giving

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Friends Are Like That

Jump 4 Joy!

Good morning Beautiful People,

The following text is a gratitude poem. But because I’m temporarily inept in using this blog platform, alas, I had to convert it into paragraph form.

Dear Friends, how much I thank you!

You broke my fall into an abyss of despair. You added me to your holiday guest list,  and sent me fabulous people links and web links to boost my morale, to boost my knowledge, to boost my income.

Thank you Friends for confiding in me.

You trusted me to guard your worst fears and ‘hideous’ wants and secrets.  And thanks for safeguarding mine! We taught each other those things that we ourselves had not grasped. All that sincere sharing grew us, especially me, hopefully you too.

Thank you Friends for playing my playmate—

Did we not wake up our carefree, giggly, silly selves? So much fun had we, to be responsibly irresponsible & spontaneous! Being immune to disciplinary stares in public places, we modeled pure joy.

Thank you Friends who pretended to be strangers passing in a flash.

You reflected back to me what I needed to examine & keep me synchronized in integrity. Thank you for being a caretaker when the babyish me was bigger than the adult me…You provided a refuge so that i could lick my wounds from battling the invisible war in my head.

Thank you Friends for applauding my little successes.

You have been my first row fans & competent critics who pointed me to excellence. Without you, I would exist as vapor…unable to stand upright in the world.

Thank you Friends for your sunrise concert, your upbeat chatter & wing flapping…

Just before you dove faster than fighter jets from roofs to grab beaks-full of dry stalks or balls of green moss, weeds & loose gravel from my balcony garden; and peeled off dead slivers of bark to build the most exquisite weather-proof houses, meticulously arranging one piece at a time. What presence! What intelligence! What love! You show me how to design with finesse.

Thank you Friends for reminding me of “seed of potential.”

How wise you are to speak loudly & clearly without an audible voice! You bend with the tempest without breaking. You shed yourself bare & bow low in gratitude, reverence for life. Every time I look towards my balcony there you are—growing, forever elegantly, new leaves & limbs & bark with original color schemes to attract the perfect residents. You are allowing your own seed of potential to flourish to its fullest.

I thank you past & future, my ghost Friends, for making it plain how you do not exist.

Past is a pretty synonym of mental cemetery: A favorite, highly frequented spot where human beings indulge in exhuming the same old bones gone to dust, the material used to build a feared or longed for future. Because ‘you are not,’  I have returned to living fearlessly: I create right now & I experience the results right here in my consciousness!

Thank you critter Friends: especially the spider that weaved a web across my window that attracted strange teeny-weeny critters that left unsightly stains that compromised my view. So I sprayed vinegar water to chase it away.

The next morning, spider had constructed a new more elaborate web. This time I thoroughly cleaned my window of web & stains. But on day three, a new web just as beautiful had trapped several tiny critters frantically attempting to escape. What is your message Friend?

“Never give up! Give total attention to your intention. If failures seem endless, do what you do better until your intention is manifested”.…Yes, Spider is me.

Thank you Friends–the light, air, earth & water that sustain this physical body; the mind that designs my whole life experience: this planet playground in which I have fun trying out my talents & gifts; examining results (what is, a finished product); contemplating cause & effect to expand my awareness & capacity to give more of the limitless reservoir of love intelligence that I am.

Thank you Friends. Thank you.

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Giver or Taker—Is there a difference?

Giver or Taker—Is there a difference?

Giving is Love in action. It appears as a strong persistent desire to express itself–a nagging urge that self-transmutes into an intention or decision to give something that will highly benefit others (people, animals, vegetation, the earth, stars) and to get well paid for it.  However, the offering itself feels more important than  concern for remuneration. Why? We know already that unrelenting giving is the magic potion for lifelong happiness and ever-expanding prosperity. It is the only guarantee that I know of for receiving continuous streams of  significant income and incredible opportunities to express more  of our potential and countless other desirable things.  A key is to give repeatedly the best thing in the best way, then inevitably, an assortment of the best things rush in from all directions.

Giving makes living super simple, fun, spontaneous, fearless, easy, fresh, inspiring, harmonious, beautiful, rich, varied, flowing, light and nice, regardless of appearances surrounding us that scream the contrary. It flattens the wrinkles in events that induce sadness. All actions, the doing, are inspired from the urge to share with others the things we most enjoy: the talents and gifts we were born with. And each individual on this planet has something to give that is needed today, right where we are standing.

