What is a Volunteer?

There are countless descriptive definitions and examples of volunteering.  Volunteers make priceless impact every day.  As I was running this morning, in a volunteer t-shirt, I thought of a simplistic way of depicting what ideal volunteers are:

• Valuable
• Open
• Listening
• Understanding
• Needed
• Talented
• Empathetic
• Energized
• Resource

Thank you to each of you for making such a difference in so very many ways!

Life's a Buffet

All you can eat buffets have great appeal for some, and aren't attractive to others of us.  Though, I don't like them, I've learned to love the analogy.  With an enormous buffet, options are beautifully presented.  Choices are left to the diner (life architect).  Theoretically, a diner could choose a portion from every offered option.  However, the realities of capacity, appetite and interest cause most of us to make choices that are realistic for us.

In life's buffet, we would all be well served to choose people, experiences, foods and things that fully nourish and energize us.

Energizing Activity

Everyone's unique!  Things that energize some of us, drain others.  We each need to deliberatively ask ourselves which activities energize us, and which ones drain us. 

We can't wait to participate in energizing activities.  With equal frequency, we dread and avoid those that drain us.

Though we can't avoid all unpleasant activities, we often fail to recognize that some of the things that we avoid are energizing for others.  We can dramatically increase happiness, satisfaction and energy when we actively engage others to determine who is most and least passionate about the tasks required for the team/company/organization/family to be successful. 

Energized or Drained by the Company You Keep?

We all have friends, associates or family members who we love to visit. They make us feel special.

When I'm around him or her I:

laugh
think
excel
am joyous
feel good
am motivated
feel pampered
learn
listen
get great ideas
feel welcome
relax
give help
receive help
am invigorated
can't believe how quickly the visit ends
feel energized

And, we all know those individuals we dread being around.

When I'm around him or her, I:
am irritable
can barely insert a word
am stressed
wait for the visit to end
wish I was elsewhere
am bored
see a know-it-all
am impatient
feel unwelcome
am tense
feel drained

Are you Uplifting Ursula or Bummer Bill?