Power of Service: Character Trait means Taking Care of Yourself and Others, Kindness and Generosity

What if the key to a fulfilling life lies in the simple act of serving others? In this powerful episode, we promise to uncover the transformative principle of service and its profound role in personal recovery and beyond. We delve into the essence of hard work and unconditional love, exploring how these elements intertwine to create a life full of joy and meaning. From grand acts like building homes with Habitat for Humanity to small yet impactful gestures within your family, service emerges as a spiritual awakening that nurtures both the giver and the receiver. Join our conversation as we discuss the foundations of serving others, which include taking care of our health, communicating effectively, and managing our finances responsibly.

Connections with friends and family are equally pivotal, especially in moments of need or celebration. We explore how reaching out with a simple call or text can light up someone's world, offering comfort and happiness, even on ordinary days. The satisfaction and fulfillment derived from being present for others, whether during a crisis or a quiet moment of loneliness, is immeasurable. Acts of kindness are the building blocks of a life filled with joy, peace, and fulfillment. We invite you to reflect on the importance of prioritizing service, connection, and self-care as we navigate our journey to a meaningful and joyous life. Don't miss the chance to share your experiences and find inspiration with fellow listeners in our Recovery Freedom Circle on Facebook.

Chapters

• 0:02 Embracing the Concept of Service
• 6:56 Cultivating Happiness Through Service

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

service. You know what is that within the context of a character trait, a spiritual principle service, service, work. That's what we're going to jump into this week. Welcome again to another episode of the 1% in Recovery podcast, where we encourage you to laugh every day podcast. Where we encourage you to laugh every day, to work hard, work hard in recovery, work hard in your relationships, work hard in your jobs and school, or if you work for somebody, you've just got to work hard. And the other thing is is that you've got to just love unconditionally. Just put love, more love, out there in the world and let all that love come back to you. Remember, recovery is beautiful. Your EQ is your IQ and you cannot outthink an emotional issue. What should a person do? Join the Recovery Freedom Circle in the Facebook group. The link is down below. See, within this community, people are able to share what is going right in their life, you know, within some type of success or within a specific step. Or they may have a question about a step, or they may want to share some type of difficulty and let some other people in the community to respond. Or it could be something inspirational, motivational quote or saying to get people just to live their best life, to get people energized and be thinking about what else is there for me to get to what I want to do within my life and to give myself much more fulfillment and contentment. So, remember, join the Facebook group Recovery Freedom Circle Link is down below and let's all enjoy this recovery. So let's jump into this week's episode, this recovery. So let's jump into this week's episode.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Service is one of those character traits that usually comes in associated with step 12, which is also known as almost like carrying the message, Having a spiritual awakening, a spiritual experience. You have been transformed or there's certain changes that have taken place, and that you're carrying the message, which means that you are doing much more service work. So, within this character trait, service to me is both You're doing much more service work. You're doing much more of this help, first of all to yourself, as well as to others, as well as to others. We have to realize that we have to start treating ourselves and others more gently as well as much more helpful.

Speaker 1: 2:52

See, the thing in life is when we really take care of ourselves. First of all, let's talk about ourselves. It first comes with health. Are we taking care of ourselves? Are we moving? Are we exercising? Are we eating correctly?

Speaker 1: 3:06

The other part of taking care of ourselves are we communicating? Communicating our feelings, first of all, identifying and knowing what we're feeling, to ourselves as well as to others, and then communicating that so we don't have all these problems in our lives because of lack of communication. That is a central tenet to why a lot of relationships get stagnant, they don't move forward, or that subtle, almost like resentment, because no one is actually speaking up and just sharing, no matter what their partner is going to say or do. So we've got to communicate better. And the other thing is is how we treat money. Are we taking care of ourselves by putting some money into some type of emergency fund? Are we not overspending and doing things, whether it's on food, clothing, travel, whatever it is, or just even trying to do something like just almost like reckless investments? So it's very, very important to take care of ourselves, especially from a financial standpoint, because we all want to have some type of financial freedom, financial security, so then we can then relax more. We don't stress out so much around money or bills as well as anxiety, and so the other thing is it's very, very helpful to do much more service work to help people.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Now it could be something grand. We're doing community service. Let's say you're doing something like Habit of Humanity, helping building houses. Or you're working at the food bank making sure that people are getting fed. You know, those are usually very noble pursuits helping someone find housing as well as someone able to feed themselves. So it could be something else just within your own nuclear family. It could be within people that live in your house or other family members or friends where you are very, very helpful.

Speaker 1: 5:11

It could be something big like, let's say, help them move or help them repair something. Big like, let's say, help them move or help them repair something. Let's say like, repair a fence in their backyard. Or it could be something like, if they're going out of town, you know, walk their dog or something else. That just requires effort, that requires you to get over to their place to help them either finish a project, do a project. Or it could just be about talking. Sometimes a lot of service work is just their listening. Go out for that coffee, go out for a meal, go out for an ice cream, sit down there for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes and just share and talk and listen, because people, that's all.

Speaker 1: 5:58

There's so many different ways to do service work and the number one thing is for you to be present and they can require you in a lot of different ways and see that way. We also get to embrace and we get this natural oxytocin, this bonding. Once we help someone, we feel better about ourselves. We actually inject this almost like natural contentment, joy, knowing that we helped ease the burden, ease some type of pain, and we help someone. Just move forward. There's something so move forward. There's something so fulfilling in that, and so I want people to encourage and do much more service work and then look at it from a lot of different angles. So a lot of times people think about service work it's all physical but in terms of it, you know, it can just come in a lot of different ways.

Speaker 1: 6:56

What was the last time you called someone whether, let's say, it's someone within the program and you needed to kind of just reach out to someone or some family and friends that you haven't talked to in a while? Maybe they live in a zone, let's say right now, like in Florida, that experienced some type of natural disaster. Are you checking in on them? Experience some type of natural disaster. Are you checking in on them? You know there's so many different ways that you know people can just want to be heard from. Could be on their birthday, where you're not only going to, let's say, facebook, but you're actually texting them, calling them, showing up. You know doing something for them as well, as you know, just almost like a random day Sometimes, you know we all can get either depressed or lonely, or anxious, and sometimes you know there's nothing like receiving a, especially a phone call or a FaceTime or just even a text saying hey, I was thinking about you.

Speaker 1: 7:51

You know what's going on, you know. So when people get that connection, so when people get that connection, there is no other substitute. So I encourage people reach out, do much more service, work and just enjoy life. And I think part of enjoying life is helping others. Part of enjoying life is taking care of ourselves, and once we do that, that is how we get to live our best life. That is how we live a life of fulfillment, live a life of joy, live a life of peace, because we know we're out there, we're doing good, we're doing the next right thing, we're doing something kind and generous. God, there's so much there. So I encourage you, reach out, do the work and help alleviate someone else's life and also just to provide so much more joy and happiness to them. With that, we are going to end this episode of the 1% in Recovery podcast.