Sunday Review Week 4 - No Good Deed Goes Un.......

Welcome to the Foolish Couple’s Sunday Review. Our work focuses on promoting healthy lifestyles.

Every Sunday, we review what happened over the past week. Incidents that went well, we celebrate, and when it’s not, we share with each other, honestly, without judgement. We learn from it and figure out how to prevent the same situation from happening again.

And every week, we conclude our review with 3 things:

1.      Billboard – A ‘wisdom’ that will inspire and motivate you

2.      Lesson – Something we learned relating to healthy lifestyle

3.      Memory – A memory of our time together as a couple

This week, it’s all about doing good.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished is a ‘wisdom’ that has been passed down for years. According to Google, the original quote came from Clare Boothe Luce (1903 – 1987).

Is there any truth to this? Perhaps.

Have you ever played with a cat and ended up with scratches all over you? I have

Have you ever spend many hours helping a friend, only to end up having a bad fight with that friend?

Have you ever opened up your heart to someone, only to have that person back stab you?

 We’ve all had some type of experiences where our ‘good deeds’ had somehow bite back at us. It’s like lending someone a knife so that he can stab you with it. Yet. We still continue to do good. Don’t we?

Charitable donations are a part of our lives. We give money to causes we believe in, we support companies with a social cause, we give our time to do volunteer work. We give other people hope by helping people who cannot help themselves. Last Christmas, one of our friends decided to donate the money to a charity that she believed in, rather then giving us a gift. That was possibly one of the best gifts we could get.

Then how do we get over the fear of ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished’? Aren’t you a little cautious when you hand over a knife to someone? To lend money to your brother? To open up your home to a friend? What if they stab you with the knife, steal from your home, or use that money against you?

Our brain is wired to protect us. Our survival instincts tell us to run for our lives when we’re chased by zombies. Especially when we had a bad experience. Our brain will warn us: Don’t do it again. Ever. Stay away. Be careful.

But if you think a little deeper. Your good deed was still good. Maybe it wasn’t appreciated, maybe you could’ve ‘protected your down side’. But the action was good. You just wasn’t ‘Rewarded’ the way you expected to be. You may not expect any concrete ‘reward’, but at least a small thank you, a gesture of appreciation. Instead, you got something a little nastier.

This week, here’s our good deed gone bad. Guess what happened?

This week we decided to donate blood platelets at Red Cross. Donating blood platelets is a little bit more involved then the traditional way of donating blood. During this type of donation, an apheresis machine collects the platelets and some plasma and returns the red cells and most of the plasma back to the donor. The procedure normally takes about 2 hours.

However, just like any medical procedure, things can go wrong. First, the needle went into the right arm. No problems. Then the left arm. I felt more digging in the left arm than the right and then a subtle ‘uh oh’, and then they quickly bandaged my arm and iced it while saying I won’t be able to donate today.

Confused with a throbbing left arm, I asked them, what happened?

While trying to get to my vein, they burst it and caused a hematoma. I was told to go home and apply ice on the arm for 10 minutes every hour and to contact the Red Cross if the bruising got worse.

The next morning, I ended up with a severe bruise, numbed forearm and fingers on the left arm, felt queasy for hours and spent more time visiting my family doctor to make sure there’s no permanent damage.

The diagnosis is that maybe they nicked one of my nerves during the procedure or the bruising is pushing on my nerves, and will likely take a few weeks to recover.

Is this going to stop us from ever donating blood again? Subconsciously, yes. But we know better. A little inconvenience on our part could make be a life changer for someone else. It is our privilege to be able to help and to give. There are millions of people in need: food, clothes, medication, clean water, glasses, blood, bone marrow. Find a way to give.

Until next time, Love what you Live, Live what you Love.

PS: If you love this article, do a good deed and share with your friends! You can use our links on the right sidebar to share on your Facebook or Twitter, or simply email them to let them know that you care about them.

Over the last few years, we worked hard to acquire new knowledge, and we took some time to decide where our hearts lie. This year, it is time to put that knowledge into good use. Publish all that we’ve learnt and release that to the public. We want to address an issue that was becoming a pandemic in this world, an issue that is close to our hearts.

We are cooking up something. And we spent our entire week on thinking, positively procrastinating, discussing, learning the trade, and devising our plan of action. One of the lessons that we learned from our past was that, the ultimate goal of a business is not for money, but to build a legacy. Which is why, this time, we’re working on a program that will teach the audience how to get a fighting chance to staying healthy through the years.

Interested? Make sure you’re on our email list by signing up below and we’ll keep you on the loop!

[The Foolish Couple, (Andrew and Minna), are Jack Canfield certified success coaches and founder of the Foolish Academy, focusing on Healthy lifestyle and Relationships.]

Website: www.TheFoolishCouple.com

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