100 Days of Giving will Continue Shortly

The daily journal of 100 Day of Giving, An Exercise in Hope will continue at the beginning of December. Although the 100 Days of Giving continues without interruption, the recording of the journalling is taking a short break while the author is in Africa...follow that journey on:

http://csksghana.blogspot.com/

And, until then...be compassionate, give of yourself... and breathe!

Day 61❦ Give yourself a gift

Day 61 ❦ Give yourself a gift

The Gift: I gave myself the gift of a break

Today I remain in a funk. It is difficult to get excited about even eating...which says something. I am feeling pretty defeated - to get to 61 days and feel like I did when I started. This funk is where I was firmly planted when I began...or is it? If I were to look back over the past 61 days and count the people impacted (myself included) the value of the gifts exchanged, both tangible and intangible and the joy that I (at the least) received in the giving...isn't that enough? And, as I began reviewing all of the entries of the past two months, I began to smile, just thinking about someone's reaction, the surprise in the a person's eyes, and the way my heart felt when a gift just serendipidously dropped into place...I couldn't help but smile. Isn't that enough? Well it needs to enough for right now - not for tomorrow because now I remember why I am doing this exercise in giving - it is not because I was in a funk - it was to get me out of it. Funks will come and go and the only thing I am in control of is how I choose to deal with it...so for today I am hanging with the funk, but I have taken myself off of the hook and eliminated the pressure of having to give anyone anything...and in that, I gave myself the greatest gift I could have gotten today - patience. Hurray for me!

❦ Today, give yourself a gift...

Day 60 ❦ Giving fatigue strikes

Day 60 ❦ Giving fatigue strikes

The Gift: None

Today giving fatigue hit. I could have inserted an interlude, an idea, an inspiration, but I really want this to be real. Today I gave nothing. The long term impact of the flood has begun to sink in, I have just spent a week in my old home-town and am finding myself homesick. I am searching for a fulfilling job and am not finding it...and for the past 59 days I have been intensely focused on giving and today - I am given out. That's all I have today.

❦ Giving fatigue has sunk in

Day 59 ❦ Take time to share the gift of friendship with someone

Day 59 ❦ Take time to share the gift of friendship with someone

The Gift: Mother Africa

I am on my last day of spending a week in Boulder and have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with such good friends. All of them have welcomed me back into their lives and I have been filled with their joys, stories and triumphs. Tonight I am going to dinner at a friend of mine’s with whom I worked. I have so many funny stories I could tell about Denny, but I will sve that for another time - I will share with all of you that through an interesting set of circumstances - which involved me playing “cupid advisor” he met and married a person who was perfect for him, a woman named Ingrid and they ended up with two really wonderful boys. It makes me smile to think of them as a beautiful family.

After a wonderful dinner and walk we sit in their living room up in the mountains and really catch up - it is during this time that I get to share some of the lessons I learned while in Africa and get to present them with some of the gifts that I brought back from Africa - Mother Africa was the most fitting. What a wonderful gift to be able to share time with such great friends.

❦ Take time to share the gift of friendship with someone

Day 58 ❦ Be compassionate

Day 58  ❦  Be compassionate

The Gift: An offering to a social justice organization

When I travel I like to engage in new or different activities and often find myself at really fantastic local events, memorable, local and off the beaten path. I find these activities by asking locals what they would be doing – or what they would recommend a family member would do if they were visiting. This week I am in Boulder and I am interested in attending a church so I start looking through the newspaper for articles on churches that are doing something special.

As I read through the listings, I notice that there is a church that is having a social justice speaker come to talk about human rights in Africa – I am in. The service was moving and the speaker was memorable – filled with compassion and passion – in a way that is contagious. I feel motivated to do so much more in my own life and to find ways to support people who are living their passion – I can barely contain myself waiting for the opportunity to give – and give I do to both have compassion and support those who are compassionate.

❦ Today – be compassionate.

Authors note: Little did I realize that this would be the post that would occur the day after a Presidential election and I am thrilled that the lesson today is about compassion. The election season was filled with a lot of negative energy and regardless of whether or not your candidate won – please be compassionate to others – today more so than any other day, we have some healing to do as a country and it starts with each of us.

Day 57 ❦ Give a little more

Day 57 ❦ Give a little more

The Gift: An additional donation to Boulder Parks and Recreation

While I am in Boulder for work, I am taking time off to re-visit some of my old haunts and today I am excited because I am driving up Flagstaff Mountain located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. A short 5 minute drive from downtown Boulder, Flagstaff Mountain climbs up several thousand feet to a summit elevation of 6,978 feet from Chautauqua Park and offers incredible views and hiking trails. But my fondest memories of Flagstaff is running up the mountain in a 7 mile race, training up the mountain and racing up it again. This particular mountain was made for my type of running, steep in the right places, lots of tangents to cut and then every now and then, the road levels off to allow us to catch our wind and start the climb over again. I love Flagstaff Mountain and even though I never won the Flagstaff race, I did take second place in the women’s division each time I raced it and my times weren’t too shabby.

