Receiving

"And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth"
Raymong Carver

Many of us were told as children, some of us relentlessly, about the primacy of giving.
Yes, it is very important to give of ourselves, our time and our money.
We also need to understand that in graciously receiving we express the dignity of giving; they are both part of the same flow of energy.
In order to give authentically from our hearts, we must continue to repleninh our emotional supplies by receiving.

If we don't give from a place of having enough for ourselves we may build resentment or feel victimized. Sometimes we may mask our own needs; giving from a sense of obligation or burden. This is not genuine giving, it's taking prisoners!

Against whom is it a crime if we are selfish?
We all need time, space and pleasure in our lives. We can be more spiritual if we attend to our own needs first.

Perhaps for a few minutes each day, we could stop giving and doing and surrender.
Maybe we could take our hands off the steering wheel of life and let ourselves be chauffered into receiving the gifts of the universe that await us.