Lovely Generosity Story

There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But only a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I'm giving it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." -Author Unknown

An Example of Generosity at Work

http://www.freewheelchairmission.org/

Wow! (On Receiving Generosity)

I've been on a journey to truly understand generosity this last year. Most of my lessons have come from learning how generosity is necessary to my bliss. I am learning how much I truly have to give and how deeply I desire to give all I have. In the last 24 hours I have received multiple lessons in receiving generosity. So many that I am in shock and awe of my bountiful blessings.

It started with my new boss telling me she plans to give me a bonus for my creative work on the agency's annual report. I have never been paid as a professional for my creative skills before. And I already have a hard time feeling comfortable with getting paid to do something I love so much. Playing with art on my computer is a hobby, not a job. Until now. This is big validation. And brings up big doubts about my worthiness to be financially acknowledged for my artistic abilities.

Then, when my mama-writer friends found out I was leaving to drive my son to the airport in San Francisco (250 miles away) at 2 a.m. on Saturday because we can't afford a hotel, one of them made a hotel reservation for me and gave me the cash to pay for it, as well as extra for food and fun, all under the auspices of a "late birthday gift." I've never had a friend do something like that for me in my life. Another in the group gave me a cash gift so we can take my daughter to the Exploratorium and aquarium because she's never had city fun even though her older brother has several times and is now off to Guatemala for a week with my sister (she'll get her own trip when she turns 16). And another is letting me use her car for the drive because ours is in questionable condition and shouldn't go long distance. What had become a dreaded, stressful idea after the financial decline that followed a month long stint of unemployment, has now turned into a comfortable and fun opportunity for the whole family. I feel so incredibly loved--like my whole family is loved--and there really isn't any bigger or better feeling than that.

Then our kitty came home. He's been missing for over three weeks. We were sad and ready to give up on him.

Then my husband got calls for two job interviews (he's been unemployed for 3 years). This is a big, big deal.

And I had a dinner with a new friend that was so magical (paid for by a gift certificate). You know that amazing chemistry you feel with some people; the knowing that they are destined to be important in your life? This is one of those friendships. I haven't felt this kind of magic in a long, long time.

I am so overwhelmed with gratitude. But I am also battling old demons. It is really hard for me to sit in acceptance of all these blessings. Intellectually I know I have opened my heart and given much to the world on the Universe's behalf. Karma, the law of abundance, and many other teachings would imply that generosity would be returned to me one day. But I've never had it happen quite like this. This is big. This is what being loved feels like. What does it mean that this great blanket of love would feel so awkward, so unknown? Whew. I have some real work to do. It shouldn't be this hard to just enjoy being loved. But at least a lesson that comes from positive consequences instead of negative ones. It's a nice change of pace.

Lovely Poem

ALONE & UNFOLDING
by Rilke

I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough
to make every minute holy.
I am too tiny in this world, and not tiny enough
just to lie before you like a thing,
shrewd and secretive.

I want my own will,
and I want simply to be with my will,
as it goes toward action,
and in the silent, sometimes hardly moving times
when something is coming near,
I want to be with those who know secret things
or else alone.

I want to be a mirror for your whole body,
and I never want to be blind, or to be too old
to hold up your heavy and swaying picture.
I want to unfold.
I don't want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.

And I want my grasp of things
true before you. I want to describe myself
like a painting that I looked at
closely for a long time,
like a saying that I finally understood,
like the pitcher I use every day,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that took me safely
through the wildest storm of all.

Back in the groove....

I am employed again. Yay! I started on Monday with a wonderful agency that provides community services to the elderly. The culture is everything I have ever dreamed for in a work environment but was not experiencing. I'm excited.

My month of unemployment proved to be a vacation at every possible level of existence for me (except emotional since we had a few minor tragedies take place). I did very little art or blogging or anything else that might be construed as productive (other than cook wonderful meals for my family since I wasn't burned out every evening). I think it was good for me. I can be a driven over-achiever and have some lessons to learn about rest and the value of not being productive all the time.

Now that I'm working again, I'm feeling reinvigorated and motivated to expand the reach of The Conspiracy. I have some new art projects in progress to include with future blessing packages. I'm catching up on requests this weekend. And I'm inviting the Universe to bless me with new ideas and opportunities to evolve this project.

Thank you for being here and sharing this space with me.

Blissings!

The Sun's Generosity (again)

The contributor of the post below also sent this lovely poem by Hafiz in response to a previous quote on "stellar" generosity....

The Sun Never Says

Even after all these years,
the Sun never says
to the Earth
"You owe Me."

Look what happens
with a Love
like that,
It lights
the whole
sky.

Hafiz

On Blessing

Someone sent me this beautiful passage on blessing...

The Gentle Art Of Blessing

On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen good which your blessings will call forth; for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all. "Hold constantly as a deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless, for truly then shall you become a peacemaker."

On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relationships to God, themselves, and others. Bless them in their abundance, their finances...bless them in every conceivable way, for such blessings not only sow seeds of healing but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in the waste places of your own life.

As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond with a blessing: bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully, for such blessings are a shield which protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed, and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.

To bless means to wish, unconditionally, total, unrestricted good for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the innermost chamber of your heart: it means to hallow, to hold in reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift from the Creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set aside, consecrated, holy, whole. To bless is yet to invoke divine care upon, to think or speak gratefully for, to confer happiness upon - although we ourselves are never the bestower, but simply the joyfull witnesses of Life's abundance.

When something goes completely askew in your day, some unexpected event knocks down your plans and you too, burst into blessing: for life is teaching you a lesson, and the very event you believe to be unwanted, you yourself called forth, so as to learn the lesson you might balk against were you not to bless it. Trials are blessings in disguise, and hosts of angels follow in their path.

To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent, universal beauty hidden to material eyes; it is to activate that law of attraction which, from the furthest reaches of the universe, will bring into your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.

When you pass a prison, mentally bless its inmates in their innocence andf reedom, their gentleness, pure essence and unconditional forgiveness; for one can only be prisoner of one's self-image, and a free man can walk unshackled in the courtyard of a jail, just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns can be prisoners when fear lurks in their thoughts.

When you pass a hospital, bless its patients in their present wholeness, for even in their suffering, this wholeness awaits in them to be discovered. When your eyes behold a man in tears, or seemingly broken by life, bless him in his vitality and joy: for the material senses only present the inverted image of the ultimate splendor and perfection which the inner eye beholds. It is impossible to bless and to judge at the same time. So hold constantly as a deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless, for truly then shall you become a peacemaker, and one day you shall, everywhere, behold the very face of God. -- Pierre Pradervand