The Gift of Giving

According to the world’s standards, whenever you give something away, you have less of it. Keep giving, according to such standards, and you run the risk of running out completely. But that’s really not the way things work.

Take love, for instance. If you were this moment to tell someone you love and support them, would that diminish the amount of love you have to give? Of course it wouldn’t. Your ability to love would not be diminished in the least by your giving. When you bless another person, does that mean you have one less blessing left to share? No. Giving a blessing to another does nothing to reduce the number of blessings you have to give.

Love and blessings are energy. Money is energy, too. The primary difference between the three is that we think of the first two as being intangible while we believe the third to be a tangible commodity. But actually the third is no more tangible than the other two. It is just an idea, which we occasionally attach a physical symbol to, but whether the symbol is attached or not, the fact remains that first and foremost money is an idea. And ideas are thoughts and thoughts are energy and energy may change forms, but it doesn’t run out. Ever.

Here’s a hypothetical situation: Not too long ago, I called my bank to request that money be taken out of my account and wired to a friend’s account. During this exchange, I did not personally touch the money. Nor did the cashier who honored my request. I simply put a thought into words and spoke those words to her. To accomplish the favor I requested, she electronically moved numbers from one account to another. The numbers may have been temporarily lowered in my account, but that was rectified the next day by another exchange of energy in the form of a deposit. Nothing was exchanged accept energy, and like all of nature there was a going out and a coming in: all part of the natural ebb and flow.

Those who believe they will have less of after giving, of course, are likely to experience a longer period of lack, but only because they are expecting to do so. When anyone experiences sustained lack for any period of time, it is simply because they’ve accepted the world standard as being valid. It has become their reality.

There is a higher standard, however, where giving is exchanging energy and where the more you give the more you will have to give, and the less you give the less you will have to give.

My own personal experience has been that when I give, the more excited, energetic and joyful I feel. I love the way I feel when I give to others, whether it is time, money or blessing. I have come to accept giving as a vital step on my own personal path to becoming who I want to be.

I also personally believe that unless I am willing to give first, I am only making it more difficult for me to receive. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to do that.

To illustrate my point, I have a couple of little experiments I’d like for you to try. First, I’d like for you to take a very deep breath. Pull as much air into your lungs as you possibly can and then hold it for five or ten seconds. Don’t let any of the air out. Keep your lungs full.

Now try to breathe in some more air without letting any air escape from your lungs first. You can’t can you? If you don’t first make way for more, you cannot receive more.

In the second experiment, I’d like for you to take a dollar bill or a close equivalent in each hand and then close your fingers tightly around it. You’ll probably need to wad the bills so they’ll fit beneath your fingers. Hold both hands tightly closed. Now put your hands out in front of you, still tightly closed, and ask someone to give you another dollar bill. Try to grasp the bill without letting go of the first ones that you are already holding tight. You may be able to hold on to one or two with a bit of maneuvering, but you won’t be able to do it for long. Were someone to continue handing dollar bills to you, it would not be long before you could no longer grasp any more without first opening your hands.

As both experiments prove, you cannot receive until you have first given. Giving is part of the receiving process.

We are built to both give and to receive. To expect to do one without doing the other is like sitting on one end of the teeter totter expecting to have a good time going up and down while refusing to allow anyone to sit on the other side.

In times of difficulty, it is always easy for us to become so focused on our problems that we become totally centered on self. Giving helps us to escape that trap. It pushes us up, just as surely as someone else sitting on the other end of the teeter totter lifts us from the ground. Through the simple exchange of energy by giving to another, we find ourselves buoyed with uplifting and joyfully rewarding energy.

Giving reminds us that we are limitless beings living in an infinite universe.

Giving helps us push past our boundaries.

Giving makes us feel abundant.

Giving helps us grow.

Giving is a gift we give ourselves.