Great article! Strangely enough, I had one of these experiences just last night. It wasn't an act of kindness towards a person, but towards an animal - which to me is just the same in the sense that we're all living beings. I have a strong connection with animals and I feel a great deal of compassion for animals in need.
Anyway... I was already in bed, but for some reason decided to get up. As soon as I came to the computer room, I heard a dog crying outside. It was already past 3 in the morning. I opened the window and there he was, looking up my window. I went downstairs. This was a street dog, he looked like he hadn't eaten well in a long time, so I filled up a bowl with dog food and another one with water and called him. He ate the food and drank the water very fast. And then just stood there, looking at me. It seemed to me that that wasn't enough, so I petted him, even though I had no idea if he would try to bite me or not. lol I don't think this dog has been touched or received any kind of care in a long time - in fact, he acted like he was scared all the time, like he's usually harassed by people and abused. He was suspicious at first, but as I gained his confidence he got closer, looking at me with the sweetest eyes you could possibly imagine. I opened the gate and let him in the external area of my house. I spent about 50 minutes taking care of this dog, feeding him until he was satisfied, petting him and playing with him. I even gave him a toy to play with, which he seemed to enjoy. As I watched him eat, I experienced what Steve described as entering higher state of consciousness. A wonderful feeling. But then, already past 4 in the morning, I needed to get some sleep and I started feeling guilty. I wanted to take him inside the house and take proper care of him, take him to the vet, bathe him, etc. But I own 2 dogs, one of which was barking at him the whole time and from previous experiences I knew she would get into a fight with him should I let him in - and they would both get hurt. Additionally, I don't have enough room for another dog and I travel quite a bit, leaving my dogs at the "dog hotel" is becoming quite expensive for me. So I had to let him go, but this, on the other hand, wasn't a very good experience - he still stayed outside my house for a few minutes. I had trouble sleeping afterwards. So I put out an intention for him to find someone else who is in better position to help him than I am. But I can't stop thinking about him, worried that he's still out in the streets by himself. Breaks my heart. I know there are thousands of other dogs in the streets, but I connected with this one. I keep thinking that I should have found a way to keep him. I feel terrible about this. How do you cope with this kind of feeling, when you've done your best to help, but are still left with the feeling that you should do more? This happens to me frequently when I try to help others - humans or animals.
I'd like to take the opportunity to leave a link to this website I found some time ago:
The Giving Game. Now, I have been meaning to post about it for a while, but wanted to join the site first to see how it works exactly before I posted about it, but although I still don't know how it works exactly, I didn't want to miss the chance to link to it in this thread as it's very much in context with the discussion. It seems pretty interesting from what I've read so far. I'll join the site and start playing to see how it works exactly and then I'll edit this post with the updates, in case anyone is interested.
Peace everyone and have a nice day performing acts of kindness.
