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Our abilities
to give and receive are at the core of our capacity to create and
experience true prosperity.
We each
receive certain gifts when we come into this life. These gifts
take the form of our special talents, interests, and attributes, as
well as our universal human characteristics, such as our ability to
love and care for one another.
When we do
our best to live our truth and express ourselves as authentically as
possible, sharing ourselves as we are genuinely moved to, we
naturally give our gifts to others and to the world.
In return, we
may receive acknowledgement, appreciation, validation, nurturing,
love, and in certain circumstances, money or other material
rewards. Receiving in these ways allows us to replenish the
life force we have "spent," which in turn enables us to
continue giving.
So receiving
and giving are opposite energies that are inextricably linked
together in the natural flow of life, like inhaling and
exhaling. If one aspect of that cycle doesn't function, the
entire cycle ceases to function and the life force cannot move
freely. If you can't inhale, you will soon have nothing to
exhale, and before long, your body will be unable to continue
living.
This may seem fairly simple and obvious, yet we have enormous confusion in
this area. Many of us have difficulty with giving, receiving,
or both.
In my
observation, the more common problem is the inability to truly
receive. There are a number of reasons why receiving is
difficult for so many of us. Certainly, one factor is cultural
conditioning. Giving is generally viewed as honorable and
praiseworthy. Receiving, or taking, seems perilously close to
selfishness, which has a lot of negative connotations for most of
us.
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