What It Means to Give

Recently I came across this story - an excerpt from Everything Good in the World where Katherine Hepburn shares an experience she had as a child. On this day she learned an important lesson about giving and it moved me so deeply, I just had to share it. 

In this year of 2021, it is my hope that more and more people will understand the value and the joy of giving, that more people will learn to "see" with their hearts, respond with love and compassion for others. I truly believe we have the ability to shift the consciousness of our planet and that the choice is in our hands - from one moment to the next. 

Katherine Hepburn, 1921.

In her own words:

“Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.

There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.

The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining armor." He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, "I'd like to buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus." The ticket lady stated the price.

The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again stated the price.

The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."

The man understood what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.

He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.

Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.

That day I learned the value to give.

The giver is bigger than the receiver. If you want to be large, larger than life, learn to Give. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything.

The importance of giving, blessing others can never be over emphasized because there's always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving.”

~ Katharine Hepburn

(from Everything Good in the World)

Can You Spare 1/2 hour on June 20, 2021?

I am writing this particular (time sensitive) blog in the hopes of generating support for something I am participating in this Sunday, June 20th. FOCUSING ON NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR 30 MINUTES. This happens to be the date of the summer equinox. 

My friends from around the globe and I are all participating by sitting in silent meditation for 30 minutes. For those 30 minutes we are just going to focus on feeling the energy of LOVE. It is our belief that our planet and all it's inhabitants greatly need this infusion of love energy - and if we can get a LOT of people to give 30 minutes of their time, we believe it can go a long way towards diffusing the chaotic energy that has permeated our planet.

The gals who are organizing this event happen to live in California (up in Mount Shasta) so the event will begin at noon PST. Some folks are going to head up to Mount Shasta to sit in silent meditation with others - and yet, it is not necessary at all to be there in person.

Do you have questions? Let me see if I can answer some of the questions that have come up for folks.

- What should you do if you live in a different time zone? It is totally up to you. If you'd like to figure out what 12:00 PST is where you live and participate at the same time, you can do that. Equally wonderful is if you decide to do this at noon YOUR TIME - where ever you are - so that there are waves and waves of love energy flowing across our planet as each time zone hits 12:00noon. (i.e. Some of my friend who live in Great Britain are going to be doing their love focused meditation at 8pm their time since that is when it will be noon here. Some of them are going to be focusing on love at noon on the 21st, so they can get another wave of love generated. Some of them are going to do both). 

Do you need to sign up? Nope. You can just "do your thing" for thirty minutes when it's noon where you live.

Does it cost anything? Nope. Not a thing.

Do I need an internet connection to participate? No you don't. For me personally, I feel better when I am away from technology (one of the reasons I love the forest near my house is because I get zero cell service out there) :-)  For those of you who want to "feel connected" even though the meditation will be in silence, I will include info below on how to link up with them at the time of the event.

Do you have to meditate? Nope you don't need to if meditation isn't your thing. The important thing is that you are focused on LOVE so do something for 30 minutes where you are most likely to feel nothing but love. 

For my friends who have just become grandparents, that might mean rocking their new grand baby for 30 minutes. For my musically inclined friends, that might mean playing a certain set list of songs that puts them in their heart for 30 minutes. For my pet loving friends, it might mean snuggling with their fur baby for 30 minutes. The important thing is that you just feel LOVE in your heart - and you are the best person to decide what makes you feel love.

There isn't a "right" way to do it . . . we just need as many people as possible generating as much love as possible as we enter the Summer Solstice. 

What if you don't believe it will do any good? Can you do it anyway? Seriously, is there any harm that could come from just focusing on the feeling of love for 1/2 hour? 

What if you want to read more about this and hear a few recorded messages from the gals who are organizing this event? You can find them on Facebook - the event page is called All For Love. You can even post on the event page and say what City, State or Country you will be joining from. It isn't necessary - it can just be fun sometimes to see where everyone is joining from. 

If you are able to participate, I thank you from the bottom of my heart . . . 

ps - my neighbor Billy LP took the picture up top a year ago and I honestly can't remember if I asked his permission to save a copy, so Billy, if you happen to see this, I hope you don't mind.  :-)