Part 8: Personal Renaissance – Undo the Undone: “Compassion Without Action is a Waste of Emotion”

Can you see how compassion is a spiritual gift each of us has been given, and action is the best way we can honor that gift—action is the gift you can give to the world?

I encourage you now to find (or create) a beneficiary for at least one of the initiatives you’ve identified on your monthly Personal Renaissance Priority Sheet. In other words, figure out how you can help someone else by achieving a specific goal of yours this month. Once you see how powerful this is, you’ll probably want to start doing it on a regular basis.

Here’s an example: right after we returned from our trip to Haiti in early May, I turned my attention to the next big item on my agenda, an unusual fundraiser: A 24-hour “tire pull” over the Linton Bridge in Delray Beach which started at 5:00am May 25 and finished 24 hours later at 5:00am May 26. I called it my “24-Hour Bridge to Haiti.”

Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without the support of friends and, especially, my wife, Nilsa. More than 100 people showed up at the bridge throughout the day and night, both to encourage me and to support the beneficiary I’d chosen for this effort, our Caring House Project Foundation.

So let’s unpack that. First, what did I do, exactly? I strapped a 25-pound SUV tire to a deer drag harness (an apparatus used by hunters to drag their kill back to their cabins) attached to my waist and dragged it behind me, back and forth across the bridge, for 24 hours.

It’s an extreme workout designed to strengthen all the muscles I will use during my 8^th Death Valley Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon. Previously, the longest I’d pulled a tire was 6 hours. Most people find it tough to do this for even a half-hour. So why was I doing it for so long?

1) To train. As you know, my “Undo the Undone” objective is to return to Death Valley for the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon this summer. It starts July 15 and will take me 40 to 48 hours, nonstop, to complete. National Geographic calls it the toughest footrace in the world: air temperatures exceed 130 degrees, while ground temps on the black asphalt are 200+. I’ll experience 13,000+ feet of cumulative vertical ascent over three mountain ranges. Pulling a tire simulated the elevation gain, while the 24-hour duration gave me a dose of the sleep deprivation I’ll experience.

2) To share. I wanted to give people an opportunity to train with me, or to at least feel what it’s like to get ready for an athletic endurance event like this. Most of my training for the race is done alone, but since I would be in one location for 24 hours, it was a chance for people to come out and visit, and even to pull a tire for a lap or two, using a rig identical to mine. About 30 people took me up on this and did their own tire drag right along with me!

3) To raise money for our Caring House Project Foundation.People tend to be especially generous when I’m putting myself on the line for Haiti. Whenever I race at Badwater, I dedicate my efforts to the foundation. The funds we raise help us build entire self-sustaining villages, and thinking about our donors and the people who benefit from our work in Haiti are key motivators for me. I am willing to suffer for this brief period—pulling a tire, running a race—to help alleviate some of the suffering people experience all the time in the poorest country in the Americas.

You may have begun your Personal Renaissance with great enthusiasm and then let that fizzle out. Or maybe you’ve managed to keep the passion fires burning by staying focused on your end game, knowing that your commitment to this process is only until July, and you want to make the most of it. Then again, maybe you’ve abandoned this project altogether.

No matter what stage or state you’re in with this, I can promise you that this one principle—turning your compassion to action and, conversely, tying your actions to compassion—can make all the difference between a fleeting feeling of excitement (motivation or inspiration) and being the kind of person you feel in your heart that you can be, the kind of person you imagined becoming when you first felt drawn to your Personal Renaissance (aspiration).

Consider what cause or concern really moves you emotionally. Then let it truly move you to action. Figure out how you can link your personal objectives with something much greater than yourself, and then go do it. Be the person you imagined. Tap into your own greatness. Make your Personal Renaissance the grand adventure you know it can be.

Donate $1 for each hour at the bridge, or $24. Your donation will buy 5 chickens.https://m143.infusionsoft.com/app/manageCart/addProduct?productId=373

Donate $1 for every mile of my Death Valley Race, or $135. Your donation will provide 1,350 meals.https://m143.infusionsoft.com/app/manageCart/addProduct?productId=368

Donate $10 for every mile of my Death Valley Race, or $1,350. Your donation will build nearly half of a concrete home in Haiti!https://m143.infusionsoft.com/app/manageCart/addProduct?productId=370

If these donation options don’t suit you, see https://www.frank-mckinney.com/donate.aspx for others, some starting at $10.

Ways to Donate:

1) Via the online links provided above.

2) Call 561.722.3950 to donate over the phone.

3) Mail to Caring House Project, P.O. Box 388, Boynton Beach, FL 33425.