But today I am just visiting and so I am going to drive my rental car up the mountain. Driving u the switchbacks I can remember each step of the road, the angles and the curves…just as I get to the half-way point, there is a gate and barrier – apparently the area is under a preservation act and is being protected…so a permit is now required and I will have to park far from the summit and walk to the amphitheater and overlooks. The fee to protect one of my favorite places is only $2.00 and I almost feel guilty paying so little for so much…so I put a $10 bill in the envelope and ask the park and rec department to keep the change. That is the least I can do.

❦ Today give a little more

Interlude ❦ Just Give Yourself

Interlude   ❦   Just Give Yourself

During the first series of 100 days of giving I have talked about the floods that devastated Austin, Minnesota and even though the magnitude is much greater in real time with Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath of the flooding and water and wind damage - the concepts of moving outside ourselves to find a way to give to those around us remain the same.

For this interlude I am posting 4 of the past posts which have received the most views as a means of prompting or priming the pump in the giving world. It is so easy to get so overwhelmed and consumed with the need that we may marginalize or underestimate our capacity and impact.

So today step outside yourself and do something for someone else, smile, show friendship, lend a helping hand - it does not need to cost anything...just give yourself.

Giving can create a sense of relief:
http://onehundreddaysofgiving.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-38-giving-can-create-sense-of-relief.html

Do something for someone else:
http://onehundreddaysofgiving.blogspot.com/2012/10/interlude-support-street-girls-aid.html

When you give, you give permission for others to give:
http://onehundreddaysofgiving.blogspot.com/2012/08/day-5-give-permission-to-others-to-give.html

And, the one that still makes me smile...
http://onehundreddaysofgiving.blogspot.com/2012/09/day-13-be-childlike-in-your-giving.html

Find a way to stretch yourself...

 ❦   Just Give Yourself

Day 56 ❦ Share the gift of friendship

Day 56  ❦  Share the gift of friendship

The Gift: Dinner out with some friends

I happen to be in Boulder for work and haven’t been here for several years. I lived in Colorado for 12 years before moving to Minnesota and I have been gone for many years. It is so nice catching up with friends and tonight I have invited a friend who I have not seen since I moved close to 15 years ago. Randy is the kind of friend who I feel very comfortable with and when we meet – It is like I never left – we have lots of stories and things to catch up on and the night goes quickly. He brings his wife who I have not met and we have a chance to forge new relationships. It is such a gift for me to have people in my life who are there for forever and who can help me remember sometimes about which I have fond memories. It is especially wonderful to be able to develop new relationships within the old ones and create new memories. The gift of dinner does not even come close to the gift I received in return.

Authors note: There have been many parallels in my current life with the time during which I was experiencing the first cycle of 100 days of giving – today is the craziest parallel however, since on the day that this will post – about an experience I had 8 years ago…I will be having dinner, sharing the gift of friendship and dinner with these same friends in Boulder.

❦  Share the gift of friendship

Day 55 ❦ Plan ahead, give now

Day 55  ❦ Plan ahead, give now

The Gift: Boxes of tea

Now this wasn’t just any box of tea, they were boxes of tea in a metal containers that look like a double-decker bus from England – it is real English tea, perfect for High Tea!  A couple of months ago on my way back from Africa I stopped in England for a few days to meet my daughter who was living in France as a Rotary Youth Exchange student and after touring London for a few days, we went to her host town of Bethune, France. It was a great stop between Africa and the United States and I hadn’t seen Alison for 9 months so it was even better than just having a nice respite between cultures.

While I was having fun being a tourist in London I stopped by a grocery store to look around for special goodies to bring back home for gifts. I was pretty well stocked up on Africa goodies, but really needed a wider range of gifts. The first thing I spotted when I entered the little shop was an entire display of teas. Perfect – I bought several containers and knew exactly who was going to get them. Mission accomplished – all that was left to do was to actually give the gifts and today was the day. I brought the tea into work and handed the cute containers to all of the people who I work with who I knew liked tea – it was really fun and much appreciated by the tea drinkers.

❦Plan ahead, give now

Day 54 ❦ A reward can double as a gift

Day 54       ❦      A reward can double as a gift

The Gift: A Staples Gift Certificate

As a trainer and facilitator I often order training supplies on behalf of the organization or client for whom I am working. I order almost all of my supplies from Staples because they are so convenient. Living in rural Minnesota, we don’t have a lot of options for almost everything so when I moved here I quickly became a fan of mail order. Now before you ask – I am probably the biggest supporter of buying local – period. But, if the product in the quality that I need is not available when I need it – I have to develop a plan b. Staples is just such a plan b – not only do I get free and quick delivery, but I can place my order on-line at a time that works for me – which is usually well into the late night hours. They also have a member reward program which I like quite a bit. So what does this have to do with giving?

Since much of the ordering I am doing is with other people’s money as part of their project – I think about what to do with the substantial gift certificates I get in their member reward program – it always feels like a bonus when they arrive and I certainly appreciate getting the rewards.

This evening I was at a Board meeting for a pre-school that my daughter attends. Apple Lane is also an organization that I helped to acquire their non-profit status and sit on their Board of Directors and I really appreciate all that they do not only for me and my family, but for the entire community. During the directors report I learned that teacher appreciation day was coming up and there was no money in the budget to support getting each teacher a little gift. I reached into my purse and pulled out the $112 Staples reward coupon that had arrived in the mail earlier in the day and turned it over to the Director to purchase goodies for the teachers. What fun!

❦      A reward can double as a gift