What are you doing for others?

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?
Martin Luther King, Jr.

What are you doing for others? The first question that comes to my mind is which others. Family often takes precedence. Anyone who is raising children conscientously is doing so much for them that they perhaps don't have much time to think about strangers. And that's okay. It would be the same if you had a disabled or very sick person in your family. Your family are the people you are closest to and you know the best so it is natural to want to take care of their needs first.

The next comment many people make is "But I can't keep on giving and giving and never receiving anything. At some point, my well will run dry if it is not being replenished." I have thought that way myself. It is true that yes we often don't receive anything back from the person we are giving to, and that can feel frustrating. And some people just demand your help instead of asking for it, and that can be really annoying too. But if we are giving to someone else, we will receive something from someone, even if it is someone entirely unrelated to the person we are giving to. That is the law, the way the world works.

So what are you doing for others? It doesn't have to be giving them money if you don't have any. You need to determine what you have to offer others, and then who needs those things. If you don't have any money, perhaps you could volunteer your time and energy. Even just smiling at someone who doesn't get many smiles, or listening to his story, might be a great thing to give. But the more you give to others, the better you will feel, the better they will feel, and it has been shown that even witnesses will feel better. Everyone wins. And that is what real success is all about.