Do you feel consumed about your current financial woes? Worried about the uncertainties of what is to come? Are you out of a job and don’t know for how long? Are your problems starting to make you sick (dizzy spells, shortness of breath, overly tired)? Did you know that stress has such a great physiological impact on your body that it can kill you?

Like most of us, you are hearing of good news about the economy turning around but you are not feeling it at home. Well, unfortunately it will be a slow economic recovery and there is still a long ways to get back to prosperity.

In the meanwhile you have the power to make things better independent of the economic condition. Here are some things guaranteed to have lasting positive effects in your life if applied regularly.

1. Get out of your soapbox and start thinking of someone else. You are thinking so much about your own problems that you get paralyzed both physically and mentally. Wait! Don’t suck your teeth and stop reading now. Trust me, this works and has been proven over and over through out the centuries.

Helping someone else who is worse off than you has its rewards:

• all of a sudden your problems don’t look and feel so bad. The gorilla sized problem - reduced to a monkey size problem.
• you become more optimistic and hopeful
• you feel more energetic as body and soul feel all better

You actually protect your health from going on a downward spiral. Without your health you can’t do anything. Because, you are more emotionally optimistic, your mind remains creative in generating solutions to your current problems. Do you see it now? Isn’t getting out of your troubles a thousand times better than drowning in your sorrows? Remember another truth: – “A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.” Proverbs17:21-23

Another auxiliary benefit of helping someone less fortunate is building your network. Surely you’ve heard that it is not what you know but who you know. Well that has also been proven to be true. I am also sure you are aware that many of the best jobs are never advertised or are filled before they get a chance to be advertised. As you are helping someone else, you are actually networking. A non-profit organizations or that sick neighbor of yours may have some powerful connections to help you lend the next job or introduce you to new opportunities you otherwise would not have explored.

Here is the catch, if your first and primary reason for helping someone else is for your own selfish needs, you’ll miss the lasting rewards and benefits.

What about the other 4 ways: Now that you see the value of giving your time and since you now have some time on your hands, find 4 opportunities to help someone less fortunate than you. Many people need help in your own backyard. I believe that many charitable organizations would not be needed if we lived more cooperative lives in our neighborhoods? Here are some ideas:

• Many of your neighbors live in loneliness or in need of listening ears or helper.
• Tend to the needs of a sick neighbor or friend (cook a meal, clean home, run errands).
• If you are handy, do handy work for a single mom.
• Become a mentor to your local youth programs like Boys and Girls Club - Helping our youth generation today, makes a better tomorrow for everyone.
• Volunteer your time at a local charity such as abandoned, neglected or abused children, food pantries or homeless shelter. The list goes on. If you know what you are looking for or would like to do, VolunteerMatch helps you find volunteering opportunities matching your interest.
• Finally get involved in church ministries you’ve been convicted to serve but ignored for so long.
• Misery loves company. Rather than getting together and drink your sorrows away with other ex-colleagues or friends who shared the same faith as you at the last company, get a group going and volunteer for a group project with local charities instead.

These are just a few. Let your imagination and your heart lead you. You may not only make a positive change in someone’s life for ever or change your community but you may stumble upon a new job or add a few new lasting friendships to your life.