As I was sitting here this morning my mind was completely blank in terms of what to write for today’s Thought. I was completely stumped and beginning to worried about ending up just cobbling something together “that would do” which I really don’t like doing. I normally have lots of ideas and musings about what to write each week days in advance but… not today. “Maybe a cup of coffee will help” I thought. “And maybe not” said another part of my mind! It was as I was having a look through twitter updates to see if there was any inspiration to be had (which there invariably is I find) and the thought came to me – I could ask my twitter followers for help and see if they could give me a helping hand. This idea began to take form in my head and reminded me about asking for help when we need it.

You’ll see from today’s quote by Rona Barrett that asking for help is not necessarily a disempowering thing – quite the opposite in fact. Not asking for help can end up putting a person much further behind and/or missing an opportunity to get help when it is available.

There are times when it’s good to try and work things out for ourselves, without running for help at the first sign of difficulty. That’s all about growing and learning and helping ourselves to deal with new things in order to expand and evolve. But when you’ve tried umpteen times to get the lid of a jar of pickle and you have someone who you know is stronger in the room, why not ask them for help? Is it so bad to acknowledge that someone else might have a skill or strength that’s more developed than your own? Isn’t life all about developing and sharing the skills we have in order to make life better for everyone?

Another example of this is something I witnessed in a supermarket once. I was standing and browsing the shelves trying to decide what to buy when I noticed a young man (shorter than me) who was trying to climb up the shelves to try to reach something at the back. Unfortunately for him, the shelves decided not to want him on there and buckled whereby all the tins and packets on the shelves began to fall on him. Fortunately however, the only thing he injured was his pride! The shop manager didn’t handle it very well and actually shouted at the man asking him why he hadn’t asked someone for help, to which the customer replied “I didn’t want to bother anyone” . Amazing!

The moral of this story? Buy your food from the market where they serve you ☺ Sorry just teasing. Seriously though, all too often people struggle to do some things for themselves where it’s quite clear from the outset that they’re going to need help to do them. I’m not saying don’t try (safely!) to reach for the tin on the top shelf, but if you can’t quite reach it ask someone around you to help you lift it down. Look at this way, if someone asks you to lift down the tin would you say “no”?

People don’t usually mind help us when we ask them in a good natured way and, if they do, there’s either a very good reason why they are unable to help. If there isn’t and they’re just plain mean, you can always run your trolly over their foot “accidentally” as you move off round the supermarket ☺ Just kidding again. Seriously though, if someone doesn’t want to help, respect that and ask somebody else.

It’s worth taking time to think about things you’re dealing with in your life at the moment. Are you struggling unnecessarily with something? Even if you don’t want or need someone to do the whole thing for you, would it help to get some support, ideas, or encouragement from someone? Nothing wrong with a bit of humility in life, as long as we ask for help in place of centredness and self respect, and not victimhood.