This is it! One week to go before Christmas gifts are due to be opened. Perhaps this weekend you plan to do your final shopping (or, like me, begin my shopping!) so let’s take a moment and think about the gifting.
Just for a moment imagine you go out looking for a present, the perfect present for someone special, you find it with joy, wrap it and put it under the tree. Could you conceive of letting it end right there? Could you possibly envision leaving your name off the gift tag without wanting any credit for the gift? That is true gifting; deriving joy from thinking about that person. Gifting cannot carry even one tiny bit of expectation about how the receiver feels about the gift. True gifting is about the expression of love; a no-strings-attached act . If we are disappointed in the receivers reaction, that is a string, if we want the receiver to wear or use the gift right away, that is a string; if we get upset if the receiver re-gifts the item, that is a string.
On the topic of re-gifting; in Japan, I am reliably told, there is the concept of Osusowake; which roughly translates to the idea that “this is a precious gift which was given to me that I give to you.” Isn’t that a lovely concept? On one hand the person is acknowledging the preciousness of the gift and the thought behind the giving, and at the same time saying “this is precious to me, and I want you to have it.”
Giving is best done through the heart. So as you pick out those expressions of love, stop for a moment and remember why you are giving. Is it to express love, or is it done in expectation of a payback? From the heart giving, free of expectation or strings is the most joyful form of gifting.
