Go Beyond!

Blog112:

What makes us push ourselves to do small and big things?  When life could be easy and simple, why do we aspire to go or do beyond?

To a few, pushing one’s self to a nobler extreme is plain crazy.  That may hold water indeed.  Transcending … rising above ordinary existence, however, is an extraordinary desire of the human spirit.  It affirms our humanity.

We want validation.  Once we’ve proven to a small group, to a bigger crowd, our peers and our collegial circles that we’re capable of the tasks put upon us, it is hard to remain stagnant at what we do best.  We aspire to accomplish more challenging, and complex tasks because we want to self - endorse that we could rise higher or improve on what we already know to do very well.  Going beyond gives us the impetus to improve on personal skills, expand stale, existing projects, and create new things out of something that’s out there.  When we act on our desire to make something new from the old, we gratify ourselves and confirm that we are far knowledgeable,  better at doing something from what we did yesterday, and ever ready to try what something, someplace had not been touched or discovered.

We want to lift up others who could not do otherwise.  Even when we are physically or mentally tired, many of us manage to get out there to donate our time and talent.  No matter what the cause … a charitable act always brings a rewarding experience besides collecting material things.  Taking time to empathize with someone, friend or stranger surely reminds us of our bond with one another.  It takes very little time to be ‘there’ for someone who needs our shoulder to cry on or our listening ear.  It doesn’t take lots of energy to simply be a sounding board for one in emotional distress.  An intentional phone call, an email, a visit to someone we know is alone and could use our company, our voice, our presence is never time-consuming.  Taking a bowl of chicken soup to someone who’s ill, raking leaves for someone physically disabled to do ordinary chores, driving someone to a hospital for a check-up or spending an hour or so with a struggling school child are acts of kindness that  also give back great feelings of accomplishment.

We want our life to matter.  We hope that our mortal life is spent on all possible promises and opportunities we are granted.  We want to be the best we could be as construction worker, lawyer, homemaker, parent, student, friend, clergy, runner, caretaker or whatever our walk in life.  While we could not be excellent at every role we take and attempt in life, we want to know that our life has and will always have meaning for everyone we meet along our path and those away from around us.  We hope that our little contribution to the making of a product, guiding and molding one’s education, volunteering at a soup kitchen, cleaning up messes, taking care of our co-creatures, protecting our environment, finding a cure, problem solving, is executed in the best possible of ways we are able to act upon.

Rising to act on someone’s need whatever occasion and time makes us whole.  Always putting our best step forward on a task brings out the excellence in each of us.  Striving to be the best we could possibly be is our mortality’s mandate.   All perfect us and fulfill the graces of our lives. 

Don’t be shy!  Go forward, and claim the gifts you have, and the graces that you freely give and receive!