This month, we kick off our series titled “Get to Give.” It was inspired by a brilliant workshop I attended a few months ago at the invitation of a friend and community member, Mikki Williams.
Balaji Krishnamurthy of Think.Shift is a veteran corporate executive from the private and pubic technology space. During his workshop, he dismantled conventional wisdom around leadership and management, traditional methods of workplace motivation and used real data to support his findings (I am a geek for demonstrated results.)
Balaji has written a white paper on aligning brand and culture. He writes:
“Performing employees give to get. Their focus is on the getting. They value what they get from the company … They are more likely to be lured to another employer from whom they can get more, than to one to whom they can give more. In contrast, engaged employees get to give. Their focus is on the giving. The engaged employee is proud that they get to help people … They work on challenging projects; they lead a team; they make a difference. Their pleasure is in the giving. Getting is incidental.”
I was struck by the reorienting of language so simply stated in his Get to Give philosophy. I have long dismissed the superstitious and manipulative play on universal principles that suggests if you give, you will get … that mindset is a broken formula. Parenthetically, giving does open us to receiving, as we are living in the flow of life—that is not what I am exploring in this post.
What is your relationship to giving? What is your relationship to moving in faith? What is your relationship to knowing and affirming that we live in an abundant universe and as such giving of your time, talent and treasure in generous ways?
There’s a powerful double entendre in the concept of Get to Give. We get or we acquire so that we can give. And we get—or otherwise stated we have the opportunity of getting—so that we can enjoy the privilege of giving.
We get so that we can enjoy the privilege of giving.
As I explored this topic of Get to Give, I noticed two primary fears that arose for me around Giving:
- My endorsement of giving would contribute to a culture or practice of over giving, leaving the giver in a depleted state
- My endorsement of giving would be misunderstood as a means of manipulation to fill the coffers of our spiritual community
Let me speak to my first concern: what I am not talking about is sacrificial martyrdom. In fact, you don’t have to give anything. We do not believe in or endorse obligation. I am talking about getting to give from a place of inspiration; getting to give such that we rise up out of our littleness and start to play in the realm of contribution.
And with regard to my second concern, the Law of Giving & Receiving or the Law of Circulation is just that … a law. Every time you get to give, you activate something in you.
We live in a culture that affirms over and over again there is not enough time and not enough money. My invitation is to stretch your giving. See if you can out give your comfort level … the truth is you can’t out give this infinite universe. But try it on as an experiment. I am not saying your finances or your calendar will transform over night. But what I will say is that the clarity and growth developed from a consistent practice of generosity exceeds any training you will find in a gym. You will transform.
The clarity and growth developed from a consistent practice of generosity exceeds any training you will find in a gym. You will transform.
Global visionary Lynne Twist states it most brilliantly: “When you let go of trying to get what you don’t really need, it frees up oceans of energy to make a difference with what you have.”
We Get to Give!
Thank you Rev Lola. My life, as a helper, has been transformed indeed, from the mentality of getting to give. The notion or the reality of getting/receiving from the very act of giving is so apparent in the pure joy as seen in the results; those who benefit from the giving are so appreciative. When I give my time to the Youth of Bodhi and when the children each light up in the knowing that they each are Love cuz they are One with God, with Love we all benefit. When I get to give my reading stories skills to the Youth we each benefit from the joyful reading, from the lessons about God and their relationships with God embedded in the stories that surface from my getting to give to the reading. In this getting to give there is such joy, such pure joy with mutual appreciation when i serve the Bodhi Youth. Needless to say, when I hold a baby, rocking it to sleep while singing the Sunshine song it beckons to say, who really is getting to give? Mutual Appreciation Indeed. Blessings Consciousness is this Getting to Give.
What gift you are indeed! Thank you for sharing yourself so generously! #gettogive