You Too Can Be Happier By Helping Others

I saw something the other evening which amazed me. I was visiting my local park and saw 3 sets of ducklings. They were in the water with a group of ducks and swans being fed by someone. As is usual in this scenario the seagulls were fighting to get to the bread before the other birds. Seagulls are very strong and usually succeed. For some reason I am not enamoured with these birds, probably because I always look out for the underdogs. Many times also the ducklings do not stay alive due to the seagulls and often you can see a brood depleting day by day which saddens me.

This is when I saw something I had never seen before. First one of the ducks went for a seagull, trying to chase it away. This continued for about a minute then a coot joined in. What was interesting is there were no baby coots but it still decided to help its friends. To see both the duck and the coot biting into the seagull as well as chasing it away I was curious to see what would happen. The seagull actually limped away before stopping to tend to its feathers. When I looked up the last of the seagulls were flying away and there were none left in the water!

It reminded me that it's great to be able to do something for yourself but you should always accept the help if it is offered. Sometimes two can complete a job much faster than one and be more effective. It can also work the other way too. If you ever see someone struggling with anything, ask them if they need any help with the problem. Today I was told I had done my good deed for the day by explaining how the trolley bank worked at the local supermarket. It can sometimes take just a couple of minutes out of your day to help someone in need.

 I often get told by customers in my day job that I sound happy when I answer the phone and get asked why?  My answer is it's a beautiful world to be part of and there is always something good I can see in each day. Sometimes I get told by the same customers that I have made their day. Just by taking an extra few minutes to chat to them about their day can break their solitude. Remember this when you interact with people. It may be that you are the first person to acknowledge them that day with a few words and it can make such a difference to them.

Don't forget that when you think of other people it can have a ripple effect. A person you have just helped might feel so much better about themselves that they may then Pay it Forward and help someone else in need. You will also find that the more you help other people, the happier you will become. Don't believe me? Try it and see as it really works.

Sometimes all you need to do is SMILE to make a difference to someone's day. Have a wonderful day people wherever you are in the world and thank you for reading my blogs.

www.peaceharmonyandjoy.co.uk

Is what you read really Newsworthy?

This is not my usual style of posting but I felt I needed to write this to get it out of my system so decided to share it with you.

I made the decision a few months ago to not read or listen to news articles. This was because all the negativity was dragging me down. Since then I have certainly felt as if a burden was lifted from my shoulders and feel a lot happier. Now I have a new problem. I like using Social media, such as Facebook but more and more it is being used to spread all the news I restricted previously from my life. It is also being used for campaigns against perceived injustices.Sometimes these are things I agree with but at other times I do not.

I have found myself getting annoyed recently especially at the news stories coming out of America. One was for people not being allowed to collect rain water. How can collecting something given to us from the elements be illegal? Bureaucracy gone mad? Another was from Japan charging people for using Solar Power. Again something we receive free from the elements. Is there a trend here? Greed is coming at us from all corners and Governments as well as multi national companies are usually at the root of it all. Even in writing these last sentences I can feel the emotion stirring in me at the injustice of it all.

I need to come up with a way of still accessing social media but missing out on these posts that disrupt my thoughts. Do I just not look at them when they come up in my newsfeed? That sounds simple but then I find that many of the positive pages that I visit on Facebook stick little snippets of these injustices in every so often too. Sometimes I see campaigns that I want to get involved with and do so but there are so many that sometimes I feel I am wading through them.

 I often find myself researching things I see printed and see that they are years old and have been changed since they were first produced but they are stated as if they are current news items. Sometimes the information has been discredited or it is found to be completely fictitious but the people posting it are unaware of this. This is where we have to be careful of believing everything we see. Often a story may have a bit of fact but then it gets sensationalised. Also how often have you seen a startling headline only to find the story a non event? This is also a reason why I stopped reading newspapers.

There are lots of good news stories out there on facebook and Twitter etc pages. I would like to hope that those pages will remember what they stand for and stop adding any negative posts to their page and I promise that I will monitor mine as well. There may be some campaigns that I really believe in but I will limit my posting of these as I much prefer my pages to be filled with positive inspiration. I do love the fact that we can share ways to help including helping owners to find their pets. More and more I see postings for this which are followed up by a post that shows the animal has been returned to it's owner. This is the good power of the internet.

After writing this I realise that I get so much positivity from social media which far outweighs the other side.  I have decided that I will monitor which direction I am getting these posts from and see if I can either not click on them or in extreme cases remove them from my newsfeeds. This will allow me to concentrate on my wellbeing. All I can ask of those reading this blog is if you still read the news please make sure it is a true fact before you spread it around the internet.

Thank you for reading this and feel welcome to share your comments about what I have written if the same thing affects you.





www.peaceharmonyandjoy.co.uk