help clean up your community. Serve on your PTA. Feed someone who can’t hold a spoon. Visit a child in a hospital who has no one else to visit her.

If the aforementioned are not possible simply smiling at others, or being kind and compassionate can add meaning to your life.

Talking to the elders in your family can often precipitate finding purpose. I loved sitting down with my grandparents and asking about their lives.

They were amazing people.

Their essential meaning was to come to America to make a better life for themselves, and their family. They became a part of an extended community that helped each other. I remember as a child having people stay with us for months at a time who were going through hard times.

I think William Blake said it best “Everything that lives, lives not alone nor for itself.”

Author, humorist, PBS star and Fortune 500 trainer Loretta LaRoche lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Reachg her by mail at The Humor Potential, 50 Court St., Plymouth, MA 02360.

Loretta LaRoche

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