How To Find Joy By Serving Others

Last week, we talked about how love is an action. This week, we’ll discuss one of the best ways to love others and receive blessings with great abundance –– by giving.

As we go through life, we trade our time for many things both tangible and intangible. I call what we earn Life’s Harvest:

• Money
• Property
• Skills
• Experiences

Understandably, after we’ve worked so hard, and traded away so much time, we place a high value on what we’ve accumulated –– and we don’t want to share. After all, we did all the hard work, why should we not enjoy the benefits?

So we find ways to guard our Life’s Harvest:

• We incorporate to pay fewer taxes. 
• We roll up our windows to avoid panhandlers. 
• We pass laws to drive the homeless from our towns. 
• We become influencers and sell courses. 
• We charge audiences to hear our stories.

Protecting the success we’ve spent our lives earning is natural –– it’s not like we can get a refund for the time we traded. 

However, guarding our Life’s Harvest eventually becomes a full-time job. We who were once pioneers, adventurers, and explorers of life become glorified bankers, tallying debts and managing our hoards each day until we finally die. 

I call this the Harvester’s Paradox: when we hoard what brings us joy, we experience less joy.

Quote of the Week

“A large fortune is accumulated by extremely hard work, but [thus] life becomes miserable.” - Epicurus

Good Wine Fills An Empty Cup

The mind is a cup, and joy is fine wine. Joy fills our cup until finally, we’re blessed with more joy than we can hold. At this point, we can either release what we have in favor of what is still coming, or we can place our hands over the cup to prevent the overflow.

However, when we cover our cup, the joy that fills it slowly spoils. The only way to refresh our joy is to release it, making room for more. We must empty the cup and open ourselves up to new wine from the fountain of life.

This is the upside of the Harvester’s Paradox –– when we share our joy with others by giving gracefully, we receive joy in even greater abundance. However, if we cling jealously to our Life’s Harvest, it slowly rots, and our joy gives way to bitterness.

The key to endless joy is to empty our cups by giving freely to others. So let us pour out yesterday’s wine and drink today’s blessings together.

Question of the Week

What good things are you clinging to that prevent you from receiving the great things of Life’s Harvest?

Live On Purpose // Die Without Regrets

Each Wednesday, I publish a 3-5 minute newsletter + video podcast that applies ancient wisdom to modern life.
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