29 Gifts
I was very inspired when I watched this video this morning, that arrived in my Ladies Who Launch email. In my mind, this notion of giving is directly related to gratitude. When we are feeling gracious, there’s an inner shift from being self-centered to outwardly focused. And when we are feeling depressed, forcing ourselves to think about who or what we are thankful can take us away from our own concerns and often provides us with what we are missing.
For some people, just thinking daily thoughts of gratitude may be enough. For others, writing a few words down each day helps better channel that energy. For Cami Walker, the best way to channel and express that energy is to give. When Cami was going through a particularly challenging time in her life, she choose to give small gifts to others for 29 days straight, and found that the more she gave, the more she received.
Each day began with a simple question: What can I give today?
Her experiment led to the creation of www.29Gifts.org, a global giving movement with several thousand members in 38 countries. Impressive to say the least. Here’s my favorite quote from her the video interview (above) with Daryn Kagan:
One of the suggestions from my friend was to give away something you feel you’re lacking or that you feel you can’t live without. For me at that time it was money and it hurt some days to go online to find a cause that I wanted to donate to, but I did it. And some days I gave cash to people on the street or would buy lunch for somebody. It was always at moments when I felt that sense of scarcity, I was like, I’m going to give money right now.
At 14 days in, she was astounded by all the great things happening to her, including no longer needing her cane to walk, money coming in again - things were turning around.
I’ve heard similar stories from people who have kept gratitude journals through the years. I’ve also read great stories about giving what you’re lacking (or think you’re lacking) in order to receive it. If you have an interesting story, send it to us at iamthankfulfor@gmail.com.
Cheers!
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