I saw a conversation this week that reminded me about reciprocity and The Law of Giving.
I promise to keep these four promises:
1. Wherever I go I bring a gift. I may bring a compliment, a prayer, a trinket, a flower…but I promise I GIVE something to every person I encounter.
2. I promise to be a grateful receiver of the gifts that surround me, pausing often and noticing nature, kindnesses, smiles, and compliments, which I gladly RECEIVE with a “thank you.”
3. I promise to GIVE hope for joy, affluence, kindness, and love, consciously with every encounter, regardless of the brevity.
4. I promise to GIVE, without expectation of reciprocity, from the channels I enrich, because I know I am in the dynamic flow of GIVING and RECEIVING.
I always keep my promises. Jean
I have come to find these statements helpful. Promise 4 is where I learned that if I want to give, I do so from my heart and because I want to give — not because someone will reciprocate with appreciation. It’s nice when that happens, but we are in a constant flow of giving and receiving, and it comes from different sources.
Maybe Johnny doesn’t appreciate one awesome thing (or one little thing) I did to make his day better, but I received an unexpected gift that made my life better from Janie. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the gift from Janie — if I noticed it, I’m sure I would, but I often receive gifts I don’t recognize at the time to even know to appreciate them.
When I’m feeling underappreciated, I remind myself of Promise 4 and try to think of the many gifts I’ve received from other channels that I may not have noticed at the time. Promises 1-3 help with this.