I had an interesting conversation with my friends last night about the idea of truly giving and then allowing others to give to us.  It really made me think about my own habits in this regard.

We were discussing the energy around this act of giving and receiving and found it very interesting to contemplate. 

To look at this simply, let's say you give someone a compliment.  You tell them how great they look.  And instead of saying thank you, they say "Oh, no I don't!  I still have 10 pounds I want to lose!  I have a long way to go."  How does that make you feel as the giver of the compliment?  Having to spend energy on justifying how great they really look.  "Oh yes you do!  LOOK at you!  You look fabulous!"  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

The energy involved in this communication is time consuming.  The "flow" of the compliment is lost in judgments, justifications, validation, small talk...all these things take away from that natural flow.  And do you think you will readily give that person a compliment again?  Maybe, but maybe not because it turned into an energy draining conversation.

Now let's apply that to other "things we do."  Keeping it simple, someone gives you homemade brownies in a Tupperware™ container.  You are grateful but then give it back to them filled with something else.  Ha - how many of you have done that?  Well it's the "right" thing to do right?  Or is it? 

What my friends enlightened me about was the true spirit of receiving...not giving....receiving.  We've all been educated in the spirit of giving.  In fact for some, it's been taught over and over again so much it's enough already! 

But who has taught us about the spirit of receiving.  Allowing that flow to come right up to you and you just stand there and receive it!  Hmmmm... I think I hear gasps....how can you do that?  Just take something without giving back?  That's so selfish!  What about even Steven, tit for tat.  What about keeping it fair....

The key is the Universe decides what is "fair", not us.  We are here to just give and just receive as it happens.  We don't need to plan it, make sure it happens, spend energy on creating "evenness" so we can feel good about giving or receiving something.  It just happens.

I sat there and really thought about this concept.  And it makes sense.  So - my challenge for the weekend and the week upcoming is to just give.  Do something for someone but they don't know it's you.  Maybe pay for the car behind you in the coffee line.  Drop off some homemade jam at your neighbor's house.  Something like that. 

Now even more difficult, when someone gives to you or does something nice for you, stop your thoughts in their tracks.  Release the need to figure out how you can "pay them back".  Just take it.  Say THANK YOU and be done.  Watch as your life unfolds with amazing gifts of joy and love and dare I say, abundance.

Go to our website