Tip: I want to do right and be helpful!
Over the past few weeks during the holiday season, I have gotten to spend a little extra time with my grandchildren. They are growing up so fast and are such a joy and delight to my heart! I am glad that I understand personality types because each one of them is unique and they are all very different from each other. Anyone who has two or more children knows exactly what I am talking about. It is possible for children to come from the same gene pool and yet have very different personality styles from one another.
Children need guidance. That is why they were given parents and other family members to help rear them. My grandchildren are no different; they need guidance and direction.
Recently we were in the middle of some activity and a little bit of normal conflict took place between the children. I said, “Do you know that all of the problems of life can be boiled down to one sentence? Do you know what the magic sentence is that will make everything in your life go better?” (When I used the word ‘magic’, I knew I had their attention!) I said, “The magic sentence to making everything in life go better is, ‘I want to do right and be helpful!’ If you do what is right, you will always be kind to each other. If you want to be helpful, you will find that people appreciate being around you.”
I am not 100% sure where that sentence came from deep inside of me. I think it came from decades of personal experience dealing with all kinds of people. It was so short and to the point that when I first heard myself say it, I quickly got a pen and wrote it down. “I want to do right and be helpful.” I do not believe that life can be reduced to formulas, but I do believe life can be boiled down to simple, transferable concepts.
Think about almost any situation in which you find yourself. If the people around you do what is right and try to be helpful, won’t that make everything better? Suppose in your own personal life you want to do the same. Won’t that make your life better? Won’t it cause other people to be attracted to you?
I am amazed at how quickly things can fall apart. Yet, I believe things begin to fall apart in life, business and relationships because someone did NOT do what was right and did not want to be helpful. It really is that simple, isn’t it?
Since I shared that concept with my grandchildren, I have been trying to practice it myself. I have found that everything goes better when I simply do what is right and try to be helpful in any given situation. Doing what’s right has a lot to do with my actions and attitudes. And, being helpful mainly involves my daily behavior. I wish I had been following this simple concept all of my life! It certainly would have made things a lot simpler for me, as well as for others around me.
I want to encourage you to take this week’s Tip to heart. Determine how you can do what is right and how to be helpful in every situation you face. It will affect your attitude, your health and your outlook on life. Pretty soon you will begin to see that all of the major challenges that come in your life, whether in business or in relationships, are because someone is not doing what is right or is not being helpful. Granted, we cannot fix other people, but we can fix ourselves.
I have discovered that when I put this principle into practice, it is not long before it spreads. I don’t know who said it, but it really is true, “More is caught by example than will ever be taught by exhortation.” We can tell people all day long what we want them to do, but the best way to have an impact is to show them by our own actions.
I guess my talk with my grandchildren has turned out to be a talk I really needed to give to myself. I have already seen great improvement in their behavior and relationships, and I have also noticed an improvement in my own life as well. I am grateful God gave me grandchildren so I could teach them some things, but I am even more grateful that He gave me grandchildren so they could teach ME some things. I think He had both processes in mind when He created families! Don’t you?
Life is the best school I have ever attended. I am grateful this simple concept is having a profound effect in my own life and family! It will in your family, too!
Tip: I want to do right and be helpful!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
