Happy vs Unhappy People Who Volunteer

My friend and I were walking with our dogs and talking about life.  She chairs a fund raising event that has run annually for thirteen years and raises over $50,000 each year.  She has been very successful at running this two day event.

We were talking about what makes people join groups and volunteer.  Her experience over the years is that people are happy to volunteer and help with an event when the end goal helps a lot of people and when the event is fun to participate in.  She says that she has been very lucky to have strong volunteers that are generous with their time and that have great ideas and throw their whole effort into being part of the event.

Recently, however, some of her staunch volunteers have had to pull back because of ill health or simply ageing and not able to do the level of energy that is required.  She has taken on new volunteers.  Some of these volunteers, she says, are simply unhappy all the time.  They find fault with the event.  They find fault with new ideas.  They say that they are happy to help and yet they do not want to put a lot of effort into their volunteer-ship. They complain about the timing of the event, the length of time it runs, about the customers that come (and spend a LOT of money), and about the venue.  She says that these folk are simply unhappy with life and want to take their unhappiness out on her and the others that love the event.  She finally suggested that they may not want to volunteer at the event since it did not meet their standards.  Then these folk were incensed that she suggest that they were not good enough to help out!  

Our discussion was around how she could meet the requirements of these six volunteers.  My thought was that you cannot make unhappy people happy because happiness is not a validation that comes from outside of people - it comes from the inside - from the enjoyment and self satisfaction of life in general and doing things that makes the person feel happy inside.  It is a losing battle to try to please an unhappy person.  My suggestion was to give each of them a very limited role that did not touch on too many other people because an unhappy person will work to make everyone unhappy.

My friend reworked a schedule around that idea and parsed them out so that none of the six worked at the same time or in the same group.  She met with them individually and walked though what was expected for their short volunteer time.  She said it worked to minimize the problems.  She expects to have another successful event.

Many blessings,

Judy 
 

Reflections

 

Picture from the Votier Park along Fish Creek in August

Today, I was reflecting about an old friend who died from cancer twenty-one years ago. Marion and I had many adventures in the fifteen years that we were friends.  She was the kindest person and always ready to help out, to invite you over for a meal, and ready to go shopping or to a hockey game at a moment’s notice.  She loved to walk and talk and we spent many mornings walking before we had to head off to work.  

Marion had a kindness about her that I have not seen in many people.  I feel that she was the best example of an earth angel that I have met.  I am so glad that I had a chance to be friends with her.

Many blessings,

Judy

Everyone Feels Energy

I have been having several conversations around energy, with different people over the last two weeks.  Some people maintain that they cannot feel energy.  Others – healers – say that they meet with much resistance to the energy work that they do.  And, there are those who post anonymous vicious comments about various healers and energy workers.  The events started me thinking about how differently people can feel energy.  

 

Picture of energy flying up from US… from www.lockheedmartin.com

 

From the time we are born, we can feel the energy of our mother’s love or disapproval.  As children, we feel the energy of the relationship between our parents. And, we feel the energy of the warmth of the Sun, that, by the way, is traveling about 93 million miles to touch our skin. This means that we can feel energy from afar, and that energy that is created at a distance, can travel and effect a change in the person that it hits. 

From a healer’s point of view, this means that distance healing is real, and that it does work.  Even though the person receiving the healing energy cannot see the healer create the energy, the process is like the sun creating energy and sending it out.  No one actually sees the Sun create the energy, however, over time, everyone on the planet agrees that the energy is real.  

If the energy that the Sun sends out is real, then, by application of logic, all stars and planets send out energy.  This is particularly true of the Moon, the closest celestial object to Earth.  The Moon does not send out the same type of warmth as the Sun. However, if you go and stand outside for an hour under a full moon, then you too will feel the energy. The Moon is an average of 239,000 miles from the Earth according to www.nasa.gov.  So, the effects of the energy of the Moon should be stronger than the Sun, because it is closer. 

   

Mosaic of the near side of the moon as taken by the Clementine star trackers. The images were taken on March 15, 1994. In this view, north is up. The bright crater near the bottom of the image is the Tycho. www.nasa.gov

We already know that the Moon’s energy has an influence on Earth because wise men, philosophers, and now modern day scientists have proven that the Moon’s energy affects the winds and the tides.  Medical people will tell you that the Moon’s energy also affects many people, causing anxiety, sleeplessness, and even profound personality changes.  

So if the energy of the Moon can cause physical and mental or emotional changes in people, why is it difficult to believe that people can cause energetic changes in other people?  Again, a behaviourist will tell you that the energy of the “one bad apple” person in a work environment or class room will often quickly change the energy of the other people in the area, bringing them down to that energy level.  The same is true of the energy of a very charismatic leader or speaker.  The energy in the room, and of the people, will rise to that level. 

Again, if we have this kind of proof that the energy of one person can affect the energy of another, why do so many people discount energy healing?

Many blessings,

Judy