I recently had an interesting experience that brought me face to face with the true essence of giving. It was a special day for a friend of mine and I wanted to be part of their happiness by celebrating with the person. As usual I went out of my way to get what I thought was a perfect gift and took keen interest in all the small details so as to ensure that it was perfect. When the time came to deliver what I had prepared, I did so with so much joy, passion and enthusiasm expecting a similar kind of response. To my shock, I was met by a cold response that felt more like colliding with a brick wall. Human nature teaches us to give with a particular expectation on the part of the recipient and that was my position. I brushed it off and let the celebration go on all the way.
Later on as I reflected on my day, I recollected my day’s experiences and what I could learn from them. This particular experience stood out from among them all. It kind of bothered me that my gift was not received the way I had anticipated. Right there it dawned on me that the true essence of giving is the ability to do so without any kind of expectation or condition attached to it. This was a real awakening for me. I retraced back my steps to the motive as to why I decided to do what I did in the first place. The initial motive was to celebrate with my friend and yet the amount of effort I had put into this preparation made me feel like I should be appreciated for what I had done. Which in any case is justifiable and pure courteous.
Someone said; do not ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. I guess in this case, it was more about what I could do to celebrate this special event with my friend and not what this person could do for me in return. There is so much beauty in just being able to give without an ounce of expectation from the recipient. This low moment taught me a very vital lesson in life that I intend to live out.
When we offer our lives for the betterment of the lives of others, we have nothing to lose but everything to gain whether they ever appreciate us or not. Look at it from the perspective of sowing seeds in anticipation of a fruitful harvest. For every single act that we do, we sow a seed that soon brings us a harvest in due course. This is the law of Karma- what goes round will come around. With this kind of perspective, one can never grow weary of doing what is right because then you set in motion the positive energy that makes the world a better place. We ought not to grow weary of doing well because in due course we will reap a bountiful harvest. Never been broken by the responses of other people, just keep sowing the right seeds by doing what is right regardless of what it costs you.
Each day we are presented with countless opportunities to give and to better the lives of other people. Sometimes our past experiences hinder us from wanting to do more or even to step out of our comfort zones. This ought not to be the case if we fix our focus on making the world a better place. Every single act of kindness, sends a wave of positive energy across the globe that will soon come back to you in a reloaded version and the cycle continues. Let’s make the world a better place by being the change that we want to see. Send the energy that you desire to receive and the cycle will never end. The true essence of giving is being able to give out of love, sincerity and for a noble cause.
