Availability means always being willing to help others. I practice it when I put others’ needs for my time ahead of my own. Its opposite is unavailability.§
Comparing the behavior of one who is available to one who is unavailable§ |
||
|---|---|---|
Situation§ |
Availability§ |
Unavailability§ |
When unexpectedly asked for help, you…§ |
stop what you are doing and gladly pitch in.§ |
decline to help and keep doing your regular work.§ |
Learning that a situation requires your skills, you…§ |
speak up, gladly volunteering to help.§ |
say nothing, not wanting to take on any more duties.§ |
In a group project, you…§ |
are interested in how others are doing, ready to help if needed.§ |
are only concerned with your own assigned tasks.§ |
Gurudeva explained: “The outgoing force of the soul in action brings freedom to the lower states of mind. The instinctive person is ordinarily so preoccupied with his own self, so wrapped up in his own shell, that he cannot give a thought to the welfare of another.”§
“Friends should help one another, uplift one another, stand by one another…”§
“A home is a place of companionship with people in it who love each other, who are harmonious and closer inside with one another than they are outside with associates in the workplace or with classmates at school. A home is a place that’s so magnetic that it’s difficult to leave. In a home there is love, kindness, sharing and appreciation, and the inhabitants help one another. It’s a place of selflessness and togetherness, where everybody has time for everybody else.”§
ASSIGNMENT: For two weeks, when you find yourself balking at a request for help, work to change your attitude by appreciating the opportunity to be of service. If you can’t help fully, do what you can.§
Date you began this assignment ____________________§
MY THOUGHTS ON THE BENEFITS OF AVAILABILITY: 
§
