For those of you just joining in I’m currently giving a gift and journaling about it for 29 days…go here to read the initial post, which explains why.
Gift 1
I gave gift one on the airplane on the way home from a short trip to Arizona. The lady seated to my right decided to order a gin and tonic for the ride from Phoenix to Chicago. If you travel on Southwest you may be familiar with their drink tickets; these are tickets you can pre-purchase for alcoholic drinks on the plane. I always seem to have some of these tickets laying around. The lady to my right didn’t have a ticket and was going to have to charge her $4 cocktail to her Visa so I offered her one of our drink tickets and she accepted. She seemed genuinely surprised that I offered the ticket. She and I exchanged surface conversation the rest of the flight and we traded magazines. Although it wasn’t earth shattering I did learn somethings…
1. I rarely talk to strangers on planes or anywhere for that matter, but for whatever reason I was offering her the drink ticket before I even realized I was doing it. It just seemed to be the thing to do.
2. This woman’s reaction made me want to give more! For example: while waiting in the Chicago airport to fly back to Columbus a woman commented she wished she had a sweater. I found myself wishing I had one to give her.
All in all day 1 was a great expirence.
Gift 2
Gift 2 didn’t go as well as gift 1…for gift 2 I cleaned the kitchen and packed Hess’s lunch. Typically I cook and he cleans the kitchen and we’re on our on for our lunches. It may not seem like much, but our fruit was strawberries and they had to be chopped and cleaned so it was a more time consuming than normal. Hess didn’t really notice the extra effort and I was a little grumpy about this. This has taught me I need to work on my intentions. If I give a gift I need to give it without wanting or expecting anything in return; afterall, that’s the whole point of this exercise.
I have yet to give gift 3, but will soon. I’ll keep you posted as I continue to move through the process.
» May 20th, 2010 | Social Commentary • Social Media
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Keep going…..LOVE the Southwest experience. I think it will be hard to do it for people in your daily life and not “expect” some sort of acknowledgement. Of course, that could be the challenge of it.
I’ll be watching.
goingwell so far- look forward to sharing on June 5th See my blog on the 29gifts.org site
I love you sweetie, Mom
The Southwest experience was nice.I think Lisa is right, it will be hard nott to be acknowledged. Did the lady on the plane seriously acknowledge the way that you wanted Hess to?
You may not realize this, but you have just given another gift. This gift is the thoughtfulness, kindness, and insightful realization of what a difference one person can make. The true gift comes from within when you give out positive intentions of your true self.
Thank you for gift number 3. This is the gift that displays your willingness to promote this exercise of goodwill towards others and the realization that giving can make a difference.
Thank you Anna
The lady on the plane didn’t acknowledge the exact way i wanted Hess to, but she was genuine surprised and she did say thanks. I felt my effort was appreciated.
How insightful! I didn’t really think of this process as a gift, but it really is. Thanks for your comments Bruce!