I visited a man last week who I had only met recently. While visiting him, I admired a beautiful peice of stained glass in his kitchen. On my way out the door that night, he pulled this piece down and gave it to me. Later that night he sent me and email and thanked me for teaching him that day. He told me that the hanging that he gave me was his favorite of all his pieces but he gifted it to me beacuse by doing so, a gift will be bestowed upon him.

I still didn’t understand what he was talking about and we had a long conversation about this idea of gifting. Earlier in the week we had dinner at a local restaurant and the waitress was not in a very good mood. I mentioned that to him and he said that his smile, greeting and pleasant demeanor is a gift for her. Just because you are nice to somebody doesn’t mean they are going to be nice to you. So rahter than waiting for reciprocation, give yourself out as a gift, and whatever is returned to you is to be recieved as a gift.

He explained that if you give something away as a gift with no expectation of any return on it, you have no attachment or resentment in giving it away. My annoyance last week concerning all the emails I had sent out and did not receive any responses should have been looked at as gifts that I have sent out into the world and not expect something in return. I thought that this was a unique and wonderful attitude. Whether it is a smile or an email or money.

I have adopted this as a goal also because I have been let down by so many people in this world that I have become somewhat cynical. Perhaps by removing any expectation I can also remove disappointed. It will allow me to be more of a giving and loving person.