Giving Away Furniture

Last week was an interesting one. I had to learn to stop interrupting and listen. I heard some thoughts and ideas that I'm sure I wouldn't have without actively trying.
This week I'm donating unused furniture. I find it hard to believe that we've collected so much. We are indeed fortunate to have excess belongings.
The giving continues.

Giving the gift of listening

This week I am practising my listening skills. Instead of waiting to interrupt someone and put forward my point of view, I am actually listening! It's not as easy as it sounds, because I have to concentrate on what others are saying. But it's interesting.
Try taking on someone else's point of view - it's almost an act of generosity. Not many of us have dedicated listeners who hang on to our pearls of wisdom!
Giving appropriate responses is also a part of listening. I re-read some of Stephen Covey's work last week. He said his life changed when he realised that between an action and our response to it is an opportunity to decide how we will react.
That's what I'm concentrating on this week.

I'm Giving Away Coles and Woolworths dockets!

Here's something that costs nothing, but will benefit our schools. I'm mailing my dockets to our local Special School, which will assist them in buying equipment and learning aids for their students. How easy is that?
This week I passed on some goods to the givit.org virtual warehouse, and found homes for some new items I'm not using.
One of the ongoing benefits of concentrating on giving is that I talk about it to others. Sometimes we pass on a collection of items, so we are all doing more. It's a good feeling. I do believe "what goes around comes around", but that's not my reason for this website. We live in Australia, a beautiful country and land of opportunity. We are indeed lucky. It's time to assist others to believe that they are lucky too.

Giving & Receiving

I'm enjoying being on the receiving end of giving this week.
NightWriters (our writers club) has a collection of writers and readers from vastly different background with many and varied goals. We are privileged to share in people's lives and thoughts. Feedback on my own writing is especially valuable to me, so I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have come to our NightWriters meetings. It's not easy to make the time, especially while working fulltime, so I just wanted you all to know that you are appreciated.

Give It Away

During the week I left books in parks and bus stops for people to read. It almost felt illegal, leaving books behind!
This week is all about sorting through items in the house that we no longer use. I already have a large pile of goodies to drop off at Vinnies. I'll send a list of unused / almost new items to http://www.givit.org.au/. Hopefully some people will be able to use what I'm giving away. I'm a great fan of recycling, so we can help the environment at the same time.

Variety in Giving

This week I've managed to give away some books and toys, and have begun my journey as a volunteer. At our writers meeting this week we all listened to each other's thoughts, ideas and writing, and took the time to give considered feedback. I hadn't thought of the meetings from the point of view of "giving" because I enjoy them. Newsflash! Giving doesn't have to be about grim faced determination. Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but I'm allowed to enjoy the gift of giving. We all are.
Random acts of kindness, the power of good, paying it forward - anyone can suscribe to these movements. For the next 7 days I will be giving away books - leaving them in public places for anyone to read. I remember an article about this, so I can't claim the idea, but I can put the action in place. Hopefully, someone will enjoy reading these books.
By the way, please go to www.payitforwardmovement.org - there are some heart warming stories there.

A Scary Word - Commitment

Okay,  I've finally done it! I've volunteered some time to help others, so now I've committed myself. We frequently hear and read about a committment-phobe, which I've always linked to relationships. But I'm wondering now - does it apply to other areas? Work, maybe? Friends? I remember a friend who was astounded when people who had accepted her wedding invitation just didn't turn up. There was no urgent or solid reason for it - apparently they changed their minds and failed to let her know.
Do we avoid committment? If so, I believe it's time to knuckle down and do what we say we will do. That's what I'm giving this week - I will do what I've promised to do, even if I don't feel like it.