“Why?” you might ask, would doing something to give back to your community improve your mind power.
I’ll tell you. And, it begins with Milton Erickson.
Erickson, an uncommon man, is commonly known as the Father of Modern Hypnotherapy. Erickson had a very unique way of helping his clients deal with depression (one I use all the time.) He gave them homework assignments to go out and do something for someone else. A woman who grew orchids was assigned to take them to nursing homes.
Doing something for someone else takes your mind off your own problems. People who dwell on their own “crap” have what I refer to as emotional constipation. Once the crap clogs up the emotional body, it clogs up the mind and eventually leads to physical symptoms as well. When you free up the crap, you can think better.
There are lots of ways to get rid of emotional and mental crap. One of the non-therapy routes, is “giving back.” You release so many endorphins by doing nice things for other people, you just naturally start to feel better.
Doing something for your community also creates a ripple effect. The energy released through “paying it forward” is more than the sum of its parts. It’s exponential. And that exponential release of positive energy has a way of coming back at you.
I used to give FREE talks at various places because I felt it would be “good for business.” Once I let go of that reason and realized I just really enjoyed how it made me feel to give back, the positive repercussions for my business started to manifest themselves.