Give the Gift of Giving: Principles of Giving for Everyday Living

This article examines important principles of giving and how implementing these principles can enrich the quality of life.

Give to Yourself

Realize that you are important enough to matter. What gifts do you give yourself? Are you self-compassionate? Do you give yourself time to relax and recharge? Do you pamper yourself? If you do, you safeguard your emotional well-being.

Give Yourself the Gift of a Great Partner

Give yourself the gift of a great partner and you protect your emotional, mental and physical health. Do not settle for a partner who fails to show kindness, consideration and respect. Do not settle for a partner who’s a dullard. Do not settle for emotional or physical abuse. A partner’s beliefs, attitudes and habits will impact on you over the long-term. Take a hard look at these areas and choose wisely.

Give Yourself the Gift of Learning

We are never too old to embrace new skills, expanding our minds, our horizons, and our prospects. Learning and mastering new things helps to build self-confidence, making it easier to take on future challenges. Learning changes our perceptual road map, helping us to develop critical thinking skills; learning opens doors to greater opportunities and to a higher standard to living.

Give to Others

The saying that  “happiness comes from giving” is as true now as when it was first thought up. When you give out, with no expectation of return, you’ll be surprised at the blessings that come your way. As “way leads on to way” giving to others creates richness in your own life.

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Give Place to the Wrath

If someone has wronged you, work to let go of the anger and thereby give yourself the gift of peace. By giving place to the wrath, you do not allow the person who has angered you to hold your emotions captive. Their power to adversely affect you comes to an end.

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Give up Grudges

Carrying around a grudge can be like shouldering a toxic weight. We all know people who carry grudges for years, giving energy to a 30 or 40-year old event, failing to move forward in an emotionally constructive manner or in a positive direction. Giving up a grudge may be difficult but when you release it and let go of the bitterness, you become an ambassador for your own healing and well-being.

Give Kindness to Strangers

A smile, a thoughtful act, a kind word. These things cost so little yet make such a difference–not only to the person you have been kind to but in how it makes you feel. Look at the expressions on the two faces below.  Who would you rather deal with? The angry person or the smiling person?

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Give the Gift of Beauty

Create a home and a yard that reflects orderliness and beauty. By doing so you give yourself and your neighbors an aesthetic gift. Creating beauty feeds the spirit and inspires hope. In one experiment, a city slum was cleaned up: buildings were painted, garbage was hauled away, flowers were planted. Tenants started to care because they had been given a small grain of hope. This led to further efforts to make the neighborhood a place everyone could be proud of. 

Give to the Less Fortunate

When you act to help and heal others, you help and heal yourself. We are a global family. A ripple in the pond spreads out affecting the entire pond.

Give a Gift to the Universe

Send out loving healing thought energy. If thoughts are energy as is postulated,  a better world starts with better thoughts. Each person can do his or her part to create a global consciousness that embraces gentleness and purity, that champions compassion, harmony and love.

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Adopting these principles of giving spreads goodwill, interpersonally, communally, and globally.