Dr. Remen distinguishes between helping, fixing, and serving:
“Many times when we help we do not really serve… Serving is also different from fixing. One of the
pioneers of the human potential movement, Abraham Maslow, said ' if all you have is a hammer, everything
looks like a nail.' Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere, to sit in
judgment of life itself.
When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers
trust their own expertise. When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it
and strengthen it. Others may then be able to see the wholeness for themselves for the first time. Helping,
fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak,
when you fix you see life as broken, when you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the
work of the ego, and service the work of the soul."
Describe how this distinction between helping, fixing, and serving resonates with you.
Do you agree or disagree?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, poet and founding father of the
transcendentalist movement said “The purpose of life is not to be happy; it is to be useful, to be
compassionate, and to have made some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Describe what you believe this quote means and how it relates to you and your future career. - At whatever level of comfort you feel that you can share, describe a very challenging time in your life
and how the support of another was instrumental in serving you.
Describe the situation and the range of feelings you experienced. Who provided support?
What did they say or do? How did this experience impact your life?
Sample Solution