Unearthing Our Gifts

Tags

awareness, discovery, gifts, giving, healing, receiving

“Dad. Look. The sky is yellow!”

After four straight days of heavily overcast skies, which really felt like forty by the fourth day came around, there was a sliver of a break on Friday morning on the way to school. I was looking to the west to see whether the full moon was still up, and instead, towards the East, between two trees on a farm, there was the Sun in all its glory blazing out from a break in the cloud cover. The underbelly of the dark gray cloud cover was being painted by the rays in the soft yellows that she exclaimed about.

Less than ten minutes later, as I set off for my Friday walk in the school’s trail, cloud service had been restored and the Sun’s remaining slivers cast golden streaks on the pond where the geese and ducks were maneuvering their way in the water as they tried to make space for the new flocks landing in from several directions. The play of light and shadows is very different as the Sun rises behind a mix of dark and light clouds which serve as natural filters for the observant traveler. The gifts that the eyes unearth are unique, as one sees things in silvery light that are hidden by the blaze of an unfettered, golden sunrise.

A beautiful gift it was, just like the gift of the clouds yielding the night before for a fraction of an hour, to reveal the gift of the full moon in all its silvery December glory, hanging like a brilliantly lit Christmas ornament defying gravity in the firmament.

Many of the gifts within us are perhaps similar in nature, unearthed only when we face long periods of overcast skies, storms, and the like – aren’t they? And thus, we of the human spirit, rarely stop waking and walking, remembering to do what we can control, and let what will be, be. Is it not true that as we look back on what seemed to be seemingly insurmountable odds against us in some of life’s moments, that we often unearthed gifts of strength, courage and resilience that we scarcely were aware of?

Can you think of moments where you were in so much pain and grief that you thought that your life would never be the same again, and yet you managed to heal and even smile again?

If yes, I invite you to write a few words about that experience. What gifts did you unearth, both within and without, in those moments of great personal challenges? In addition, are there any gifts you have unearthed, in moments of great joy and celebration? Are there also some gifts that we can unearth in moments when we aren’t residing at the opposite states in our life, when we are in relative equanimity? What may these gifts be?

By the time I came back home from my walk, the clouds had finally decided to move on for good, and the Sun had resumed shedding its golden light everywhere, including on the chair by the front window where I sat and wrote this blog post. The forecast was for rain later in the day, overcast skies for the next few days, but it didn’t matter. I had been reminded that the play of light and shadows and nothingness affords equal opportunities for me to unearth the gifts of my choosing.

How about you? What gifts will you choose to unearth in this season of your life?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly community gathering and chat on twitter in #SpiritChat, Sunday Dec 11 2022 at 9amET / 2pmUTC / 730pm India. We will unearth some gifts together, and maybe share a gift with someone. Namaste. @AjmaniK

Walking the land, unearthing gifts in every step…

On Giving and Privilege

Tags

giving, privilege, receiving

The idea of giving and receiving really does not need to know any season. However, the first inescapbale fact is that the ‘holiday season’ which dawns upon us in different parts of the world tends to shift our focus to giving and receiving, and many other nuances that are connected with them. The second fact is that many of us find it much, much easier to give than to receive. I have many past #SpiritChat transcripts as lasting proof of this fact. A related fact, which is connected to the first two, is that we associate kindness, kind-heartedness, and spiritual expansion with giving to others, and the scales are heavily weighted against receiving.

But the fact of the matter is that, in most cases, we have been inadvertently receiving more than we have been giving, for most of our lives. Once we cast the nets of our senses and our minds a bit wider than our immediate surroundings, we will know this to be true. From the moment we started growing in our mother’s wombs, we became receivers of nourishment. And when we leave our physical frame and transition to the next phase, we will be receivers of the grace of those who will facilitate that transition for us. It is in the interim, when our awareness grows in the fact that most of our immediate needs have been met, that we find ourselves in a position to “give”, and perhaps even ‘help’ others with our giving.

In higher awareness, the seed-idea of ‘giving is good’ finds root in our heartspace. Once we make ‘giving’ a regular practice – whether it be giving of material things, giving of our time and attention, giving of a genuine smile, buying that cup of coffee for that stranger in the car behind us at the drive through window – we find joy and fulfillment in giving. We find a little bit of enhanced purpose, even if it be for a brief fleeting moment, when we realize that we have made someone’s day a little bit better. We add one more thread to the fabric of our life and theirs, when we practice giving. The open circle of receiving wraps its arms around itself with the open circle of giving, and we find ourselves in an infinite loop of privilege…

Why privilege? Consider the obvious. If there were no receiver, the giver and their giving would be bereft of joy, purpose, and the sense of sharing. So, yes, it is indeed the giver who is privileged that the receiver actually exists. As Vivekananda has pointed out in one of his essays, “it is the privilege of the servers that they are able to serve…” – so, the givers should be grateful, and give thanks that they can share of what they have received. One corollary is that the receiver ought to partake of the joy of the giver, and give the giver the opportunity to exercise their spiritual need to experience their infinite nature in the act of giving…

For those of us who have children or are around children, we may be familiar with the joy that we get from giving them the best of everything that is possible. For those of us who have grandchildren, I am told that this joy is multiplied many fold. So, as children of That divine, let us make our list, check it twice, and rejoice in receiving the best from the greatest giver of all. In that giving and receiving, we have the priviliege and the opportunity to find the infinite expression of our spiritual nature…

My sincere thanks to you, for reading and receiving ~ I invite you to give back with your thoughts ~ Join us Sunday, November 29th 2015 at 9amET on twitter, as we disccus Giving and Privilege.

Namaste,

Kumud