Personalized Disaster Relief

Since the volunteer work I did with Katrina and Rita victims, as well as my own personal experiences with disasters, I have felt saddened by the lack of uncomplicated help there is in the aftermath. . .and have come to the following conclusion: When we have the Heart to help, and money to donate, we can help a lot more people with a lot less money when we give directly to individuals and families who are in need. Through giving DIRECTLY to those in need we can FULLY help dozens of people with the same amount of money that would reluctantly trickle down to partially help just one person. . .through most other avenues.
   Far more disaster victims will be helped when we let our Hearts guide us into the kind of compassion that cares to relieve and prevent further distress by completely lifting people back onto their feet, monetarily, emotionally and mentally. . .instead of offering only enough food or water to sustain their plight. It can cost a lot less to COMPLETELY help people than it does to keep them down and feed them for long periods of time. . .and its far more humane. Lets let our Hearts do the deed of FULLY helping those in need.


After disaster strikes, most victims need
These three things, in order to fully recover. 

1. A SAFE, kind, genuinely welcoming place to live.

2. Enough peaceful time to heal, without being pressured to hurry up and “get over it...etc.” -  time for grieving in an understanding and compassionate environment.
 
3. Uncomplicated financial assistance, to lift them
    back onto their own feet.


   Please remember that reluctant help does not feel very helpful, because most disaster victims already feel humiliated and guilty for having to depend on other people. We should NOT help just because we think we should or just to make ourselves look good, because victims can only be comforted by the type of help that comes from genuine care. Please find the Heart to care.
   Also please remember that interrogating victims, and making them prove their losses, as most agencies do, merely ads to their distress at a time when they are often already so overwhelmed that they have a hard time remembering details, anyway. Its better to just focus on listening to our own intuition - our own “gut feelings” - our own Hearts. It is best to just offer a compassionate ear and/or a shoulder to cry on, instead of suspicion and intense questioning, because they all DO deserve the help they need and should NOT have to be dealt the added distress of having to prove themselves or defend themselves against suspicions, which are usually born from a greedy, selfish search for a reason to not have to help. 


NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION IS. . .
those who continue to suffer just haven't gotten the help they need.

“What can I do for you in your time of need?”
(These are the words that plant a healing seed.)


P.S. An old Native American tradition requires that we never let anyone know what we've done to help another person. This is to keep our egos out of it and pull our Hearts into it. Perhaps we can learn something from this wise tradition.





The Value of Trust

 I didn’t realize, until recent years, how important Trust is. I understand that “trust is earned...etc.” We can’t automatically Trust EVERYONE! But its not healthy to automatically distrust everyone either. We need a balance between these two extremes - a healthy balance that humanity seems to be losing.

   More times than not we tend to DIS-trust, 
instead of listening to our instincts and Hearts.

   Though I’ve recently lost a lot of my own Trust in humanity, due to being targeted by a group of ill intended people, it wasn’t long ago when someone told me that I was, ”too naive and Trusting.” “You think EVERYONE is like you...,” this person angrily scolded, after I’d been deeply hurt by people who pretended to be more trustworthy than they were.
    I understood where she was coming from. But I took time to look at myself and realized that Trust was the issue - I realized that I needed to work harder at listening to my deeper instincts so that I could more easily sense those who did not deserve my Trust. (And I needed to face the fact that “evil” really does exist in humanity.)
   I hope Trust regains its valuable place in our world, because too much distrust can prevent us from giving honest people the chance they need, which can lead to all sorts of losses on both sides.
   My most recent experiences with trust vs. distrust were in the process of collecting ads for “The Heart Bud”. As I approached hundreds of people, I ran into many who assumed that I’d just gather up their money and run off instead of really producing “The Heart Bud.” Although I understood their skepticism of something new and unique, from someone they do not know, I also felt a bit hurt, because I deserved more trust than they were giving me.
   When I look in the mirror I realize that I’ve recently done the same thing to people who may have deserved my Trust. So, I’m also working on regaining Trust through wrapping it in heavy doses of intuition, because I get hurt when I trust untrustworthy people and I hurt others when I don’t give them the Trust/chance they deserve.
  
It’s better to have trusted and gotten hurt
Than to have not Trusted at all.

(What is true for Love is also true for Trust)