Who has not heard the old cliche “IT IS BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE?”
I have heard this from many sources and many people I interact with use it as an axiom to live by. What is interesting about this saying is that when you trace it back to it’s origins in ancient Greece, it has a very different slant to it. The original quote is more accurately read as “IT IS BETTER TO BE IN A POSITION TO GIVE THAN TO HAVE TO RECEIVE.” Very different connotation.
In my 18 years as a professional coach/consultant/advisor I have rarely interacted with someone who is focused on being a better receiver than a giver. In fact I have rarely interacted with anyone who is even willing to be balanced when it comes to giving and receiving. In other words, the vast majority of the world seems to be better at giving than receiving. Yet I contend that not being able to receive is a selfish act. Let me explain…
Selfish is defined as “lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.” I remember a client in Canada I was working with a few years ago who had a PhD in giving but would not have qualified for grade school in the receiving department. I challenged her to think about Christmas morning at her house with her young children and the deep intrinsic joy she experienced in watching them open their Christmas gifts.
She talked with mist in her eyes about how happy that made her and how much more she wanted to give to them. The shock I created in her system when I called her a “selfish bitch” was enough to get her attention. Once I had her attention I asked her why she would rob her children, her husband, her friends and her clients from receiving that same joy she did by not receiving the gifts, compliments and love they wanted to shower her with.
That conversation changed her forever but what was counter intuitive to her is how much her practice jumped after she learned to receive better. You see, giving and receiving are just two heads to the same coin, and based on the law of balanced energy you can not have more of one without having/needing more of the other. In other words if you want to give more …… YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO RECEIVE MORE.
So many entrepreneurs I work with, particularly in the healthcare industry, want to give more and love more and serve more but they don’t see the other side of the equation, which is to receive more. This lack of awareness on working on the receiving muscle in their life, robs them of serving and loving their clients, families and friends at the highest level. This can definitely be interpreted as selfish as you are holding back on something you could be doing to serve others in order to serve yourself.
So don’t be a selfish giver! Give from your heart the very best you have to offer the world but since you now realize that giving your best can only occur when you can also receive in equal proportions, now you can work at sharing even more of yourself with the world by working on your receiving muscles.
If you would like to immerse yourself in a “crash course” in learning how to receive better in your life, please check out www.drtompreston.com/retreat and consider joining us this summer. Not only will you make your investment in time and money back in spades through the increased service you will be able to offer the world, you will also walk away refreshed, rejuvenated, more authentic and completely “awakened”, I guarantee it.