Stop just putting gifts under the K-mart christmas tree, or in the Salvo’s drop box!!
Every human spirit needs to know it makes a difference, including your child’s – significance is one of the six human NEEDS! We NEED to know we are important, and we need to experience the emotion that is reserved only for those who GIVE.
But in order for giving to create spiritual expansion, I believe the act of giving MUST be directly attached to an emotion – a higher vibration that is felt by the spirit in the very moment of giving.
If you throw something in a drop box, or dump something under a tree, and that act does not allow you to experience the gratitude of the receiver, then you are doing yourself, and your children a disservice… you are disregarding and disrespecting one of the most crucial life lessons. Sure it might be slightly inconvenient and take a little more effort to go out of your way to find a person to give to, rather than dumping your gift with an organisation, but if this is the only way you give, your subconscious mind, and that of your child’s, will link ‘giving’ to the feeling of loss… because you have handed something over, and not received anything in return. Not even the feeling of significance. All you’ve done is got rid of old ‘stuff’, or fulfilled what you may have felt was an obligation.
For true giving to touch and expand the spirit, there must be something you receive during the act of giving… an emotion, that is reserved only for these circumstances. I believe we must never teach our children to give without expecting anything in return… instead, we must teach them WHAT to expect in return. You must always recieve, otherwise you will never feel compelled to give. I believe it is wrong to teach our children that expecting something in return is wrong. It isn’t. The more they give, the more they SHOULD receive… teaching them otherwise would be negating a law of the universe! I love this quote by Zig Ziglar…
Once our children have been introduced to that feeling of knowing they make a difference, they will continue their whole lives to search for that feeling… and in order to feel it, they’ll need to keep making a difference… and so their journey will ultimately lead to their life’s purpose, where they will not only ‘make a difference’, but more importantly, they will make the difference they were BORN to make… a difference that ONLY they can make! And in this case, I believe, you have completely fulfilled your responsibility as a parent – giving your child experiences that ultimately lead to their life purpose, where they can impact the masses and change the world!
Here is a video of our 7 year old daughter giving to the homeless. I encourage you to do something similar with your children. Take note of her energy, and the life in her eyes when she talks about how she feels about what she just did!
