Giving From The Heart
Although the holidays can seem to be a season of marketing and anxiety over finding the perfect gift, many people find ways to give from the heart and make others smile with a genuine gift of the self. Where does that lovely feeling of selflessness and joy of charity come from?
“A gift from the heart,” is actually an accurate description of what occurs. Giving makes us feel joy—the emotion of the heart in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In TCM the heart is the fire element and where the spirit resides. As in Western culture, in TCM the heart is where love is found, and from here we are ignited with the desire to express and feel happiness, pleasure, and love. During the holiday season, we are happy when selecting a gift that we know will make someone else happy—it’s a reflexive action. When we see the delight in their expression as they open the exactly perfect gift, it changes our chemistry. It pleases us to make others happy because that in and of itself is giving. When we put someone’s needs or wants above ours, we deliver selflessness to them. We chose to drop back in the race and let someone else cross the finish line first. The heart feels good because it is full. The look of the winner—of the race or the gift—fills us with contentment and a sense of rightness with the world. And that is a singular joy of being human.
As a practitioner whose job it is to make you feel better, I can tell you it is the best feeling in the world when a patient leaves the Acupuncture by Andrea office pain-free, smiling radiantly after a treatment. I want to do it again and create even more smiles and well-being because the joy I feel engulfs my entire spirit. The pain and suffering were transformed by attention and care—giving of myself. It’s addictive!
When we give, we connect to the frequency—the energy—of Universal Life itself. And this miraculous connection is always a channel that can restore us to balance and make us whole. It’s the connection that can create miracles in our reality… giving from your heart places you on a profound pathway that is aligned with the very source of Life and its healing power. The Miraculous Energy Dynamic of Giving
Giving and the feeling of joy isn’t just for the Christmas season, it’s a year-round activity. Volunteering your time to those in need, buying random gifts for loved ones, saying hello to a stranger or calling someone you haven’t spoken to in a while are all great ways to spread joy throughout the calendar year. Your heart and theirs, will thank you for it!