Give a Little (Nicolette Larson)

Today's DailyOM

September 19, 2008

Recognizing Our Own Abundance

Planting The Seeds Of Generosity

The most difficult time to be generous is when we ourselves are feeling poor. While some of us have experienced actually being in the red financially, there are those of us who would feel broke even if we had a million dollars in the bank. Either way, as the old adage goes, it is always in giving that we receive. Meaning that when we are living in a state of lack, the very gesture we may least want to give is the very act that could help us create the abundance that we seek. One way to practice generosity is to give energy where it is needed. Giving money to a cause or person in need is one way to give energy. Giving attention, love, or a smile to another person are other acts of giving that we can offer. After all, there are people all over the world that are hungry for love.

Sometimes when we practice generosity, we practice it conditionally. We might be expecting to “receive back” from the person to whom we gave. We might even become angry or resentful if that person doesn’t reciprocate. However, trust in the natural flow of energy, and you will find yourself practicing generosity with no strings attached. This is the purest form of giving. Remember that what you send out will always come back you. Selflessly help a friend in need without expecting them to return the same favor in the same way, and know that you, too, will receive that support from the universe when you need it. Besides, while giving conditionally creates stress (because we are waiting with an invisible balance sheet to receive our due), giving unconditionally creates and generates abundance. We give freely, because we trust that there is always an unlimited supply.

Being aware of how much we are always supported by the universe is one of the keys to abundance and generosity. Consciously remember the times you’ve received support from expected and unexpected sources. Remember anyone who has helped you when you’ve needed it most, and bless all situations that come into your life for the lessons and gifts they bring you. Remember that all things given and received emanate from generosity. Giving is an act of gratitude. Plant the seeds of generosity through your acts of giving, and you will grow the fruits of abundance for yourself and those around you.

I've been working on this blog post since last Friday, trying to find the perfect mesh of themed selections, as well as processing what generosity means to me. It was mentioned in a Words for All Ages story at church the other day that sharing is easy when you already have more than you need - the point of giving is to sacrifice a bit as well.

This lesson was driven home yesterday, with Marti Forman, head of Broward County's Cooperative Feeding Program, during our UU Sunday service - I am proud to say I helped coordinate the event, taking the suggestion of having her speak for a few minutes on the Empty Bowls project and extrapolating it to a full program, with Marti giving the sermon.

The kids did a Stone Soup re-enactment... and we painted bowls after the service (to be baked later and used for the fundraiser) - the most impactful, though, was Marti's talk... as she told stories of various clients of all genders, ages and income levels, and the unfortunate decline in donations over the last year and the damaging effects of less food to spread to more people. The entire sanctuary was weeping (as was Marti during her delivery) - the good news is that we raised almost $500 among us for the CFP... and we've rededicated ourselves to making a major commitment to eradicate hunger in Broward County.

The concert series I coordinate has always asked patrons to bring a non-perishable food item in addition to regular admission, and we will emphasize that even more from now on - I would also like to volunteer with Marti at least once a month in some capacity.

Really... this hit so close to home - "there but for the grace of god" indeed...

P.S. I've been distracted/worried all day, because my mom is in the hospital having an outpatient biopsy to check some enlarged lymph nodes in her lung area (thank goodness my sister and brother are there with her) - if it's inflammation, they'll treat with steroids... if it's infection, they'll treat with antibiotics... and we're not really dealing with the third possibility: cancer. I heard from my sister that Mom was being moved to the Recovery Room and they'd have test results in 3 to 5 days - Mari then called back, saying Mom has pneumothorax (a collapsed lung) and they were keeping her in the hospital. An Internet search says it could be a result of her COPD... or possibly a complication from today's surgical procedure - whatever the case, any thoughts/prayers/candles are much appreciated for Connie's swift and smooth recuperation.

SONG: Give a Little by Nicolette Larson

BOOK: The Giving Heart: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Generosity in Your Life by M. J. Ryan

POEM: The Gift by William Stafford

Time wants to show you a different country. It's the one

that your life conceals, the one waiting outside

when curtains are drawn, the one Grandmother hinted at

in her crochet design, the one almost found

over at the edge of the music, after the sermon.

It's the way life is, and you have it, a few years given.

You get killed now and then, violated

in various ways. (And sometimes it's turn about.)

You get tired of that. Long-suffering, you wait

and pray, and maybe good things come - maybe

the hurt slackens and you hardly feel it any more.

You have a breath without pain. It is called happiness.

It's a balance, the taking and passing along,

the composting of where you've been and how people

and weather treated you. It's a country where

you already are, bringing where you have been.

Time offers this gift in its millions of ways,

turning the world, moving the air, calling,

every morning, "Here, take it, it's yours."

