The Breathing Prosperity blog

Happy Holidays!

No need to be politically correct…I celebrate Christmas, and embrace whatever you are celebrating and hope you have a wonderful, heartwarming time filled with love and connection. That’s all I really want, and I suspect we all do underneath it all…we want love and connection.

In that vein, I realize more and more that all the clichés about giving being better than receiving exist for a reason; they’re true! How wonderful it feels to give to the Salvation Army knowing it will help a family or person in need, or to give a hug to a stranger who is clearly having a bad day*. There is no feeling like that surge of energy and vitality we feel when having just committed an act of kindness…it’s the feeling of love and connection.

Here are some gifts you can give this Holiday season that will make to brighter for everyone involved; for some the rewards will be immediate and for some later, but all will fulfill an ultimate destiny that is bigger than yourself and will help you BE the loving, giving person you want to be in your heart.

Give Blood: According to the Canadian Blood Services, the organization which oversees the blood donations and dissemination here in Canada where I live, one donation (unit) of blood, which can be given in less than an hour of your time, can save up to three lives. According to statistics, there is not nearly enough blood to use for needed transfusions and many major city hospitals do not have enough of this life-saving fluid.

Blood regenerates within our amazing bodies within a couple of days (according to experts, “…after donating a unit of blood, the body replaces the fluid and white cells within 24 hours, and platelets and plasma proteins within 48-72 hours. The red blood cells are completely replaced in 4-6 weeks.”); this is such a simple gift to give. My own Mom received four blood transfusions last night and I am eternally, poignantly grateful to those wonderful souls who gave her this anonymous gift. I myself am not able to give blood because of my husband’s pre-Canadian life in Africa, so I implore you to do this small thing as a gift to someone who will desperately need it some time soon.

Sign Your Organ Donor Card: Anyone old enough to wield a car is old enough to know that they have precious organs which someone else could use when we are done with them. Even if you have religious beliefs causing you to shy away from this practise, consider the real human stories behind the need and give it some serious thought.

Signing an organ donor card and letting your family know it’s important to you is a big step; bigger than you may realize. People – men, women and children – die every day just in North America waiting for donor tissues and organs that never come. The Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario says that “One organ and tissue donor can save up to 8 lives and enhance as many as 75 more,” and further assures those of us worried about putting family members through trauma that “Studies have come to show that donating the organs and tissues of a loved one can provide immediate comfort and long-term consolation for family members.” I can see how this would be true, as although at the moment I cannot fathom having to think about allowing a loved one’s body to be cut apart, the long-term peace I would feel at having allowed my loved one to help many, many other people either stay alive or to greatly improve their quality of life would be well worth it. Help someone see; help someone breathe; help someone feel the healthy beat of a heart…give the gift of life.

Sponsor a Child: There are so many organizations that are helping our world’s less fortunate children that it can be difficult to decide between them, and too often we do nothing. If you are on the fence because you’re not sure which of these are legitimate or if it will ‘really help,’ ask around and lose the excuses. If you can help one poor child or family overcome dire poverty or get out of their crippling situation; even if you can help ease everyday discomfort by putting a smile on a child’s face, send them to school or give them a sense of hope and connection, there is every reason to show compassion in this small way. We have so much…if you are reading this, you have SO MUCH. You have shelter and a computer and eyes to see, and likely food to eat. You have access to libraries and education and friends and family and HOPE. Give it; share it.

Two I really like are World Vision and SOS Children’s Villages, but many more exist and are making a difference. Those that help most seem to be focusing on improving communities and individual futures, rather than just putting ‘bandaids’ on situations.

Make a MicroLoan: As with the child sponsor organizations, there is some question as to whether the newly popular micro-lending companies such as KIVA are actually helping as much as they claim to. Even so, could you go wrong by making a small, $25 donation when that money could mean so much to a family or person in a third world country? That small loan, combined with others, can help someone mired in poverty (and possibly living within a corrupt regime) get a head start in life by building a business. A ‘business’ in this vastly different world may mean buying a rooster and hen chickens in order to sell the eggs and offspring, or buying a cart with which to carry and sell vegetables. As of this writing, Kiva has a 98.92% loan repayment rate, which means you are actually going to get your money back and can re-lend it. Talk about win-win! Check out Kiva. org and add to the smiling faces of those helped with small donations.

Volunteer: Spend an afternoon at a shelter helping out, and share smiles and eye contact. Do not worry about what you wear, or what you say. Just BE THERE and pass along your warmth and love…nothing else matters. Imagine how lonely it must be to have no home and no one to care about you, and then fill in that gap for just a moment in time by being someone who cares. When I think of people living on the streets, I always wonder what the history is; how a small child with hopes and dreams became a lost member of humanity, and how we as their human family could have prevented it. Never once, when I’ve made eye contact, smiled at and talked to someone homeless, has it been received with anything other than joy and delight, and returned smiles. So many avoid their eyes; so many find it easier to look away. Even if you are not throwing a couple of bucks into a hat in the subway station as you pass by, a warm smile and a moment of connection goes a long way…for both of you.

