Even
after
all this time
the sun never says to the earth,

“You owe me.”

Look
what happens
with a love like that—
it lights the whole
world.
—Hafiz

 

Real gifts are not a tit for tat experience. It’s not a gift if you expect something of equal or greater value back. That’s a form of manipulation and expression of entitlement. True gifts are given without conditions. They are given because one person has something that will help another person in some way, maybe in a tangible way such as money or food, but it is just as likely to be something intangible that acknowledges and encourages the other person. We give our gifts because that makes life easier and happier for everyone.

We all have many gifts that can be given at any time: smiles, kind or sympathetic words, time, patience, acceptance, not to mention the ones particular to each of us. I have a wonderful ability to see postural and movement patterns. You may be especially gifted at understanding and explaining technology or at drawing. By sharing our gifts, we get to experience the joy of them twice—first in actually using them and then in the anticipation that you get to use them also.

When we give our gifts freely, we aren’t attached to the outcome or response to that gift. We know we’ve given our best in the moment, and that our best changes according to our energy level, our emotional resilience and our ability to see what the other person truly needs. In this moment, I have chosen each word carefully, hopeful that it reaches you with an encouraging message. Let’s light the world with our gifts!