One must be able to Receive as well as to Give
I was browsing my copy of The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel, and found myself thinking about the idea of giving and receiving.
I sure do love to give! I get such pleasure from choosing a gift for someone.
But there is another part of the equation… I truly believe that one who enjoys giving should also enjoy receiving.
There cannot be one without another.
After all – in order to give, someone has to receive. And if you are to receive, someone has to give.
As much as I love to give, I also love to receive. If you want to give me a gift, and you are giving it with a glad heart, then bring it on! I absolutely love it!
Again, in order for there to be giving, someone must be able to receive.
In Part 4 of Charles Haanel’s The Master Key System, the idea of giving and receiving comes up in paragraph 20:
“Here is the secret of power, of mastery. To overcome does not mean to go without things. Self-denial is not success. We cannot give unles we get; we cannot be helpful unless we are strong. The Infinite is not a bankrupt and we who are the representatives of Infinite power should not be bankrupts either, and if we wish to be of service to others we must have power and more power, but to get it we must give it; we must be of service.”
And in the very next paragraph he states, “The more we give the more we shall get…”
Almost sounds a little like the conundrum of what came first, the chicken or the egg? That is, some might ask, “But how can I give what I don’t yet HAVE?”
I like what Mr. Haanel suggests in the passage above – he suggests that “…to get it we must give it; we must be of service.”
We can translate that to, “We must give value.”
It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to give money if we’re still working on receiving it – but we must give something. If you want your boss to write your paycheck next week, you need to do something in exchange. You need to give value.
Let’s say that there is a specific charity you really like – and they are fundraising.
Now, let’s say you have lost your job and you need to feed your family. You don’t have to send the charity a check from your food or rent budget. But you COULD do SOMETHING. You could volunteer a bit for them. You could post an appeal for them on your Facebook profile. You could Tweet their website to your Twitter followers. You could pray for them.
All those activities are giving activities. You are giving value. And you can be sure that if you give freely, and with an open heart, you WILL receive. You will receive the feeling of happiness for having helped another or for having brought joy to another.
Picture yourself giving a gift to a small child, and seeing his face when he opens it with wide eyes and eagerness.
If that in itself puts a smile on your face and in your heart, guess what? You have just received!
Now, go out there and give just for the joy of giving.
PS: In another article, I discuss an exercise that was also inspired by Charles F Haanel and The Master Key System. You can read that article here => An Exercise Inspired by Charles F Haanel and His Master Key System
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