When Will You Be Ready To Save...When Will You Be Ready To Give...When Is NOW The Best Time To Start???
When Will You Be Ready To Save...When Will You Be Ready To Give...When Is NOW The Best Time To Start???
OK I know I start a lot of my posts with a question and yup...Sometimes they reek to the high-heavens of clickbait, but I genuinely think this to be important to your current and future success.
Let me explain...
In my daily life I obviously just like everybody else have a lot of conversations, I have a tendency to turn conversation to the more important, probing kind. Not because i am too nosey for my own good, but because I would rather talk to a fellow life-traveller on a deeper level, than discuss last night's must see episode of reality TV or soap opera...
If I am gonna spend a little time chatting I would like to make that time count for something and I enjoy and appreciate the chance to connect with someone, to get to know a little of who they really are. I particularly love to get people around to the topic of their goals, dreams and aspirations for life, in a word their life-purpose.
I am not what you would call amazing at small talk and to be perfectly honest I rarely enjoy it. I don't want everything in life to be super-deep, but I do like to connect and give people a chance to begin visualising what they really want, who they are supposed to be...I then like to ask a few gentle questions on why they are not doing the thing that clearly they are passionate about, then if I can I give a few simple steps that they could take today, tomorrow to start the journey...
Often, a raging inferno starts with the tiniest spark!
If I am able to say a few phrases like the above, sometimes that can really start to heat up the fire under that which they have feared beginning for so long in life.
So often it begins with self talk and the language we choose to use!
Make no mistake the language is a choice and we can change it if we wish, it takes effort, persistence and willpower/discipline but it is quickly achieved when we resolve to change.
So why all the talk of language and what the hell does it have to do with that title...Glad you asked Dear reader as I can digress and wander easily. Well in the aforementioned conversations I noticed something coming up time and time again. Peoples answer to why they are not doing this or that or pursuing a fulfilling life is that they are waiting...
Waiting for what???
A magical perfect day when the stars align, everything in their life suddenly and miraculously falls in to place and the fates speak into their ear to go do it now!
Uhm...That's probably NEVER gonna happen!
I've never had that day in my life and most of the people I speak to about it would concur wholeheartedly. It's a lovely fantasy that keeps us hoping for that special one-Day but for most, sadly, that is all it will ever be...A fantasy.
Life needs to be grabbed by the horns and led by us, not the other way around.
I remember planning for years that I would start saving, oh don't get me wrong, I would start a tin to save up loose change now and then, but never serious saving. the thing that was holding me back was that I didn't have enough to set aside each month to see the money mount up into anything substantial. So I didn't start!
Massive error in judgement...The cost of it has been immense to date!
The best way of saving is to have that money leave your bank before you ever see it...For example, your wages/salary goes into the bank on the 1st of each month, have this money transferred immediately to a savings account. If it never crosses your palm it cannot cross a shopkeepers palm either.
But this does not address the problem of the amount being too small...
Oh yes it does!
You see there is no "too small." Oh sure there can be when it comes to your perception. Here is a suggestion, if money is genuinely tight...Take a tiny amount £3 or $3 whatever currency you are working in, the amount could be more or less, you know what is relevant to your situation. Start putting this amount away religiously...I mean seriously...Never miss...What price is your future worth? Never miss!!!
If you have absolutely zero money left for saving then take a good long look at your life. Find somewhere to make a change so that you have something, anything to start saving with.
Often people look at a list of debts and obligations and decide they have no money whatsoever...They forget that they buy a coffee on their way to work from a coffee-shop...Right there is your starting point or alcohol or cigarettes. There is usually somewhere to make a sacrifice, be it a large or small one. if not, back to the drawing board, could you drop from a top-brand to a lesser brand, could you make a sandwich at home for lunch instead of buying one at work? Where will that initial amount come from?
If you tried all of the above and could not find this small amount of money to get started, then you need to go earn it from somewhere, where? The where does not matter as long as it is legal, you always want to maintain your integrity! The WHY...That matters enormously! If you remember your why, the where or the HOW will somehow happen, you will find a way!
Even after you accomplish the above, the truth will still be that the amount you have started to save regularly will be small...But you will have started to develop the good habits of a saver. You will be displaying that extra spark of discipline that much of the world does not posses. Once you get used to that small amount of money accumulating, regular as clockwork, each week, each month, you will have the tools to find a way to save a little more...You will understand your "why" and find the way.
I have never believed that for those who want to be seriously successful, that saving is the best way to get there, but when you are first starting out with life-changing ideas, it is a great way to begin to hold yourself accountable and start flexing those all-important discipline-muscles.
I asked 2 questions though, if you remember ((I know it feels like the title was months ago now :grin: ))
When Will You Be Ready To Give?
Now this question may seem really strange, but stay with me Dear reader as I think it has enormous ramifications for anybody wanting to contribute to a better world or just wanting to generally be a part of the solution rather than the problem...The scenario is similar to the one I have just covered...
People often think that before they can begin to help, really make a difference in the world, they need a million big-ones in the bank, maybe they will even start when they accumulate a hundred-grand...But once again I think this is merely a matter of perception.
Help knows no day on which it is not welcome!
((I may polish that quote up a little and patent it...I love the feel of it. :laughing: ))
Is it better for 1 rich-person to amass and give enough money to feed 50 hungry mouths all at once or have 100 average, everyday non-rich people come together in the spirit of giving to provide 1 meal each?
