Mindful giving is part of my daily spiritual practice. I dedicated myself to consciously give one gift a day over a year ago and so far, I haven't missed a day. The gifts I offer are small things. A tissue to someone who is crying. Small donations of money. Extra, quality time with my husband. I've learned many lessons through my daily giving ritual, but the biggest, and possibly the hardest, is the art of mindful receiving.
Giving is reciprocal and self-balancing. As you give more, you experience a psychic shift that heightens your awareness of the many things you receive. The giving part is easy, the receiving can be more difficult and more uncomfortable. We're programmed to see receiving as a sign of weakness. Overcoming that preconceived notion can take more effort than you'd think, but the payoff is that you will rarely experience a day when you don't get the thrill of knowing you've been on the receiving end of some sort of gift.
The first day of my personal 29-Day Giving Challenge was preceded by a sleepless night. I was awake all night feeling angry and sorry for myself during a difficult flare up of my Multiple Sclerosis. When insomnia hits, I often go through old journals and read them. I found a note I'd made during a phone session with one of my spiritual teachers, Mbali Creazzo, two months before. The note said, "Give something away each day for 29 days." At 3 a.m. I decided to take the suggestion.
And so my 29-Day Giving Challenge began that morning as I gave my first gift -- a simple supportive phone call to another friend living with MS. I woke up the next day, and the next day after that, feeling excited about what I might give away. I began to notice that the more I gave away, the more abundance I was experiencing for myself. 
I wanted to see what would happen in my life if I committed and focused my energy on giving for 29 days. What space would it create in my life for new and unexpected things to occur? What shifts would I see in my thinking and behavior as a result? What impact would my gifts have on others? These were just a few of the questions I was curious about, but there’s no way I could have anticipated what unfolded.
By Day 29, I was astounded by the magical and miraculous gifts I began to receive:
・I felt happier, healthier, and more in awe with life.
・I was smiling and laughing more.
・I got stronger and was able to stop using my cane by Day 14.
・My business exploded with unexpected opportunities and I went back to work part-time after months of being too sick to work.
・I connected with a community of new friends in Los Angeles after several months of feeling isolated in my new home. With help from the website, I also reconnected with my community of friends from San Francisco and the Midwest, where I had lived previously.
・My creativity opened up and I began writing stories regularly.
・I began experiencing a deeper intimacy in my relationship with my husband, family and friends.
At first I felt guilty that so much amazing change was being offered to me by the universe, then I realized that by giving mindfully each day I was tapping into the natural reciprocal power of giving and receiving. I realized that each time I offered a gift to another person I was connecting with them on a deep spirit level, and we were both, in that moment, connected to the divine spirit that makes everything out of nothing. The returns I was seeing on my giving were just a natural part of the process and it was all coming from that great universal spirit, from which everything is free. Recognizing that made me realize that I am connected to everyone and everything around me, and that is the real giving return.
How about you? What return have you seen on your own Giving?
