A Sacred Life

A Sacred Life

Friday, December 23, 2005

Non-Material Gifts

I get this newsletter from Robert Genn twice a week. Good Stuff. It got me thinking.
What non-material gift would I like to receive and to give?
Here's an exerpt from today's:

We don't need stuff. We need ideas and energy
and subjects and motivation and time and lots of other things
that can't be bought and are not sold at Wal-Mart. Happiness is
not under the Christmas tree but somewhere in the air above it.
It doesn't stick to traditional dates or statutory holidays. It
can sometimes be found on the most ordinary of Thursdays.
Sometimes it just blows in like a swallow in December.
Sometimes when you want it most you can't have it. And
sometimes you're up to your elbows. That's why we don't need
regular stuff. We're into bigger stuff. And if we need tools or
paint or clay or something we just go out and buy it anyway.
Which reminds me, I'm outa here--last minute stuff.

Merry Christmas,

Robert

PS: "Thanks to my work everything's going well." (Claude Monet)

Esoterica: It's a sort of ecstasy. It's like a drug. It's that
feeling you get when you've given everything in a work of art.
And it connects, really connects, not with everyone, but with
someone--maybe someone special. It's the possibility of the
existence of such a high that keeps us believing in things even
more preposterous than a jolly bearded chap descending over
6000 chimneys per second. "And for a breath of ecstasy / Give
all you have been, or could be." (Sara Teasdale)
My thoughts:
I would love to give someone the gift of helping them to express themselves.
To have a piece of artwork of mine make an impact in someone's life...to make them feel good, have a sense of peace or just to smile when they see it.
I'd love to give others my undivided attention. I wish my mind wouldn't wander so much.
I love receiving gifts of appreciation... just a "thank you, you've made a difference" is such an enormous gift. I'll have to remember to do likewise to others with that. I like receiving someone else's undivided attention, to know they are actually listening to what I am saying and that their mind isn't wandering.
I'd like the gift of time, focused time. And while I'm dreaming and wishing here, I would like some organizational abilities please. I'd like the ability or discipline to have a clear surface to work on, all my art supplies within easy access and know where everything is when I want it. I want to know how to best use space.
I would like to be able to say yes more often than no, and feel good about it.
So think on this:
What non-material gift can you give this season?

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