The answer is instinctively obvious, but it is not necessarily the way the mind works...There is no need for grand gestures when simple acts of kindness are beautiful and inspiring on their own. On the blockchain we have the capacity to come together and form collectives that support a specific initiative that will make a difference in the world about us. But that is not the discussion at hand, we are considering the acts available to an individual with a big heart but worried they do not have enough to give...YOU DO!
Anything you can do or give to help care for the basic needs of another is more than enough. Any small act of compassion, borne out of love is a miracle that shall be fulfilled by this simple act.
If many people gave just a little, we could solve most of the world ills in a few short months...Those that know my thoughts on this matter know that I believe world governments and talking heads get in the way of this happening. To some degree I find this deliberate as I don't believe a truly united, problem free mankind is in there interests!
If we had no famines, wars and problems to divert our view from those above who make the rules and play the system...We may just see it for what it is and come together and ask the question that those at the very top would fear...
So I have started the ball rolling by making a £5 donation to Children in need it is a charity that was setup by the BBC to help children who need help the most. £5 is not a staggering amount by any stretch of the imagination, but it will make a difference somewhere, to someone who needs it...In the future I want to set something up that cuts out major fundraising organisations, to get the money/resources/tools straight into the hands of those that need it...But right now it is an easy way for me to demonstrate my being a part of the solution rather than the problem.
Remember...Many small acts of giving in the spirit of love and compassion will trump one large grand gesture, every-time, and it also involves more hearts. :heart:
Is there something you can do today, tomorrow, next week just to make even a small difference?
As for the final question from my title of this post...
When Is NOW The Best Time To Start?
Well I am gonna let you answer that particular question all by yourself...I have the utmost faith in your answer, my friend
If you are excited by some of the principles raised in this post...In the future I will create a way for us all to show our love for the world by creating a small, random acts of kindness movement. When that time comes, it would be wonderful to have you onboard. It will not be something that places burdens or obligations on anybody, just a group of souls trying to make things a little better :heart:
Greetings @stevenwood.
A very meaty post......where shall one begin.....
Giving a person a hearing......giving a person recognition that he/she is a person.....a good place to start.
When it comes to giving in a monetary way.....there are so many thoughts that come to mind.....it is one thing to give a person a starting point as it were and quite another to cause them to become dependent on others....knowing not how to begin to support themselves.
The saying....'Teach a man to fish over giving him fish.'....comes to mind.
Many in the name of charity off load guilt of some form or another......however if we think of the person and their need of self respect we may try to find another way to give.
Thank you for opportunity to think on these things.
All the best to you and yours.
Cheers!
As ever, you offer a valuable and worthwhile perspective that I have come to expect and come to value.
You are exactly right of-course...Giving is often misconstrued as an almost consumable act, when the gift is gone the individual in question is left in exactly the same predicament in life, at best the takeaway lesson is that if you are desperate enough someone will come along and alleviate this a little. But that is no sort of life on this I know we agree. When i think of giving assistance i am reminded of that phrase we are all so familiar with...
"The gift that keeps on giving"
I believe sincerely that any worthwhile gift aimed at lightening life's burden for a person who is in trouble should adhere to fall in line with the about quote. One of the greatest gifts we can ever offer is education...Many would dispute this but I am steadfast in this assumption. You already referenced the problem with much of people's altruistic beliefs with regard to charity, with the give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish quote.
In much of the poorest areas of Africa, there is an immediate need for instant food, we are all familiar with the harrowing images of the most recent famine to be played out through our TV sets, often behind the headline famine that IS covered by the journalist/network in question there are dozens of other less newsworthy but equally desperate famines happening. So yes...Immediate food is required to literally save lives, but in the long-term education on water preservation and irrigation optimisation or new growth mediums would be priceless!
This would in-turn restore and reinforce dignity, self-respect and level the global playing field between the elite and the most impoverished.
Very best wishes from me and mine to you and yours, thankyou for taking the time to join the narrative and in turn, help my post feel relevant 😃
Thank you @stevenwood for your time and kind reply.
Yes...Education is key.....
I can think of a few posts recently that mentioned that very thing....
@pangoli wrote a post with regard to musician and composer Franz Liszt.....included was a fascinating aspect of his charitable giving.....toward opening schools for musicians.
On Steemit we have our own @done and the very real story of his teaching a homeless man @lvj 'to fish'....I think you will find it a very interesting read.
In the interest of humanity and his physical needs......not to be discounted is the spiritual factor.....what man needs is truth. There is this principle... Man's extremity is God's opportunity. When man is in need of these very real necessities ....encouragement to look up...to look to the One that has the power to make our burden light....and a forever relationship with God is most welcome. I do not speak of religion but of Christianity...of faith alone in Christ alone. Presentation of the Good news...the Gospel of Christ Jesus is the issue in life...the reason we are here....to accept Him or reject Him.
Charity would include for bleujay the whole realm of need.....beginning with the immediate need as it relates to the physical accompanied by the presentation of a very real solution to life as a whole both with both temporal and eternal solutions with this simple verse from the Bible...
For you see, God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely born Son (Christ Jesus) so that anyone who believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.
....John 3.16 translated from the original Greek.
P. Man cannot solve man's problems, Only God can solve man's problems.
Thank you for opportunity to speak on these things.
Wishing you all the best.
Cheers!
This was heartwarming, thank you Bleu. I wouldn't take away from what you've written here. I am glad you are a Christian, in a way, i feel this encouragement to be a better Christian.
Hiya @pangoli....
Very kind words.
My pleasure as always to point the way to Him. ^__^
Wishing you God's best.
Cheers!
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