The gift of giving

Okay people, exciting news. Last night I read a little book with a little story, and it is one of the most powerful stories I have read in a long time. It only took a couple of hours to read the entire book and it was a great, no spectacular, investment in my time. I didn't learn much new stuff, but it was an awesome reminder of some of the great things that I know already.

Oh, yes, the book is called 'The Go-Giver,' the strap line is "A little story about a powerful business idea" and it is written by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I sincerely invite you to invest a couple of hours of your time in reading this great story. Read and then apply in your life for great results.

As the title hints, the book is about giving. You'll have to read the story for yourselves, but the principles are ageless and timeless.

In the Christian scripture it is written, "give and you shall receive." The old testament refers to giving 10% of your crops, a practice called 'tithing', which many traditions still encourage.

The tricky thing here is that if you are only giving in order to receive, it won't work. The giving needs to come from your heart, from a genuine passion to help people, to provide service and to improve things for others. When we make our desire for others happiness our motivation, yet do that, not because we seek approval, but because we know how fabulous it feels to be happy and we want to support others to feel the same thing, then we find universal intelligence lining things up in what I call divine synchronicity.

Life just gets better and better as you come from a place of, "How may I serve?" and not, "What's in it for me?"

This story comes from the Native American tradition. Once a year each member of the tribe would go to the great river. They would walk out into the flowing water and turn to face down stream. Standing with their arms open they would release everything from the previous year that no longer served them. With the feelings and their mind they would let go and allow the constant rush of the water to cleanse them and take away all the old stuff. When empty, they would give thanks and then turn about, to face upstream. Opening their arms again, they would then allow the flowing water to fill them up, refresh them and recharge their energy for the year ahead. When full they would give thanks once again and return to the land.

We live in a reciprocal universe. We have all heard the phrase 'what goes around comes around', this is the principle of circulation or reciprocity.

Giving and receiving are one and the same thing. You have to be willing to receive just as much as you have to be willing to give, for if there were no one to receive you could not give. How often have you not received a compliment graciously? Have you ever received a gift and said to the giver, "Oh you shouldn't have?" I'm sure you, like me, have experienced the bliss of giving a gift, be sure that you allow someone to feel that bliss when they give to you.

Imagine yourself in the flow of life, allowing yourself to give without thought to keeping score and receiving in equal measure. When we find our self in this place life feels so magnificent.

Today I give for the pure bliss of giving.  I approach every situation with the question, "How may I serve?" I let go of keeping score and I embrace all my gifts with gratitude.