Today's
Meditation:
I've always had a bit of difficulty in giving because
I've always been afraid of ending up not having enough for
myself. I may want to give a significant amount of
money to a charity, but I fear running out of money
eventually. A lot of this is typical of an Adult
Child of an Alcoholic-- after all, when an entire paycheck
disappeared within a weekend of heavy drinking, the rest
of the family had to do without for a whole month.
So we learned to fear running out of things, which makes
giving of what we have much more difficult.
I've learned since then, though, that giving almost never
causes great hardship, especially when one gives wisely
and examines what one has before giving. In fact,
I've learned that giving seems to open up a flow of more
coming to me-- the more I've given, the more I've
had. It's very strange how it works, but it's very
real. Perhaps it's psychological, and my giving
makes me feel better about myself, which in turn makes
others feel better about me. Perhaps it's the Law of
Attraction in action. I don't know why or how it
works, but it does-- "you get most by giving
most."
It often happens that what I get isn't the same as what I
give, of course. I may give of my time, and end up
receiving something else entirely. I may give of
money, and end up receiving food. Once I let go of
my expectations of what I should be receiving, I
allow life to give me what it knows I need rather than
what I think I should get.
It's a shame that so much fear keeps us from giving of our
goods, our love, our compassion, our money, our
time. We really do ourselves and everyone else a
favor when we decide to be givers, and we contribute much
more to the world as a whole when we give than we do when
we focus on keeping what we believe to be
"ours."
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