End of Week 2: Don’t Underestimate The Power of The Tree - alternativeSOHO

This evening will mark the closing of Week 2 of the challenge for me. Each day, I’ve been steadily working away at my goal, planning and building a strong foundation for my future.

This evening as I was looking back over my tree (something I do each morning I wake up, many times throughout the day, and in the evening time before I get ready for bed) something jumped out at me.

For my soil (i.e. what’s nourishing my projects/roots), I’ve listed:

• hope
• trust
• faith
• positive attitude
• proper budgeting
• planning
• dedication
• diligence
• supporting and helping others

I didn’t really pay close attention to this before, but notice the last point, supporting and helping others. It’s already something that is second nature for me so I didn’t have to think too hard for it to be on the list.

But it really hit home this evening when I received an email and the last sentence was “Thank you, I admire you for taking the time to help me.”

It’s not the first time someone has thanked me for helping him, but this time it gave me pause. Although I was helping this person, he was also helping me a great deal and I thought of it as an even trade, but he saw it as so much more. It dawned on me just how large an impact I had on his life (hopefully for the better) and how much he had on my own.

I realize the reason why we can all be prosperous in life is because we receive and give help. If no one helped anyone else - the world would be a very poor place (and not just monetarily). When we help others, we are in fact helping ourselves. When you begin to change another’s life for the better - your own life will change for the better.

Take a moment and think about it - who’s helped you throughout your life? Are you helping someone? Remember, the smallest actions we make can have the most life changing results — I know this first hand — so don’t be afraid to help someone, even if it’s something very small, and don’t discount the effect it can have on their life.

I just wanted to leave you with something to think about before the Week 3 update.