The Magic of Giving
As people all over the world prepare to celebrate various winter festivals, now is as good a time as any to rediscover the magic of giving. Most traditions which celebrate winter festivals include the giving of gifts to friends and family members, but to really unleash the magic of giving it is a very good idea to make a point of giving to someone who isn’t a part of your ‘inner circle’. You could do this by giving money to a homeless person, by giving some of your time to a charitable project or simply by visiting individuals in need and offering them your friendship and support.
This kind of giving does not come with strings of any sort – you aren’t giving your time, money or support with a view to getting anything in return. Instead, you give as an expression of your humanity, and as a way of reminding yourself that ‘we are all in this thing together’. In essence, you are doing something which takes you out of the usual ‘individual against the world’ mindset and adopting a ‘part of the same team’ mindset which brings its own rewards.
When you remind yourself that nobody exists in complete isolation and that you are in fact part of a global society, you will rediscover a sense of connectedness which is much more lasting than any tangible gift that might be found under a Christmas tree. Giving to strangers at this time of the year (or indeed at any time of the year) helps to put your individual life in proper context and takes you out of the skewed perspective that there is any such thing as a stranger.
To paraphrase Will Rogers, ‘A stranger is just a friend that you haven’t met yet’, and perhaps the best gift you can give to yourself this year is to go out and finally meet a few of the friends that you don’t yet know. Not only will this enrich your life and help to give you a much broader perspective on things, it will also enrich the lives of the people you give to. Even if they don’t fully appreciate your gift of money, time or support straight away, they will certainly begin to appreciate that they are not alone.
We wish you all a peaceful and happy time over the festive period, and we look forward to giving you plenty more things to think about in the coming year.
Namaste.
