A new years resolution, that came six months late.

My time at Canterbury has still been going great. Today I went back to bringing books to all of the residents in assisted living. I actually got three takers! Three women took out a variety of books. So I was very pleased that my time was worth while. I also got to talk to many of the residents and I can just tell from the smiles on their faces that I was sharing my time with people who appreciated it. Yet again, near twelve of the residents were away on a picnic so there were not as many people to talk to.


Afterwords I was scheduled to go into the bingo hall but it was cancelled today because of the picnic outing. So, I offered to help some of the lady's at the front desk of the assisted living. They didn't really need anything from me so I decided to go to Dawns office to help her with paper work. She graciously accepted my help and she was shocked at how much work I got finished in the hour I was in her office.

My project started off with the goal of helping others. But, with an underlining goal of helping myself by being taught valuable lessons. Making myself a better person doesn't only come from helping others but also finding ways to change things within my life and mind. I am now thinking I should have broadened my topic by choosing to change my life in many different ways. Even though I didn't choose that as my topic I have been changing Little things in my life through out this summer. Truthfully, I believe of all the things I have tried to change by far the will to help others has shined through. My experiences at Canterbury have given me such an amazing outlook on a working environment and an amazing opportunity to help others in a wonderful place. I would absolutely love to work at Canterbury and that's something I like to have, to be able to be happy with my job.

This project has given us all an opportunity of fulfilling a "New Years Resolution", type of goal that for some has failed just like many of these type resolutions do. But even if you don't have the desired outcome you wished for, has the project been a failure? I believe not! It has still given you new outlooks and ways of thinking. It has presented you with problems and solutions that, I bet, have taught you more then if your project went exactly how you thought it would.

So, I congratulate everyone on their projects continuing success!
--Melaine

Happiness

Last week I asked for some ideas of places I could go to donate my time in a positive way. I got two different ideas, Grace centers of hope and adopting a family. These were two great ideas but sadly neither worked out. Grace center of hope is located in Pontiac and they serve the homeless with a meal, a safe, warm place and someone to talk to about problems including addiction. This is an amazing organization but my Dad wont let me go to Pontiac alone. Adopting a family is choosing a family to raise money for to help them with everyday expenses and saving up for the children's Birthdays and other holidays. But, as I specified before, I don't want to add money into this equation. I want to see what my time can do to help others, creating smiles on others faces. Money is not the source of happiness.

"Happiness is in the heart not the circumstances."

--Anonymous

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

--Buddha

Reach Out

I'm still working as a volunteer at Canterbury on the Lake. I love it there, I feel like I'm making a difference even if it is in a small way. People keep commenting on how willing I am to do anything I'm asked and how they can't believe what a hard worker I am especially for being so young. I think that is an important attribute to have and I've always felt I would have difficulty being a hard worker. But with everyone telling me that I am one already, it makes me feel good that this has come so naturally to me. I'm also happy that I'm learning these things before I have a job (which I hope to have one by next summer maybe at Canterbury:).

Even though I feel really good about working at Canterbury, I still feel like I am not doing enough. Like I'm not making a big enough difference in enough peoples lives. So, how do I change that? Will I ever feel accomplished? I believe I will never feel completely accomplished, I'll have moments when I accomplish cretin things and then I will feel good about what I've done. But, I will always want to do more then I have/am. This is because (as I have previously mentioned) my life is all about helping others. I want to help people learn, change, understand, and feel better. This is one reason I want to pursue the carrier of being a psychotherapist. To help people find the happiness thats within us all. To reach out to people all over the country, and if possible the world! :D


So, my dilemma... what do I do? Does anyone have any ideas on what else I can do for charity? Please if you do leave a comment or e-mail me at MelanieLCaples@yahoo.com.
Thankyou for everyones help and support!

--Melanie

What I Feel I Have Accomplished So Far.

I love helping people out, it really gives me a sense of purpose. I failed to mention that befor this whole endeavor, I continued to be an e-mail pen pal with two different men that were deployed over seas. They Greatly appreciated my time and loved hearing from somone living back home. Both are safely out of the war now. One is currently living in Michigan and the other in Florida.

This wasn't any burden on me. It took only a small amount of time to wirte the letters and it was just like having a conversation with one of my friends or family members. The difference was to see the reactions I got from this simple converstion, that gave me an amazing feeling. I believe that no matter your feelings on a war the U.S. is in we as citizens should always support our soldiers. They are giving years of their lives, to protect ours. This is worthy of at least appreciation from the people they are serving. I'm hoping to find more men or women that are in need of some human communication.

At Canterbury I have made a handful of people. I believe, truly happy over the three days I have been there so far. This makes me truly happy to see that I've made even the smallest difference in someone's life.

One woman that I sat down and talked to for over twenty minutes told me that she has no one to talk to because her family is busy and lives a couple hours drive away. She explained how glad she was to have someone to talk to and how she couldn't believe that at my age I was willing to give my time. But, that is truly what I live for is to help people and change their lives if only for a couple seconds. Just long enough to send a smile their way.

I met another lady who told me a very unfortunate story about her life (That I think she would rather i didn't broadcast to the world). But, she gave me advice that I will never forget. You have to set goals in your life and know what you want to accomplish. Planning your life out isn't necessary, but to set goals that you want to accomplish and having structure of how to carry out those plans will keep you going where you want to get in life.

What I want to accomplish during this project is to get the chance to see what my time and only my time can do to help people and so far my time has created smiles and cured loneliness for at least a short amount of time. It has not only given to others but its provided me with a simulation of a working environment and has shown me that things aren't as difficult as they may first seem.

I'm very excited to see that my time and mind will lead to next! I'm sure it will lead to many lasting memories and learning experiences.

--Melanie Lynn