The Power of Giving – The Secret of an Abundant Life
On a recent retreat in Ecuador I had the privilege of witnessing a moving example of unconditional giving and most beautifully unconditional receiving. This was an act between two shaman, the one giving the other a treasured possession and the other receiving it with joy.
The details of what was given and how it all went down matter less than the deep impact it had on me and the gift of reminding me how confused we often get about the acts of giving and receiving and the role they play in living abundantly and yes – achieving financial freedom.
Giving is one of the most powerful principles of all time. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. It’s not new.
But do you actually do it? If you do give, do you do it in a big way, in a loving and trusting way, and without strings attached and expectations of some sort of trade? I used to resist giving, too. If I gave at all, it was a tiny amount. It took me a long time to realize that my not giving, or not giving freely, was sending messages to my mind such as “There isn’t enough,” “I won’t get any more,” “I might need this for an emergency,” “I feel safer with this in my pocket,” and so it goes. All fear based thoughts. All self-fulfiling prophecies.
Guess what? The more you hold on to that old limited thinking, the harder it really is to attract money and have it stay in your life. Your scarcity mindset simply won’t let it in.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
What can you do about that?
The marketer Dan Kennedy said – “The window you receive through is made bigger by the window you give through.”
Want to receive more? Then give more. It’s that simple.
But beware. There’s a lot of self-sabotage in this area.
I my own wealth studies, I kept coming across the power of giving and why it is some important to give but I still resisted. I understood the concept but I still made excuses.
I told myself that when I had reached a certain net worth, I would give. When I had “enough” income coming in then I would be in a position to contribute financially.
This kind of outlook never allows someone to give. This is because of our complex human nature which drives us us to seek for more, no matter what we may already have. The urge to get more never ends. Giving is a wealth habit and like all the other wealth habits I teach you must practice them to become wealthy not once your there. If you think you will suddenly find giving a percentage of what you make easier when you have loads, think again. You must start with what ever you have.
Another excuse I’ve heard is this:
“The company I work for gives some of their profits to charities, so I am giving through them.”
No, you’re not. Giving is when you give directly; when it comes out of your pocket.
And this, “I can’t afford to give money, so I give time and services gratis.”
That’s a type of giving and giving of yourself and your time is awesome. But, if you are wanting to increase your wealth it’s money you need to give.
I’ve also heard people say, “I’d give if I knew where to give.”
There is absolutely no shortage of opportunities to give. Give wherever you receive spiritual nourishment or where you get inspiration or to a cause you believe in. You know who inspired you today. You can be on the alert for who inspires you tomorrow. Just give.
And this one, “I feel uneasy giving money. I don’t know what they’ll do with it.”
Giving isn’t about needing to control what happens to the gift. The shamen wasn’t giving the gift with a whole bunch of instruction about what the other needed to do with it. Bob Proctor once said, “They can burn the money as far as I care.” Once you give it, it’s no longer yours. Let go. Trust.
When I first started giving money, I felt uncomfortable. I was leaving my comfort zone and pushing all my security boundaries. I was stretching limiting beliefs about there being enough until they finally snapped and dissolved. At that point, I started to receive money is a significantly bigger way.
Some might argue that I can give because I’m now wealthy, but that would be overlooking the fact that I got wealthy by giving in the first place.
I got wealthy by giving. I got wealthy by giving my all, by giving massive value in everything I do, by giving my money the attention and nurturing environment it needs to expand and grow and serve me and I got wealthy by giving and trusting that there is enough, that more will always flow in and that there is always enough to give.
“There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.”
– Kahlil Gibran
Giving is one of the most heart-expanding and exhilarating feelings. Being able to give drives me to create more, earn more, and make m money work harder.
You and I know one of the greatest money-attracting and life-enhancing secrets of all time: giving. And yes, you can get rich giving.
But the only way to find out if this really works is to actually go do it.
“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”
~ Anthony Robbins
One of the charities I support is The Small Enterprise Foundation. You can find out more about their amazing work here
Located in South Africa, the SEF, was established with a mission to fight poverty by enabling the poor to increase their income through microcredit for self-employment and by assisting them in the accumulation of savings.
SEF works to reach the very poor, those living in the bottom 50% of the population below the poverty line. In South Africa this means those living on less than $50 a month.
SEF starts working in a community by first identifying the poorest households.Thereafter, field staff go to these households to motivate the women to start an income generating activity. In other cases where a previous micro-business had collapsed the women are encouraged to resume that enterprise. The motivation provided by the field staff, combined with access to a small loan is often all the very poor need to launch an income generating activity or micro-enterprise.
While the poor may be motivated to start a micro-business one of their biggest hurdles is the lack of money to do so. It is here that SEF utilises an approach based on that pioneered by the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh to provide microcredit for micro-enterprise.
A poor person who wishes to access SEF’s services is required to form a group with four others whom she knows very well and trusts. Each of the five must wish to obtain a loan for their own individual business. The five group members are then required to guarantee each others’ payments. No other collateral is required.
Here is the conversation about The Power of Giving – The Secret of an Abundant Life
There is joy in giving.
However, let’s not forget that there is trial in every good thing. Nerver stop! no matter what.