"We get what we give" is a universal law that is examined in this essay
This is a story about making a choice – the choice between getting and giving.
{googleads}I was talking to my friend, Patricia, about what I was doing – that I was giving away a dollar, every day. And, I have to admit, I had an agenda… I wanted her to start doing it, too. She had confided in me about her husband being out of a job, and how she was being forced to go back to work as the primary breadwinner, something she wasn’t too thrilled about. I knew their situation, and the truth was that they weren’t that bad off financially. To my surprise, though, Patricia’s response was, “I'm just not ready to do this. I don't have enough yet to be able to justify this.” They weren’t exactly “rolling in the dough”, but I knew that they could at least afford to let go of a dollar a day.
Here’s what I was thinking – to give away, to release, or to let go of something that you fear to lose or that you have too tight of a grip on, is the ultimate test of faith. But Patricia just wasn’t ready. When we started talking about all that faith and trust stuff, she got that glazed look in her eyes, as though she was desperately trying to find the nearest exit door…
To put this more in metaphysical terms, I would say that my friend wasn’t ready to trust in the unlimited supply of abundance from Source. She needed “proof” first. And, in my judgment, what lay just underneath the surface of that was fear – the fear of not having enough, the fear of losing whatever little was left, and the fear of never being replenished anew.
So that all of this makes a little more sense, I should probably share with you at this point what I mean by giving away a dollar a day. This is something that I actively practice in my life right now. And it’s just like it sounds. Every day, I give away a dollar – always in a public place so that someone will find it (and PROSPER from it), and I usually do it anonymously. This way, in addition to increasing their prosperity, I’m also creating joy and surprise for whoever finds it later on!
Now there’s a real good reason why I started doing this in the first place. I’m a father and a husband, a degreed engineer, and I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent man. But about a year ago, I had come to the end of a streak where I had lost most of my (and my family’s) money – all due to some really irresponsible mistakes I had made a few years earlier. I couldn’t blame anyone else; I was solely responsible for getting us into this mess.
Being faced with a real bleak financial outlook, I didn’t know where to turn or what to do next, and was starting to get scared that we were going to go under or that bankruptcy might be around the corner. Thankfully, I had devoted myself to a personal prayer and meditation practice at the time – and it was here where I so gratefully received the inspiration from Spirit to begin to let go of the tight grip I had on money by giving away a little every day.
Oh, it was an inspirational nudge alright, but I have to tell you it sounded really weird, and it didn’t make any sense at all. Yet, in a strange way, it felt like the very thing that I needed to do. So since nothing else was working, I decided to let go and trust this process, and to begin to develop the habit of every day giving, even if it was only in the small amount of a dollar each time. Our financial situation began to turn around after only a few short months… I landed a really awesome new job making a lot more money… and I just began to feel all around happier with my renewed sense of making a positive difference for others!
I already mentioned that I give away each time in a public place, and that I do it anonymously. In a way, it’s like tithing, but with a couple of subtle differences – because when I give away anonymously, I’m not making it about me. It’s about whoever else finds it; it’s for their increase. I also don’t keep track of how much I give, and don’t write any of it off as a tax deduction, because I don’t want to inject any of my own personal agendas or needs into this daily giving. I guess another way to say this is that I give away unconditionally, without the expectation of anything in return.
But you know something, I do know the way the Universe works – as do most of us – and that’s that we get what we give. This is so Universal that it has even been referred to as the Law Of Giving. Most of the Law Of Attraction tools nowadays seem to only focus on the getting, more-more-more, bigger-better-faster. If we're not careful, we might completely overlook the essential piece… giving.
When we focus on giving, we bring our lives back into balance. And we get back into flow with the Universe, by demonstrating our openness to that flow, and our belief in flow. To some, a dollar may not seem like much, but to others, it could be a real stretch. It’s not the amount that’s important – it’s OK if you can only give away a dime. What matters is your demonstration, in faith, to the Universe, and to yourself, that you have enough to be able to give away every day… And to be able to get back into flow with the Universe.
You may have heard the phrase “act as if”. If this idea of every day giving calls to you, then I suggest that when you give away a dollar (or a dime, or whatever you can), act as if you have enough, enough to be giving away. In fact, I often silently say to myself, “because I am able to give away this dollar today, I have more than enough in this very moment”. Read that one more time… it’s pretty powerful! When I “act as if”, I am making a demonstration, and a declaration, that I already have more than enough right now!
I don’t think Patricia believes in the Law Of Giving… at least not yet. She can be pretty skeptical about things, especially those unseen. She needs proof that something is going to work before she commits to doing it. Sadly, this is the exact opposite of faith. (I think it’s also the destroyer of faith, because it is the need for the Universe to prove something to us before we take action…)
I know from personal experience that letting go in trust and in faith, and giving a small amount every day is one of the best ways to heal prosperity issues. Instead of focusing on lack, or worrying about the economy and the price of gas, or fearing your financial situation, why not begin to give away a dollar, or a quarter, or a dime, a day, however and wherever you choose? Yes, I know that this all may sound quite backwards, but this is exactly how we go about creating powerful, and permanent, shifts within.
My hope is that Patricia will soon join me in applying the Law Of Giving, where she can make the shift over to unconditional giving, without the expectation of anything in return… while at the same time knowing, and holding in her heart, that the Universe does and will continue to do a pretty good job of taking care of the details.
In closing, I want to share with you this quote that I absolutely love – “Most times, we think that we don't have anything to give. Yet, if we look more closely, we'll see that even the little we have could be shared with others. Let us not wait for a time when we think we'll have lots and then we'll give. By giving and sharing the little we have, we open up the storehouse of the universe and permit rivers of good to come our way.” (From "The Power Of Giving" by John Harricharan).
Todd's blog at http://toddsilva.com and website at http://giveawayadollaraday.com are all about healing in prosperity issues and bringing balance back into your life through every day, unconditional giving.