{"id":941,"date":"2010-09-08T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=941"},"modified":"2014-09-26T10:24:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T14:24:41","slug":"extra-zen-question-reverse-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/extra-zen-question-reverse-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra: Zen Question: Reverse Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Days-182-Extra-Reverse-giving-scarf+.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-943\" title=\"Days 182 Extra - Reverse giving - scarf+\" src=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Days-182-Extra-Reverse-giving-scarf+-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>As I focus on giving my extra stuff away, it seems like others keep giving to <em>me<\/em>. At first I felt frustrated, like the giving was going in the wrong direction. Then, I decided that receiving and being grateful was also a gift. In a sense, when I give, I am in control. It\u2019s good to be on the other end occasionally and humbly accept the gifts of others.<\/p>\n<p>At a recent conference someone just <em>gave<\/em> (not lent) me a red pen when I mentioned that I forgot to bring mine. Another person gave me her scarf when she noticed I was cold in an air-conditioned room \u2013 and insisted that I keep it. I had some extra time to read so I went to the Chaminade  University library to check out a couple books. Since I wasn\u2019t a student or local resident the head librarian said, \u201cHey, just put it on my card. I know you\u2019re trustworthy.\u201d I also needed a pleasant room for a post conference retreat I was responsible for. One local participant arranged for my group to use the President\u2019s Lounge for a day \u2013 free. Another person saw me eyeing a couple books for a class that she teaches. I also teach a similar class on leadership. She said, \u201cJust take them. I\u2019ve got extras.\u201d That\u2019s 7 items that people gave me in one week. I\u2019ll have to step up my giving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I focus on giving my extra stuff away, it seems like others keep giving to me. At first I felt frustrated, like the giving was going in the wrong direction. Then, I decided that receiving and being grateful was also a gift. In a sense, when I give, I am in control. It\u2019s good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-process","tag-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1698,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/1698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}