What Motivates You to Help

Others?

22nd November 2014

By Lissa Rankin MD
Guest Writer for Wake Up World

When I got back from the World Domination Summit this summer, I wrote a post about what
motivates visionaries to try to change the world. The conference was full of well-intentioned
do-gooders trying to make the world a better place. Amazing things were being birthed as a
result of this impulse to do good. But I couldn’t help wondering whether this impulse to be of
service came from a pure, noble intention or whether it came from some sort of underlying
sense of unworthiness or ego-driven motivation. Or both.

In other words, why do we do what we do?

A few people argued, “Who cares why? As long as the world is benefiting from these impulses,
why question it?”

Yet, as one of those self-help author do-gooder types who is committed to getting my own ego
out of the driver’s seat and letting the Divine take the wheel, it matters to me.
Is Your Self-Worth Tied To How Helpful You
Are?
I have a theory about all of this. I think those of us who commit to acts of altruism on behalf of
making the world a better place do so because it makes us feel better about ourselves.
Something within us doesn’t feel good enough/ valuable enough/ worthy enough unless we’ re
devoted to helping others. We don’t believe that we’re good and valuable and worthy not
because of any external action but because we all have within us a spark of the Divine which
makes us inherently worthy. So we go out and help people, and people tell us how we’ve
saved their lives, and then we feel more worthy. We matter because we matter to someone
else. Then our worried, scared, “never good enough” egos feel better.
So what would happen if someone waved a magic wand and all the do-gooders suddenly
woke up and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were worthy – without all the
accolades and applause and love letters from those we’ve helped. Would we lose all ambition
to help others? Would we just sit on a park bench and bask in our awakened worthiness?

I don’t think so.

The Pure Impulse To Serve

I think it’s part of human nature to feel the impulse to ease the suffering of other living beings.
When Eckhart Tolle woke up and realized that everything he had ever desired existed right
here in the present moment, he spent months sitting on a park bench, basking in the bliss of
his awakened state. He suddenly knew he was a valuable, worthy child of God who didn’t
have to do anything to earn that grace. But Eckhart didn’t stay on that park bench forever. At
some point, a pure impulse to share with others the bliss of what he was experiencing in the
present moment motivated him to write The Power of Now and A New Earth. I don’t think the
sharing of this message was motivated by ego. I think it was motivated by this pure impulse to
ease the suffering of others who were missing the bliss of the present moment by living in the
past or the future.
This is all just my theory, but I now think we’re often motivated to do good things because
we’re trying to feel more worthy. But it’s possible to know we are worthy and still serve others
from a pure, clean impulse to ease the suffering of others. (Read how Martha Beck helped me
learn to tell the differencehere.)

I Can’t Do It
So as I get ready to speak to an audience of people I hope to help with my words, I am doing a
worthiness meditation so I can get my ego in the backseat and let the Divine use me in service
to those who might be suffering. I remind my ego (I call her Victoria Rochester) that she is
already good enough / valuable enough / worthy enough without gushing fans or long lines at
my book signing or getting to sit next to Louise Hay at dinner. I am asking for Divine guidance.
I am realizing, ironically, that I am speaking at an I Can Do It conference, and yet, perhaps,
as Tosha Silver suggested, “I Can’t Do It.” Or rather, I Choose Not To Do It- because I want to
let the Universe do it instead.
That’s what I hope to relay to those I serve at this conference. I don’t want to just feed their
scared, worried, “not good enough” egos. I want to help them remember that they don’t have
to do it – that if they get their egos out of the way and let the Divine take the lead, all will be
well and they will finally find the peace they’re seeking.

Do You Yearn To Serve?

Generosity, altruism, charitable acts, and self-help teaching are all great. Don’t get me wrong.
But if you find yourself compelled to be of service, I invite you to examine your motivations.
Are you trying to feed the hungry ghost of the ego, which never gets filled no matter how many
people you help? Or are you motivated by that clean impulse to ease the suffering of others?
Share your thoughts in the comments.

Knowing I can’t do it alone,

Previous articles by Lissa Rankin:

 Are You “Spiritual But Not Religious?”
 I Beg You To Quit Pretending
 What Is Shamanism?
 9 Practical Tips to Help You Find Your Calling
 Are You Committed To Your Soul’s Integrity?
 Will You Practice Judgment Or Compassion?
 10 Fun Ways to Reduce Your Cortisol Levels
 6 Stories To Make You Believe In The Power Of The Mind To Heal You
 A Radical Way To Grow Spiritually In A Relationship
 7 Tips For Finding Your Tribe
 10 Surprising Things That Trigger “Fight-Or-Flight”
 The Difference Between Judgment and Discernment
About the author:

Dr. Lissa Rankin, MD is a mind-body medicine physician, founder of

the Whole Health Medicine Institute training program for physicians and healthcare providers,
and the New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You
Can Heal Yourself. She is on a grass roots mission to heal health care, while empowering you
to heal yourself.
Lissa blogs at LissaRankin.com and also created two online communities –
HealHealthCareNow.com and OwningPink.com. She is also the author of two other books, a
speaker, a professional artist, an amateur ski bum, and an avid hiker. She lives in the San
Francisco Bay area with her husband and daughter.
Connect with Lissa on Facebook and Twitter, or visit LissaRankin.com

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