However, don’t think for a moment that giving starts and stops with vocation. Giving is a round-the-clock activity. It includes the whole physical experience to practice complete “yes.” Okay, but what does it mean to give if you don’t know what or how?  Start by asking the Self (God, Being, One…):

What is the best thing I can GIVE right now, in this moment?

Then immediately do what the Voice (intuition) tells you, totally trusting its intelligence and the feel-right feeling about it. Go all the way, do your best from start to finish. Even if the best thing is to relax in a chair and stair at the ceiling for an hour. Surrender to the moment. We might be instructed to call up someone to channel a message or do something inhabitual that will result in a business connection or ask for forgiveness or forgive or allow a lonely stranger to share their story about something trivial or take responsible actions on an unresolved situation. (Fret not! For the questioning, plus doing, leads us to the work that we came here to deliver to the world.) When an activity feels complete, repeat the question/response until just before falling asleep. You will be gleefully surprised the next morning.

I have discovered that by repeatedly posing this simple question and doing what the response instructed me to do has dissolved several long-standing challenges. Even if I forget and momentarily revert back to taker mode, which I will elaborate on in just a minute.

Once we are clear about our vocation, we will need to practice sabotage prevention tactics. Otherwise, drifting ever so solidly into the ‘No, I can’t, so I’m taking my share” mode will spoil our chances for happiness and prosperity.

— Eckhart Tolle says: “Be total in what you do.” I explain: give undivided attention to what you are now doing; engage each act with care and appreciation; and only do one thing at a time. This includes chores, interacting with a difficult person, etc.

— Use your inherent talents to fill a current need in the world, benefitting countless numbers of recipients.

— Feel appreciation for everyone (if possible tell the person), including so-called strangers. There is always something admirable regardless of appearances or behavior.

— Consistently show kindness towards your body by giving it the nourishment, rest, movement, pampering, intimacy and protection it requires for optimum, harmonious functioning.

— Consistently show appreciation for your mind by choosing thoughts that expand creative expression, intelligence and kindness, induce fresh ideas, happiness, love and invites pure thought or direct knowing.

—  Think and speak about and promote only the positive in the person, thing or situation.

— Inspire the best in everyone you encounter.

— Give the benefit of doubt without exception.

—  Allow space for all the seasons of life. Every situation, condition, event is fleeting. Allow the  inevitable, natural coming and going of all life forms.

— Do only what you really want to do…or need to do in this moment.

— Think and feel complete “yes” to what is (surface reality), while remaining acutely aware of the background Reality whose perfectness never changes.

— Be completely disinterested in malicious gossip: ridiculing yourself nor anyone else, cracking jokes at the other’s expense, breaching confidences, jealousy, defacing people, trying to be superior or inferior.

Now that we know what and how to do, before we jump into action, let’s assess our current level of readiness, our knowledge of subtle traps that await the slightest deviation from integrity—that flash of smugness, fear of you-name-it that distorts reason, seducing us to be takers and hoarders for fear of lack in the near future. I invite you to ponder the following questions and be totally honest with yourself!

— Am I ready to be happy, self-reliant and prosperous?

— Am I commited to listening to and following my intuition exclusively?

— Can I commit to going all the way to give my best?

— Am I okay with exhibiting love in public by giving to every person (no exceptions) as I want others to give to me?

Unless we can sincerely answer “yes,” we will not be able to sustain commitment long enough to bring our vocation into visibility.

A word about takers. They aggressively act, depending on the situation, overtly or covertly. Their doing arises from the survival mode: instinctive, very present, unpredictable or hard driven efforting, take all & leave nothing for others, burdened by scarcity beliefs—fear of loss, lack, limitation, failure, ridicule, entrapment, the unknown, losing market position. The taker believes their physical self is the sole doer yet worries about their vulnerability. They almost always sacrifice health, family, intimacy and relaxation in order to succeed in squeezing out the other as much as possible. Takers are the primary ambassadors of the medical, pharmaceutical and recreation drug industries. They support ther mega pofits scraped off the backs of unaware people. There’s a taker in each of us: BEWARE.

In sum, commit to giving your best to the best thing in the best way 24/7 and you will begin to harvest the best today.

I will post more on this subject in the near future.

Please share your ideas, comments below. I really want to hear from you! And I will respond.

Enjoy your harvest,

Thandiwe

Copyright (C) 2010 by Thandiwe Chappot, One is Two®, thefemininefeminine® (a blog), 
Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this article, blog post, web links, only in its entirety, intact, and provided credits and copyright are acknowledged.