Re-Engaging For The High
By Joan E. Thompson

Plymouth - September brings thoughts of new and renewing seasons. We start picking up new activities, resolving to get personal affairs in order following summer’s slowed down pace, planning the gardening and lawn tasks waiting for fall temperatures and maybe squeezing in one last getaway.

But it is also a season for enhancing or strengthening some of the activities that bring you the most enjoyment – like helping someone else.

That may be done in various ways.

The easiest way is to become more aware of opportunities as they arise throughout your day. The times you offer your help to someone as the occasion arises: offering the shopper who appears harried or distracted to take the place in front of you in the check out line, inviting the driver waiting to turn in to your lane to enter, sending a note or calling someone just because you thought of them.

Or when someone starts complaining, really listen for what they are saying about unmet needs of their own that the situation triggers.

Another way to interest others in joining you in the larger sphere of helping is to bring them into a situation you care about personally. Look for people to join you with a service project at your faithbased or neighborhood group, volunteering in an organization that serves a cause close to your heart, like Cancer’s Walk for the Cure, diabetes research, emergency housing or food services, visiting homebound elders through Councils on Aging or homecare organizations.

Your heart pulls you to the assignment because of an association through your own personal exposure.

If you haven’t experienced the personal call to serve a single population through experience or loss, you may still feel the call to help. It can be daunting finding the best “niche” for your skills, interests and availability. That’s where Volunteer- Solutions on the internet or organizations such as BostonCares and Mayflower RSVP can help.

We’re part of the nation-wide network of volunteer mobilization and connector groups that help not one but many non-profit and grass roots organizations find the volunteers they need to deliver their services.

Helping others can be explored “singlehandedly.” with a group of friends or acquaintances, or through a connector organization or, all three. There’s no time like the present to explore new ways to help others, to find ways of helping others in the midst of our regular daily routine, to enjoy new ways of engaging our social connections in service to others.

Don’t be surprised when you feel a physical reaction to helping others – it’s called the Helpers High and one of the folks you help the most when you help others is yourself!

About The Author

Joan Thompson is the Executive Director for Mayflower RSVP, Inc., a non-profit organization mobilizing Volunteer Service Activities in Plymouth County. She has directed RSVP’s Retired & Senior Volunteer Program for nearly 30 years, working with 200 public/private, health, human service, and educational organizations to provide meaningful volunteer service opportunities for members in the RSVP program. She is a trainer in Volunteer Systems Management for local and national organizations and a member of AVA, the international Association for Volunteer Administration. She may be contacted at RSVP’s Plymouth County headquarters via telephone at (508) 746 -7787 or by email at MayflowerRSVP@ Verizon.net.