Giving and Receiving Through the Holiday Season

Especially throughout the holiday season, the ideas of giving and receiving stand at the forefront of our minds. But how do we as people develop these intentions to compose and experience true prosperity?

Within this life, we have been given certain qualities and affections that carry us throughout each day. And when we allow ourselves to live authentically, we are inadvertently passing our gifts to those surrounding us; their gifts are then passed on, and thus, a continuous circle of giving extends.

In receiving this way, we allow our bodies to "refuel", enabling us to continue giving and sharing our gifts. But what happens when we close ourselves off, forging an inability to truly receive?

While there are innumerable reasons why receiving is difficult for many of us, the greatest factor is our own cultural conditioning. In our society, giving is generally viewed as honorable and, more or less, esteemed; receiving is often attributed to selfishness, which undoubtedly has a lot of negative connotations for most of us. Step aside from these adverse ideals and learn to see what giving and receiving truly are.

Throughout this season and onto 2012, allow yourself the opportunity to give and receive, continuing the cycle of passing forward your own, unique gifts. In doing so, you will give yourself and others the opportunity to experience true prosperity.