Give or Take?
We’ve heard it said many times that life is “Give and take.”
As an old song declares, “You’ve got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little.”
It seems that some of us want to specialize and be exclusively one way – a giver or a taker. It never works. It seems we were created to be both.
The way I view it, we are here to contribute – give. We are also here to benefit by others’ contributions – take. The imbalance occurs when we stake a claim on one or the other and attempt to make it exclusively what we do.
There are so few pure givers on the earth that we can deduce that they are not responsible for the balance between the two being out of whack. So the onus falls on the takers.
My mother had an expression when describing a taker. She called them a “User.” They would use you to advance their agenda. When they got what they could from you, they would move on to another person to extract some more – never once giving back.
Takers don’t contribute. It’s not like they don’t have anything to give, they’ve just been conditioned into their entitled view of life.
If you only cut down trees and don’t replant them, you can easily see how poorly that strategy contributes to our ongoing, collective existence. But takers never consider scenarios like that as long as there’s enough for them.
A blog post like this will never reach a taker because, frankly, they don’t care and most likely never will.
This writing is for the unbalanced taker in us.
Have you evaluated what you are here to contribute? You have much to give but may be hiding it under a bushel basket. If you are sitting back and taking more than you are giving, you’re out of balance.
I’m considering someone who spends a lot of time online and reads only one viewpoint on a topic. Then they send out emails to others to urge them to get the point. That person is a taker. They have no viewpoint of their own. They just pass on someone else’s. They passively take in what’s said and blindly pass it on. Fact checking is not a strong suit of a taker.
What’s your contribution? Anyone can regurgitate what someone else has said. What do you think?
I have a friend that always quotes someone else – always! I want to know what they think, not what Benjamin Disraeli
thought.
I want to experience their unique contribution and not be treated to a poor imitation of someone else.
You have something to give. Find it!
The light that shines from you will pass through your life experience filters and be a unique contribution that no one else can give. Start sharing your light. Start giving.
Not everyone will take what you have to give nor will you take what everyone else has to offer. That’s the give and take of life. But that process cannot happen unless we are all contributing.
Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way” uses the term “Shadow Artist.” They walk in the shadow of the artist never casting their own light. That’s a taker.
Taking is a lonely existence.
Engage your curiosity and explore what you have to give and then give it.
When you give, you suck the overabundance of take out of life.
All the best,
John
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