I would be a little bit more discriminating. If the person is actually asking for help, it may be the time that we need to give it. I would tend to be more discriminating of offering our help to people who are not asking for it, because that may be where a lot of our energy is being dissipated. I don't believe we need to reject others. If we need time to ourselves at that particular time, we may just have to say to come back later, rather then rejecting them. But sometimes you may find that you do have the energy if that person is really needing help and asking for help to give it, because they may be ready. We have to consider whether they are ready, really asking for help at that time. Because we have to be careful about rejecting a person who is actually asking for help because it may be our last opportunity, it may be their last opportunity also if they're asking for help. Certainly we can't be there for everybody all the time, but everybody is usually not asking us for help, and not all the time either. So, we have to draw limits about these things and have appropriate times for giving, and appropriate times for giving to ourselves.
It's quite important too, I've heard too many stories, for example, someone called up their daughter and said they weren't feeling well, could they come over, and the daughter said, "Oh it's the middle of the night I'll come over in the morning." Unfortunately, the mother died that night. We have to be careful about how much we think we need. Reflecting on death often will bring up the energy to give when we really can give at times. But certainly we can't give 24 hours a day, and we have to find some balance, but be careful about discriminating when you say no. At least that's what I would do. Seeing whether the situation is a situation where it would be good for us to give at that time and not be so concerned about whether we're tired and whether we need some space for ourselves, because the attitude of generosity at that time may actually be very important and allow us not to have any regret in the future. I guess, it's again discriminating between whether a person is really asking for help or whether they're just wanting to tell us their problems. Sometimes that can help them too. It depends on how far they go, because we have to have some boundaries as well and take care of ourselves. Knowing when to help and when not to help is often very difficult.