Being Available

If you live in Los Angeles or any major metropolitan city where time is money and trends are set, not being available is an indication of your importance. Highly sought after hair stylists can have appointments booked months in advance and charge upwards of thousands of dollars. Getting a table at some restaurants is synonymous to joining an exclusive club for an evening. Industry movers and shakers have teams of people weeding through their correspondences and social media accounts, responding on their employers behalf because, unfortunately, he or she is not available at the moment.

For individuals of even modest influence, there will certainly be an army of people waiting at the ready to waste your time with solicitation, needed favors and so forth, but what if we all made ourselves available to help one other when it really matters.

There are so many stories of people being stranded in their cars due to a break down or inclement weather who are rescued by complete strangers, giving of themselves and their time to help someone through an ordeal that most can relate to.

There are also stories of people screaming for help in the midst of being robbed or even raped with dozens of bystanders and passersby not even acknowledging what is happening. They feel sorry for what has happened but the excuses for not helping range from, "It was none of my business," "I was late for something," "There was nothing I could do," etc.

In these instances, where personal harm is a real possibility, fear is the biggest preventative of people making themselves available to help someone else, but there are plenty of instances in our day to day lives where we can extend ourselves just a smidgen outside of our self absorbed day, to bestow a kindness onto someone else.

Being helpful is not solely beneficial to the benefactor of that gesture. A few months ago, I was working the RAT Beach Bike Tour in Redondo Beach, CA. I had to be there very early and when it came time for me to leave, I was only focused on getting home and going back to bed. As I returned to my car, I noticed a young woman struggling with a flat tire.

To make a long story short, I changed her tire well before the roadside assistance crew arrived and she and I became Facebook friends. She thanked me profusely and offered to take me out and buy me drinks, but there was no compensation greater than the feeling I felt.

In that moment I was a hero, albeit, a small one. And to think, I could have ignored her because it was none of my business, but I decided to make myself available to the world, and in that moment, to her.

From a Karmic standpoint, I believe making myself available has played a huge role in maintaining the stability of my life in the midst of such turbulent times. I have dealt with job loss and numerous other struggles, but through it all, I have been given exactly what I have needed at exactly the right times, allowing me to continue to ascend the ladder of progress.

Be eternally grateful to those who have made themselves available to you, be they your friends, family or strangers. But more importantly, follow their example.