Goodness Within

“May you receive an answer that will bring you joy and peace. May God be with you, may health and strength sustain you, may nothing harm you, may wisdom and kindness enrich you, may you be a blessing to this world, and may blessings surround you now and always. Amen.”   ~from Talking to God by Naomi Levy (c)

What good is goodness within if you are not sharing it with others?

The prayer above is from the conclusion of Ms. Levy’s book, which I have been carrying around with me everywhere I go since Rabbi Pam gave it to me. It was a gift of goodness, and her extending herself has been a blessing for me, a saving grace. I only just read the conclusion this morning, as I’ve experienced parts of the book in pieces, not reading the book from cover to cover but in allowing discoveries to happen.

The line “…may you be a blessing to this world…” is what has stayed with me this morning. I’ve talked about what constitutes a good person before. My question above, though, is where my thoughts go to. If we are just a good person for ourselves, is that enough?

I don’t think so. There is so much pain, suffering and hatred in the world, so many ill feelings towards others, and they seem to rise to the top a lot easier than taking the time to do something for someone else. The people who reached out to me during my time of crisis are those who saw/felt a need, and they took some form of action. Again, I thank them all.

Yesterday, with my SO, we were browsing through a Barnes & Nobles Bookstore. There was a display table not full of self help books but ones about helping others. There was one on creativity, and how to enrich. Another about “good deeds.” Another about how, instead of complaining, finding your way to actually do something about the issues you find fault with (which I totally agree on, and while I have been a complainer, I’ve also known I’ve tried to rectify, or at least voice solutions). It’s just instead of just voicing them…it was about doing.

Being a blessing on the world, as I see it:

• Extend yourself to someone in need
• Do something to combat hatred towards others
• Be a better listener and lose the judgement
• Care about the world, not just your immediate area/life
• Stop being complacent, but do so in a peaceful, respectful manner

There are more, of course: we can all add onto this. It’s what came to mind first. I find when I go with my first instincts, my gut, I’m usually more in tune with what is right for me. I know I’m still struggling to find my own grounding, to find my way in this next part of my life. I’m not sure where this will all take me. I still have fears of the future, trying not to let that overwhelm me. It’s all part of the process of living.

What do you do to make this a better world? It does not have to be big…I think the smallest thing can be the biggest, for whom it helps.