On Acts of Service
Earlier this year I was on a retreat working with psychedelic mushrooms. It was a really beautiful experience with lots of learnings and - although I always think it's important to treat any ‘messages’ or ‘downloads’ received during any kind of peak experience with caution - one message has really stuck with me since I got home.
The message was a simple one. That I should do an ‘Act of Service’ at least once a week. There was no clear definition of what qualified, but my sense was that it could be very simple things - picking up some rubbish, helping someone with a bag, offering a seat or even simply giving someone a smile. Nothing revolutionary and nothing that one might not do in the course of a normal week, and yet there felt something very concrete about this call. That it should become a part of how I lived and not just something that happened once in a while.
I've been back a couple of months - so how has this been playing out? I started with some of the small things listed above. On a Saturday or a Sunday I would go out with the intention of doing at least one small act of service. And the really interesting thing was that I started to feel it was kind of addictive, as one act often led to another. For example a couple of times I offered to buy someone on the street something to eat. This is all well and good - but I also realised that it cost me nothing extra to actually sit with the person for a few minutes, ask them a few questions and find out a bit more about them. Picking up one item of rubbish turned into picking up a few, which the next week turned into a walk in the forest with a bin bag that was full up by the end of the day. So not only did I find these acts enjoyable but I felt they kind of had a natural way of opening my eyes of all the little ways I can help and inviting me to do more.
Again none of this is revolutionary and we are all of us doing nice things all the time. And yet I really have loved the structure of making sure I do at least 1one act per week - now that I am looking for it there are countless ways I feel I can serve. I can't help thinking how it would be if we all went out of our way to each do one tiny act of service to another person or to Mother Earth once a week - that alone would be a lot of nice acts!
And if you're reading this then take it as a sign. Start with one small act of service once a week and see what happens. And please do let me know in the comments, what you end up doing and how it goes!
