https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/when- ... -to-others
Seemed like good dhamma.
Edited to quote briefly from the piece:
Not bad for television.“My son, he’s a paranoid schizophrenic. He’s 13, and he thinks the IRS is after him. I had to put him in the hospital yesterday.”
Mostly, what I felt at that moment was annoyance. This woman had a real problem and, in my heart of hearts, I just wanted to get back to thinking about myself.
I asked her if she wanted me to go with her to the hospital. I asked this because I had decided I would try to think a little bit less about myself and a little bit more about others.
As I asked this, though, I thought, please God, please, say no.
“Yes,” the woman said. “Thank you. That would be great.”
Unexpectedly, I felt enormous relief. It was as if space had opened up around me.
Every time I have given help when I have felt I needed it myself, I have had the same sensation, sometimes quickly, sometimes in a little bit. But there is space around me, that I have more options than I think.
It is generosity which reminds us we’re more than our problems.