My 2nd time in Haiti over the past 365 days with a charity group called The Caring House Project, and I came home with 3 distinct insights, after meditating on my experience for a few days:
1. It’s an amazing gift to be able to help people, to give. Plain and simple. Whether it be your time, talents and skills, or money for the right cause, it’s a special gift. This doesn’t mean you have to go on a global trip to Haiti, or Africa, or Indonesia. It doesn’t mean you have to donate thousands and thousands of dollars. Giving, and making a difference can be the small things. And the small things make the biggest impact. It could be helping your neighbor take the garbage out. It could be donating an hour of your time at a soup kitchen. It could be talking with a friend or family member that needs someone to just listen, and giving your fullest and most present attention. It’s giving someone a dollar that really needs it. It could be smile, and eye contact with someone. All of this, and more is giving, and it makes a difference more than you may ever know.
2. Haiti gave me inspiration. It gave me aspiration. It gave me renewed energy to do more. To work more on my self, to give more of myself, and help others get this same inspiration and aspiration that was fueled within me, during the 3 days I spent in Haiti. Over the past 3 weeks since Haiti, I’ve spent an hour per week working in a soup kitchen. This helps me stay humble, realizing that some people have it very tough in Miami, as well as in Haiti. And to be able to give them a smile, to help them smile, makes a difference. I’ve also been inspired to share more of my knowledge, and experiences with more people to help them with their own situation, or give the guidance on how they can do the same for someone else in their sphere.
3. I cannot really explain this one. But I will try. When I returned from Haiti there was this sense of aura I felt within me, and also around me. It was some type of energy, some type of infinite intelligence, a sense of inner peace. The next morning back from Haiti, I went for a run in Miami. As I ran I experience the surroundings, man made, or natural, that all made sense. A beauty, and an art I felt connected with. But even more so, was the connection I felt with the people. As I ran by people walking, or running, or driving past, there was an aura, about them, and me. I said hello, nodded my head with a gesture, or smiled at people as I ran by. The reception I received was well. People smiled back, and at certain times, there was a brief eye contact with people that translated and inner peace about life. An aura. Haiti gave me this experience. A few days after Haiti, I was chatting with one of my mentors, and friend, Frank, who orchestrated this entire trip to Haiti. We texted back and forth. I thanked him for the opportunity and experience. He responded with, “My aura was shining brighter than the Haitian Sun.” I replied with, “Your aura as well, Frank.” I walked into my office one day that week, and someone asked me, “why do you look so zenned out and peaceful?” I just smiled, and thought to myself, must be that aura. And she smiled back. When I look back on my 3 days in Haiti, with 43 incredible people doing remarkable things, I realized, every single person I was with had an aura as “bright as the Haitian Sun,” and we were shining that aura to people that needed it most.