My sister-in-law Christine gave me a wonderful book A Pocketful of Promises for Women by Lighthouse Books. Since the start of the year, it has helped me calm down and focus on important things. I guess that normally happens when you get jolted with the issue of your own mortality. You see, I was diagnosed first week of January to have ovarian growths or cysts, one the size of a nine-month-old baby. That meant, of course, a major surgery to take it out (they took out a total of five).
Shortly after that, one of my best friends my age was found to have brain tumor. It was successfully removed, but she is currently undergoing treatment as it was not benign as in my case. These two consecutive events made me firmly resolve that I should start looking for an advocacy, especially since my afflicted friend who leads our prayer group of seven years has been prodding us to be engaged in an outreach.
To write a check for charity is the easiest thing to do. I was not looking for that. I was searching for a way to give of myself. My time, at this point, is the most precious, it being limited and allocated to my family, our businesses, myself, and a lot more. For years, I have been looking for a cause that I can support with my growing-up kids.
Then it happened, one afternoon when I was not expecting it. While zapping and surfing TV channels, I don’t know why it stopped on TV Maria and the call of Fr. Peyton’s Family Rosary Crusade for rosary donations. That was it! I and my kids, and some friends, could make rosaries at home and donate them for missionary work.
That is the least I can do for Mama Mary who on Sept. 8, 2000 interceded for me and my son for our second lives. My three-week-old only son, at that time, was in the hospital for meningitis while I bled profusely to the point of virtually losing my vital signs.
This newfound calling has fired me up anew. I even enlisted myself as a member of the 17,000-strong Our Lady’s Rosary Makers (www.olrm.org) that donates seven million rosaries every year. I was so happy when I found out that this apostolate, established in 1949 in Kentucky, connects people like me who would like to devote their services to making rosaries for missions worldwide that need them.
Volunteer For Better Health
People who want to feel better, live longer, and get sick less often should try helping others or volunteering their time and service to a worthy cause. Research findings reveal that 80 percent of all hospitalized illnesses are due to stress. When you divert your focus from your own problems (which causes stress) to helping others who need more help than you, it raises your endorphin levels.
A University of Massachusetts Medical School research confirms that actively helping others shifts our focus from our own problems, making us more grateful, decreasing our anxiety levels, and improving our mental health.
As a volunteer, you also get to socialize and make new friends with people with the same likes and passion as yours. Studies have pointed out that social people live longer than loners.
When I explored the various sites of Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, it was heartwarming to note that while there are guilds (what they call the rosary making clubs) with members from four to 10 years old, most are passionately led by people in their 80s and 90s who have been devotedly doing the service for decades. And they are not all women, mind you. A 90-plus man on oxygen was even featured in the newsletter as the fastest rosary maker!
The Helper’s High
Endorphins are not only our body’s natural painkillers, they are also responsible for the “runner’s high” that people feel after a long run or a tough workout. Helping also increases the endorphin levels, giving a similar “helper’s high”!
We are, of course, aware that volunteering or philanthropy is good for the soul and now, science has evidence that there are also concrete physical and emotional benefits from doing good. In a book entitled More Give To Live, the author Dr. Douglas Lawson included research findings on how helping others leads to enhanced health and emotional well-being.
He recounted reports that those involved in ongoing volunteer programs have enhanced immune systems, improved cardiovascular circulation as well as better sleep patterns. They also exhibit more control over their lives and circumstances, increased ability to cope with crises as well as stronger feelings of personal satisfaction, compassion, and empathy.
As I have already suspected with the advanced ages of the members of the apostolate I joined, giving and volunteering may be a key factor to living longer. Dr. Stephanie Brown of the University of Michigan discovered as they tracked 423 older couples over a five-year period that those who did not give any support to others were more than twice likely to die than those who helped others. The simple act of giving increases the chance of living longer by 50 percent.
In the rat race of life, burnout, depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety are too common. Maybe it is just a matter of finding a cause to serve, a soul to help, to help ourselves also ease our anxiety, our burnout, and our depression.
Truly, it is by helping others that we help ourselves.
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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.