I feel there is truely Joy in Service to others. My motto of empowering others to heal themselves willl resonate from deep inside me until I am old and gray. As some naysayers state; "living in the real world" will place countless obstacles in your path. I think whether you think in spiritual or concrete terms, events will happen on the way to finding a purpose in life. One can think of the experience as a trauma that we should be offended by and why did that trauma happen to me, what will other people think of me....or...that event happened and is over, I am thankful it has passed. I tend to choose the latter but with people who are greatly suffering, an infectious mood can be very tempting to react to with anger for anger. I witnessed great poise yesterday, a new mom who was being pushed to the limit with stressful reactions was very unhappy with service she was getting. It was interesting to note a spreading "defensive guard" attitude to all those she was encountering. I used to see this in the ER when those folks typicallly labelled "drug seekers" start to throw emotional reaction to all those they come in contact with. Before they have finished registering with the greeter at the ER entrance, word has already spread like fire on gasoline about the offensive attitude (this is called countertransferance). People know they elicit this response but even if wrong to society standards of courtesy, respect and boundaries....these tactics usually get them what they are demanding so streetwise attitude says continue with what works.
The problem is during the majority of fantastic encounters with appreciative people, one or two folks will elicit a wave of offensiveness that can make the healer with good intention to also become spiteful to the universe and bring up the attitiude of "living in the real world". I was taught by one of my healer friends from the Chopra Center, when doing my life's work, be careful to always wash off (physically and spiritually) the encounters from the day that are draining. If we take these energy zapping events home or even let them linger in our minds, we too have become infected with the disease of hatred and ego based reaction. If everyone lives this way, the Mayan calendar is going to come to fruition. Service to a greater good, saving the planet, doing things for others, creating a legacy for your family all are things that will keep humanity going. Sometimes, as strong as the ego is to make you think and ruminate on an encounter, letting go of it is the better thing to do. I remember a story about the Buddha saying;
If someone offers you a gift, and you do not accept the gift, to whom does the gift belong? If someone were to have swine flu, why in the world would you want to take any of it for yourself? We wash it away before we procede on to caring for the next person or going home to our loved ones because this is what we were born to do. (Then meditate like Deepak Chopra the next few days!)
