Last Friday was a huge wakeup call for me.

It started off as a typical Friday night. I put on some casual clothes and headed off to Starbucks. I usually have my chai tea latte while planning for the week ahead in my journal, and then head off to the supermarket for my weekly food shopping. However, this past Friday was marked by an impossible-to-miss series of unfortunate events, which shook me to the core.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

On my way to Starbucks I almost got hit by a car, when the driver decided to u-turn by driving the car up the pavement. While in Starbucks, a guy next to me was mugged and was giving a report to a couple of policemen. On my way to the supermarket, a trucker got into a fight with another policeman for giving him a parking ticket. The climax of my night was when, on the way home, I run across a woman crying and bleeding after she got beaten up by her husband…

There was a group of people around her, comforting her, giving her the first aids, and bringing her some water and a chair to sit on, while I just stood there in shock.

I stood there!

A woman was suffering, and all I did was stand there flabbergasted, and watched as other people did all the helping.

When I eventually got back home and my initial shock subsided, I was overcome by a surge of guilt and unworthiness. While I spend my time sipping my chai tea lattes and writing articles about love and happiness in the comfort of my house, there are people in desperate need of that love and happiness.

What worth is all my talk when I fail to put it into action?

Helping From a Place of Love

I’ve always believed that the easiest way to help anyone is by ignoring their pain and affirming their healing. This is because, when you allow someone’s negative state to affect you, you’re ripped off of your power to help them. In other words, you can’t heal another’s discomfort when you are also in a state of discomfort. You have to be the love, in order to give them love.

As a result, for the past five years I’ve made it my goal to ignore the overwhelming negativity in the world. I’ve refused to watch the news, read the newspapers or face reality in any way, in order to maintain my alignment with love, to be the source of it, and help from this heightened perspective.

The only missing piece of my be-love-to-give-love formula was that, in my desire to be the source of love, I’ve forgotten to actually turn it into action. Fortunately, my series of unfortunate events was pure divine guidance, letting me know that it is time to start walking my talk.

Turn knowledge into action

But, how do you give help without losing your alignment to love? Is it really possible to remain unaffected by other people’s negativity while helping them?

Absolutely!

Here’s my updated, be-love-to-give-love formula:

1. Rid your life from all negativity. By breaking out of the pattern of reading, watching, talking, and writing about negative things, you free yourself from external control, and you become the sole determinant of your happiness.
2. Be the source of love. Your primary goal should be to be the presence of love, and this means seeking for, and practicing the emotion of love in a conscious way. Check out this article for ways to do so.
3. Give help from a place of love. Once you’ve become the source of love, don’t waste it on just yourself. Extend this love by helping someone in need. Volunteer, donate to a charity you support, help a friend in need, give a compliment to a friend, or smile to a stranger.

The key to helping from a place of love is to let the love you feel inspire the action, rather than taking action from a place of  guilt, pity, and negativity.