Over the Holidays you will probably hear a lot of talk about "giving on to others" and about "Peace on Earth." In fact, you may have already heard so much verbiage on these topics that you are becoming ambivalent towards them. For some of us, ideas like "Peace," "Goodwill," and "Charity' are holiday cliches that register as hollow in our hearts and minds. This is indeed a pity, but it does not come as much of a surprise.
How can we expect people in our culture to take seriously the ideas of "giving of themselves" and "striving for Peace," when, for the other eleven months of the year, our society is fuelled by greed, selfishness and cold-heartedness? It seems to me to be illogical to expect people to suddenly change their outlook on life for 30 days out of the year without becoming a tad cynical. What we need is a re-education on the personal benefits of giving. We need to re-tool the way we perceive of giving, in such a way that people start to see the act of giving in a new and fresh way. People must come to see that giving is one of the greatest opportunities that life will ever bring their way.
Giving is a great opportunity that should never be passed over. It is empowering. This is hard for many people to understand, but it is true. Spiritual teachers from around the world and across time have counseled us that, when we give from our hearts, much more will be given back to us. This is true in so many different ways. The act of giving offers important life lessons, and the more you give the more you will learn. It strengthens your character and helps you develop an inner peace. Truly generous people feel a love for others and are, in return, loved by others. They are passionate people who love life and experience great joy in simply living. They have lots of energy, and they feel lucky. Who wouldn't want to feel like this all the time? What's stopping us from giving from our hearts all year long?
Mostly, I find that people are reticent to give of themselves because they come from a mental predisposition where they believe that they have been hurt by life and, if they give up what they have, they will end up, at the end of the day, with less. This attitude is nothing less then fearful. And it is misleading. While no one can deny that life is difficult, and sometimes painful, if is also true that life is a precious gift. Even the uncomfortable stages that we go through are opportunities to grow, learn and develop. You can spend your life resisting the processes of development, or you can embrace what life gives you and celebrate this great opportunity that we have been given to simply be alive. And the best way to celebrate the gift of life is to give it away all over again. In doing so, we create positive energy in our lives. We feel great, and good things seem to happen to us.
It all starts by seeing the act of giving as actually being a process of giving back. We have been given life, and we have also been given a great opportunity to give back for all that we have received through life. And every time we give back, we receive more all over again. You might call it a modern-day miracle. However you want to look at it, any time is a good time to plant the seeds of positivism in your heart and mind. They will sustain your sense of goodwill throughout the whole year.
