At the Democratic National Convention a couple weeks ago, Elizabeth Warren took Mitt Romney to task. She said, “Mitt Romney’s the guy who said corporations are people. No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people.”
Amen.
This speech made me think of the nature of service. And obviously, government officials and civil servants are elected by their constituents to serve.
But have we forgotten what that word means?
So much of what we mistake for service these days is generated from our own individual ego needs.
Service is not about exercising our own agenda. It’s not forcing our ego demands on others. It’s not about controlling or dominating or marginalizing.
To be in service is to be a conduit for something greater than ourselves. Something that serves all. An idea, an act, a gesture, a legislation. When we are actually, truly in service, what we provide helps all people. Not just people who support our ideologies.
Being in service is about being a channel.
I used to think that the people who really annoyed me in life were simply people who weren’t “plugged in.” I obviously was. What was wrong with them? (When I say plugged in, I mean to the creative matrix or infinite intelligence or source. Something greater than our individual selves.) But what I’ve come to realize is that we’re all plugged in – but some of us just need to refine our bandwidth. We need to retune ourselves. Because we’re not really getting the reception.
And how do we do that?
Get. Out. Of. The. Way.
You can’t solve your problems at the level in which you created them! You have to become an open channel so that information you need that’s greater than the problem can reveal itself to you. That is beyond the ego, which is what created the problem in the first place. You solve problems and overcome challenges by allowing a deeper understanding of how to overcome things in life become available to you.
This week, instead of forcing, controlling or exercising your point of view, what if you instead attempted to greet every situation, every circumstance with an inner mantra.
“How can I best be in service here?”
Watch what might happen.