Dear Ones,
What is the one way, the most important way, that you can improve someone else’s life today? What one thing can you do to help someone feel, at the end of today, that they are happier, more successful, more loved, a better person? And how will you feel after you have accomplished this one thing for someone else?
Start each day considering the opportunities that you have each day to improve someone else’s life. The action could be as simple as doing your work to the best of your ability so that everyone around you benefits. It could be smiling at every person you meet because you never know if one of those people was desperate for a smile. One phone call to a loved one or an old friend could brighten their day. A dollar to a homeless person that you pass on the street could make a difference. Treating someone who serves you as a person and not as an ignorable servant could make that person feel important for a moment. Each of these actions is simple and easy for you to do but could be hugely significant to the recipient of this action.
And then there are the more complex, perhaps a little more challenging actions you can take. Is there a cause that you can contribute to today, time or money or support of some kind, that could make a greater impact on something important in the world? Is there someone you need to contact who might be feeling neglected or unloved because you have been too busy to be with them and can you find time today to give them a call or a visit? Do you know someone who is in the hospital who would be cheered if you took the time to stop by or call or send a card? Again, these actions would not be terribly difficult for you to accomplish but they could be very important to the recipient of your concern.
On a deeper level, is there someone that you need to forgive? Some situation that you need to resolve? Is there a relationship that needs healing? A person you have wronged and don’t know how to make things right with them? Maybe there is a family member who feels you have misunderstood them or their actions but you are too stubborn to let them explain or correct the situation. Is there someone who has misunderstood you but you’re too proud to go to them to try to clear things up? Today is the day to take care of a situation of this kind.
Whatever you can do today to create positive energy in the lives around you benefits you as well as the other or others in that situation. You feel good when you have helped another person have a better day. You feel good when you have improved someone’s life or helped a worthy cause to have more effect in the world. You feel better when a sticky situation has been resolved or when a misunderstanding has been cleared up. You benefit from taking the first step toward clarification, resolution, improvement. And so do others.
Think about what one thing you can do today for others. Do that one thing. Do it because it is better for the world if you do one thing for another. You will be happy that you have taken that small step and your life will be the one that improves.
Take one small step for a human and it will turn into one giant leap for humankind. [Thank you, Neil Armstrong.]
And so it is.
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Mystic Messages 
MUSE-INGS: Be in This Moment by Rosemary Bredeson
February 22, 2011 — RosemarySometimes we look at a task before us as if it is a huge undertaking and the enormity can paralyze us. We react by sticking our head in the sand, or procrastinating or distracting ourselves with ‘bright, shiny objects.’ And, yet, if we break the task down into smaller bites, we can accomplish those and make progress toward our goals. We just forget that we already know this strategy.
In our daily lives, we can be overwhelmed with our ‘to-do’ lists and we forget that we are a part of a community, that there are others who have needs and we can make their day better by doing something small that feels huge to that other person. The key to doing this is to being alert to opportunities. Living a Conscious Life brings us into the Consciousness of the Moment – living each moment with full awareness, of Self and Other, so that we can fully participate in that moment.
Think about how many mindless things you do in a day. How many minutes do you think you spend in activities that you perform by rote? How much of your day is spent being unconscious or thinking about something other than the activity in which you are engaged in that moment? You wash the dishes and you think about your to-do list for tomorrow. You take the dog for a walk and you’re planning your day. You pick your children up and you are on the phone in the car while they are playing with their toys. You and your spouse go through the mail and don’t talk to each other at all. The list goes on and on.
Mindfulness is a practice where you are fully present to each moment of your day. If you are washing the dishes then you are focused on the washing of the dishes. You notice the temperature of the water. You examine the plate to make sure it is clean and you appreciate the food that it held for you to eat. You get the picture.
So what if you were to go through your day with that same kind of mindfulness focused on the people with whom you interact? What if you paid attention to the people in line with you in the grocery store? What if you stopped and listened for a bit to the street musician and then threw some money in the jar? What if you really acknowledged the server in the restaurant or the receptionist in the office and asked, with genuine interest, how their day has been?
It doesn’t take much to make a difference in someone else’s day but too often we are so focused on the next thing we have to do or how well/badly the last thing we did went that we forget to be fully present to the moment we are living right now. This moment is here only once in our life. Every moment that we spend thinking of other moments is thrown away from the time of our life. We can never get it back and time is our most precious commodity.
Now think if you used an awareness of this present moment as an opportunity to improve someone else’s life. How would you feel at the end of the day if you took advantage of every opportunity like this?
Pretty darned good.
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Please feel free to re-post this article and share it with your readers. All I ask is that you include the following information when you do: