Today’s Mandala Message: The Value of Volunteering (part 2)
This week I’m working through Principles #61 and #62: Give More to Get More and Find a Way to Serve of Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles”. We continue with more money principles (56-62) and our relationship with it. I set my intention today to ponder an additional value to volunteering. Canfield states: “Volunteering is also a way to develop important success skills. Many large corporations have come to realize this and actually encourage their employees to volunteer. … Many prospective employers also report that when they are interviewing candidates for hire, they now look to see if the candidates have engaged in volunteer work.”
Up until The Covid, I volunteered in the ticket office for our community theater, along with being an usher, a stagehand, an assistant director, a set painter, a prop person, and an actor. Prior to my involvement in the theater I had no real experience in any of it. I gained (and still gain) so much. While I didn’t end up with a paying job related to my volunteering, I definitely learned new skills. Just recently I jumped back in and was cast in play scheduled for January!
Much of my volunteering from years ago involved local government. In 1992, I ran for county commissioner in my district. I had already been following local politics and government and that year the particular seat was open. I ended up losing the election which actually inspired me to be even more involved in local government.
After that I volunteered for the local library’s freenet project. It covered a variety of topics. (BTW…my background is in software engineering.) I volunteered to work on the government portion of it. I interacted with each department to gather information that could be posted on the freenet. I worked with (and bugged) the IT director for ways to electronically post all of the county’s meeting agendas. It was then that he showed me this thing called “The Internet” and the mosaic browser. Because of my volunteer work and my software engineering background, he contracted me to develop the county’s first ever web site. After three years on contract, they hired me permanently. During my fifth year, I won a national award for our web site.
I can honestly say that while my volunteering has helped those that I’ve worked with, in some ways I think it helped me more than it helped them.
A good mindfulness practice would be to consider volunteering for something that would offer you an opportunity to learn something new.
So how about you? Are there volunteer opportunities where you would be able to expand your skills? Have you had any volunteering experience that has helped you find a job? If you are looking for a job, is there a volunteer opportunity that could help open some doors for better jobs?
“As you grow older,
— Audrey Hepburn
you will discover
that you have two hands —
one for helping yourself,
the other for helping others.”
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 