QUOTE: "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." ~ Arthur Ashe

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (as sung by Cinderella)

I seem to still be on a New Year tangent, full of hope and pro-activity and forward motion - think I'll ride the wave of optimism before the roots of reality take hold... :-)

SONG: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes as sung by Cinderella

BOOK: This Year I Will...: How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution or Make a Dream Come True by M. J. Ryan

POEM: New Year Prayer by David Whyte

This robust heart involved

with too many worlds

for its own good,

this portion of creation

constantly trying

to make its self singular,

this chef at home in the kitchen

among the gleam of knives,

sommelier

among eclectic bottles,

sometimes dreaming

as a hermit among leaves,

drinking the centuries

of inherited silence,

sometimes the

social host opening

the doors and lighting

the candles,

often a father lifting his daughter

high up above him

and then

the husband

sheltered by night

attempting

to talk and talk again,

too often now

as the years go by

the son worrying

for a father sitting

Atlantic miles away,

in a silent

remembered parallel.

And now this

other parallel,

this symmetry

inside

for everything

on the outside,

the writer in winter

at his desk,

caught in the light,

beneath the window,

bringing together

the last and the first,

the middle and the edge,

the near and the far,

the troubled lives

all calling for the one line

and the one life,

for creation came together

in a central

unspoken wish,

to be held

and made one

like a god's blessing

out of nowhere,

the pen

somehow

touching a wound

that heals them all.

QUOTE: "Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions." ~ Edgar Cayce

Alice's Restaurant (Arlo Guthrie)

The Lumpy Sue Acoustic Musicfest is a free concert in North Miami's Greynolds Park the day after Thanksgiving. It provides a relaxed and mellow alternative to the frenzy of Christmas commercialism. However, if money is burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy raffle tickets to support Habitat for Humanity. Prizes are generally gift certificates from local merchants (restaurants, music stores, baskets, coffee houses, even vacations, that sort of thing).

The LSAM had its origin in 1992 when a small group of locals decided that the Miami area was in need of a family-oriented acoustic folk music festival. Recalling that Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach in the 1960's was a haven for folk music groupies, the locals decided that that would be their venue. The date for the event would be a tradition… Friday, the day after thanksgiving, in honor of Alice's Restaurant. This founding group remains today as the executive committee of LSAM, and the planning committee has expanded over the years.

All the talent appears gratis in respect for our second addition... Habitat for Humanity. There is a raffle and prizes are supplied by restaurants and many other local merchants with 100% of the proceeds going to Habitat. In our 12-year relationship with Habitat we have helped over 500 families obtain affordable housing.

The festival has developed into everything the founders hoped for: great music performed by respected artists, a family gathering, in a beautiful environment, creating a traditional event to attract a substantial audience-about 2000 of the mellowest people you want to meet and spend a day with.

This will be my tenth year attending this amazing gathering - I always buy raffle tickets... sometimes winning something and, since 2001 when I started my house concerts and continuing to the present with our UU concert series, I've donated many pairs of tickets as well. It's all delightful, spending time with friends, snacking on food/drinking mimosas and listening to wonderful music on an always-perfect weather day - the piece de resistance for me is the very last act at sundown, when Romo, a local musician, performs the full-length version of Alice's Restaurant... and we all sing the chorus, with four-part harmony and feeling, of course!

Here's a YouTube video, with clips from the movie and Arlo performing "Alice" in the same Church 40 years later.

SONG: Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie

BOOK: Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your Life by M. J. Ryan

POEM: A Gardener's Thanksgiving by Reverend Max Coots

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are....

For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn, and the other, plain as potatoes and as good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels Sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem Artichokes, and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;

And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past that have been harvested, and who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.

QUOTE: "Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God." ~ Ray Stannard Baker

May the Light of Love (David Roth)

Happy Thanksgiving!... both lower case and capital - the turkey is in the oven, the rest of the food is bought and soon to be prepared, the house is clean and the dinner table is ready to be set. I look forward to continuing old traditions - we always kick off the holiday season with George Winston's December as the background music to our mid-day meal.

My husband and kids will help with peeling potatoes, snapping beans and grating cheese - there will be various football games going on before and after dinner... and we will take a walk in the neighborhood because we ate too much.

I will spend 73 minutes in the kitchen (the length of my traditional clean-up music, Joni Mitchell's Miles of Aisles CD) doing leftover storage, dishwasher loading and pots and pans scrubbing... and then sit down, alone, to enjoy a cup of coffee spiked with Kahlua and topped with whipped cream.

Friday has its own tradition too, as I make a sh*tpot (old Southern expression) of turkey soup, with spinach fettucine noodles, onions, lots of carrots and assorted herbs and spices - then we just have to turn the air conditioning colder to make it feel like soup weather!

Gratitude abounds - may we all appreciate what we have and help others get what they need...

SONG: May the Light of Love by David Roth

BOOK: A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles by M. J. Ryan (Editor)

POEM: A Blessing by John O'Donohue

May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path.

May the flame of anger free you from falsity.

May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may anxiety never linger about you.

May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.

May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.

May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.

May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.

QUOTE: "Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel." ~ Author Unknown