Step back
By Eliza Bloom

I hear a lot these days about how important it is to put ourselves first, to get to know ourselves, to really decide what is best for ourselves.

But what would happen if, just for a moment, we stepped beyond ourselves? If today, we endeavored very carefully to not think about ourselves much at all. To think instead about someone who has less than us. To think about someone who needs our help. To hold in our minds and bless those people in this world, beyond ourselves, who have given us love and affection and caring and peace. And even those who have not.

What if we decided that our only job is to live each day with the notion that we are being held up--buoyed on the backs of angels--and so our only role in this world is to maintain a calm, loving spirit and to put that loving spirit into action every chance we get? To cram as much love and affection into our kitchens and cubicles as time will allow. To feel the joy that comes with connecting with another--with helping one another--so completely that the sensation completely overwhelms our human faculties until it makes us so happy we want to throw our shoes in the air.

Let's do an experiment. Today, let's turn every experience--every emotion--outward. If you're feeling sad, cheer someone up. If you're feeling anxious, comfort someone. If you're feeling poor, help someone who has less than you. Experience how selflessness is in your best interest after all.

Eliza Bloom is a frequent contributor to many award-winning online publications, including http://www.momscape.com, which provides tools for soulful parenting and conscious living, as well as http://www.BestSelfHelp.com, which catalogs the web's best self-help tools.