Share Hugs and Love: Appreciate those you love, and tell them so. Whether it’s someone in the office or your precious family members, do not let more time go by before you tell them how much they are appreciated.

*Be kind to strangers, especially those who seem disgruntled. We all need a little tenderness when we’re having a bad day; be a light in the darkness when possible.

Do not let Christmas (or whichever Holiday you are celebrating) be the only time of year you feel a sense of closeness. The people in our lives are gifts, one and all. Be a person who remembers what is important in life and who shares love and kindness, and you will feel the love and sense of connection you seek at all times. Is it that simple? Yes! Is it easy? Not always…we are human, and we are complex. For this Holiday Season and coming year, I wish for you this gift of simplicity: that you may feel love and kindness, and pass it on.

Peace on Earth…and good will to all men. That’s how the song goes, right? Have you ever thought about that, and what it means to you personally?

(If you’re wondering what this has to do with the concept of prosperity, it’s simple: we cannot enjoy financial or any other type of prosperity when there is violence or deep unrest in our lives. Our planet and its people are not truly prosperous when some of us are killing and hurting others. We are all hurting ourselves as long as deep psychic wounds remain unhealed, and as long as they are passed from generation to generation instead of being dealt with at the level of cause rather than symptom.)

Do you want peace on earth? The real question is, are you willing to offer good will to ALL MEN in order to make peace a reality?

‘Who, me?’ you may say. ‘It’s the other guys who are creating wars, and acting in violent ways, and destroying lives, families and futures. Not me – I am a peaceful, good person and I certainly want peace on earth. If only those other guys would smarten up…it’s so sad.’

Are There Really Bad Guys?

The truth is, most of us are raised to WANT to perpetrate violence in retaliation for perceived or actual offences. Whether we want to do it ourselves (to hurt another in return for something they’ve done to us), or we want others to do it for us (have the police or the army or the government ‘get’ the bad guys), we live in a ‘might is right’ society and we are raised to try and protect our own little interests. Rarely do we see those other guys as tender, complex and important human beings just like ourselves, who want only the best for their families and who will vow revenge should something happen to them.

What happens in your mind when you get cut off intentionally by someone in traffic? Are there certain people in your life who rub you the wrong way? Maybe there are even folks who hurt you deeply and who you cannot stand the sight or the thought of…and what about the selfish jerks in your life? When you think about these people, do you offer them good will? Does your mind instantly forgive and do you smile with patience and love at their antics, as you would a child whom you adore? If this describes you, and there are no situations in which you feel anger, resentment or bitterness towards another human being, you are a truly aware and highly conscious individual, and it is my honour to have you reading here. You bring light and peace to us all. For the rest of us, it’s time we looked inside ourselves for our contribution to the level of peace in this world we all share.

If it’s difficult to forgive small grievances, imagine the power of collective grievances and deep cultural and religious hatreds, held by thousands or millions of people, and fueled by mass buy-in. The challenge is not a small one, but the trick, I think, is to tackle it person by person. If each of us can recognize the tendency toward separation and violence in our own hearts when it arises, we can choose to rise above it and to BE better; more loving, more open, more patient and tolerant and curious.

When we feel rage or intolerance towards another, THAT is where peace gets killed. This planet is full of people…individuals just like you and I, and each of us contributes collectively to the consciousness of the whole. The anger we feel at another is just like anyone else’s anger, and it all adds up. When we wish to seek revenge – whether it’s a small revenge like getting someone back for insulting us, or a huge vendetta against another culture for hurting our family or ancestors – we participate in the anguish of humanity. We perpetuate it and we continue creating it.

Have there not been times when you have made mistakes, and times when you’ve said or done things which now make you cringe? When you look back at your younger years, are there situations you’d like to do over, or wish you had handled differently? Perhaps you’ve hurt people – intentionally or otherwise – and perhaps you’ve been stupid and callous and selfish…and somehow you still manage to think you’re a pretty good person. You’ve grown, you’ve learned and you hope others will forgive you. Don’t others deserve those same missteps and the same forgiveness? Isn’t that rocky path an essential part of being human? There is always a reason behind another’s behavior, and there is always room for change and growth.

When we forgive, when we see that we are all the same, when we understand the actions of another because we’ve been there or we can otherwise empathise, we begin the process of healing. We can become connected and see through the veil of separation, and can raise our children to see beyond culture and race and all the other borderlines which have existed for far too long. Thoughts of hatred and revenge, no matter how petty, are poisons to us, both inside and out.

As within, so without…as long as we keep looking outside of ourselves for the solution, we will never find it, and never create it. As soon as EACH OF US takes responsibility for accepting each other as we are, for being tolerant and loving and for fostering connections instead of separation, we will begin to create our cherished ideal of PEACE ON EARTH.

Photo credit: NASA