The art of 'Giving' and 'Receiving'

“Giving and receiving is the law of life. When we give with love and accept with deepest gratitude, our souls rejoice”

(Debasish Mridha)

What a beautiful concept, that ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’ can be seen as an art, as a natural law of life. Perhaps comparable to the natural ebb and flow of the tides, it can be seen as the pure order of the universe.

I am a strong believer in the power of giving with abundance and expecting nothing in return, but perhaps maybe a ‘thank you’. Giving doesn’t have to be done with material objects or money. It can be done with some of the most precious commodities that we all have and that we can never get back – our ‘time’ and our ‘kindness’.

Everyone’s time is so precious in the hectic and fast paced era we now live in. Deciding to gift someone with your time to listen, help, heal, hug, love, forgive or to care for is truly one of the most precious gifts you can ever bless another with. But then comes the tricky part – learning to ‘receive’ and ‘accept’ with gratitude a similar act of kindness or gift of time, kindness or care from another. This is the bit that many of us may struggle with, as sometimes, we can find it hard to let our barriers down, to let others into the intimate parts of our souls and to ‘accept’ help, kindness, compassion and gratitude.

It is so important that we get the balance of what we give and we receive correct. If we continuously give of ourselves, our tanks soon get depleted and we find our energy levels low, our mood is low, our ability to let go and embrace the simple moments of joy and happiness become compromised. On the other hand, if we are continuously receiving in our lives, and offering nothing in return, this affects the natural law and flow of giving and receiving. We can become impaired to the kindness and time others are offering us and perhaps not fully experience their level of generosity and grace as our minds become cloudy and foggy in our trance of ‘taking’ and giving nothing back in return. A quote I love by Doreen Virtue is:

“ A balance of giving and receiving is essential to keeping your energy, mood and motivation at a consistently high level”

(Doreen Virtue)

So how do we give and receive? We simply use kindness and compassion to give to others and to ourselves and to receive from others and from ourselves with a gentle heart. Gifting kind words, kind acts and your time are some of the simplest and most beautiful ways to give to yourself and others. Learning in turn to “always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting” (Brian Tracy), is honouring your true soul and helping to ignite it with passion, with love and with appreciation.

It is incredible to reach a realisation that we don’t need all the riches in the world to be able to ‘give’ to ourselves or others. Some of the kindest, most caring and generous people on earth are those who have very few tangible possessions. They are those that are truly connected to their own hearts and souls and those that have learned how incredible the feeling of ‘receiving’ even a simple ‘thank you’ from another is. That’s all it takes for the natural cycle of ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’ to continually flow and create an abundance of kindness and compassion in our lives.

Another quote I find so empowering is:

“Today I have realised that people who are kind are actually the richest because they are giving away kindness, something that can never be taken or stolen. Thanks for being kind”

(Boom Sumo)

When you learn and practise the art of ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’ in your own life, you naturally start to raise your own vibrational level and so you feel empowered and deeply connected and rooted to your own happiness, love, strength, courage and health. You realise that you are a ‘good person’ and have an internal abundance to give to yourself and others. You learn to disconnect from all of the self-critical thoughts or feelings you may have about yourself and your life and in turn, you can really embrace the true meaning and quality of life.

A lovely thought to leave you with:

“Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool”

(Syed Balkhi)

HOW to learn the art of ‘Giving’ and ‘Receiving’:

A step by step guide on how to learn the art of ‘Giving’ and ‘Receiving’:

Everyday, affirm to yourself that you have an abundance in your life and that there are always people that are not as fortunate as you.

2. Everyday, commit to love yourself and others in your life with kindness and compassion, from deep within your heart.

3. Everyday, give thanks for your health, happiness, peace, inner strength and self-connection and for that of others in your life.

4. Everyday, try to complete or give an act of kindness to yourself or others. Perhaps give someone a compliment, hold a door for someone, call someone who may love to hear your voice, listen intently to your heart or to someone who really needs a kind and caring ear.

5. Any day that someone gives or offers you kindness or compassion, accept and receive it graciously by saying a meaningful ‘thank you’ and tell the person just how much it means to you.

Thank you so much to Deirdre Rusk for her amazing Robin image! Check out more amazing images from Deirdre Rusk Photography at https://www.deirdrerusk.com/

Thank you as always to Brian O’Loughlin and his team at Celtic Media Group (https://www.anglocelt.ie/, https://www.con-telegraph.ie/, https://www.meathchronicle.ie/, https://www.offalyindependent.ie/, https://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/ and https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/ for all their wonderful help!

As published by The Celtic Media Group in The Anglo Celt, Connaught Telegraph, Meath Chronicle, Offaly Independent, Westmeath Examiner and Westmeath Independent newspapers w/c 21/12/2020)

acceptance art giving Kindness mindfulness receiving

Leona McDonnell

Hi, I’m Leona McDonnell and I am a Mindfulness Teacher. I empower the children, teenagers and adults that I work with through Mindfulness, Meditation and Wellness with the belief that they already have all of the resources they need inside themselves to be the best version of themselves possible …. they just need to learn how to connect to and utilise these internal resources. I teach those I work with how to experience calm, peace and serenity in their everyday lives and I teach people how to reduce the everyday chatter in their minds. Having always being a very nervous and anxious child and teenager, from being afraid of my own breath, my own heartbeat, my own shadow, from undergoing numerous emergency medical surgeries with complicated recoveries, ICU admission, from anxiety, trauma and post natal depression to getting glandular fever in my mid 30’s, with 2 young children at home, working outside the home and also running my own Healing Practice, I hit breaking point in my own life some years back. I was stuck in a state of ‘Flight’, in a state of continuous panic. I had a broken mind, a broken body and a depleted soul. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, how to fix things. It was the toughest time and recovery of my life…. I then stumbled upon a local Yoga class and I decided to join it to see if I could create some calmness into my invasive mind and thoughts. I can remember not being able to even change my own natural breathing rhythm for the first few weeks, as I was in such a panicked state. As time went on, I grew to love Yoga as it made me reconnect with my body and my breath. It made me learn to trust my breath again. I then went on and sought out Mindfulness tools and techniques that I could introduce into my daily life. I slowly learned how to become more present in my life. I learned how to stop ruminating in my past and how to stop worrying about my future and just be present and accept the only moment I could change, which is the present moment, the most important moment. I learned how to ‘Train my Brain’ using Mindfulness tools and techniques. Coupled with Gratitude Journaling, Meditation and with a lot of time spent outdoors in nature, I began to feel much better. I began to feel much more centered in myself, more grounded, calmer and more present. After a number of years of my own daily Mindfulness, Meditation and Yoga practice, I felt amazing and had a zest for life! At this point, I decided that I needed to share with and help as many children and adults as I could with what helped me to transform my life! So I went on and did my Mindfulness training and here I am today!