Through the Looking Glass

A while back I wrote a poem with the title “ through the looking glass”, and it was probably one of my favorite ones yet. There is no premeditation for these poems, just an inspiration and the need to get it down on paper. I hadn’t revisited that poem in a while but after a recent, I AM Project session I held covering the idea of “contribution” it came back to me in a different light.

The discussion on contribution is one normally on “how can we give back” to the world around us, either in financial contribution, or volunteering time and energy to a cause, but something still seemed incomplete with this process. During our session, we discussed and examined “how” we are contributing and what was the goal or intent of that action. I have seen in my own experience at times and in the actions of others, that our contribution sometimes comes with conditions, meaning that if you do not acknowledge my “contribution” to you, it nullifies the act.

This is probably all too common and it took me some time and awareness to realize that was my posture at times with my acts of “contribution. To contribute from this level of being is to contribute from a place of scarcity, and though the act of “contribution” may have a positive effect on the recipient, there was a certain selfishness to the intent. This was a rude and uncomfortable awakening but when the truth washes over you there is nothing to do but sit with it and grow.

As our discussion furthered the concept of “contribution” we discussed how it can be stressful if we are looking for opportunities outside our home to provide acts of contribution, and as self-aware human beings we explored that every connection throughout the day could be in the spirit of contribution. How do we interact at work with our boss, fellow employees, our employees, and vendors in a spirit of “contribution”? In our homes, with our significant others, our children, how can each and every little interaction be in “contribution”?

This new possibility, or reframing, offered so much more richness to all our experiences and didn’t require more effort to be a generous contributor; each moment of the day offered that opportunity.

But the most powerful realization came when we discovered that there was a universal law, a law so powerful that if recognized and acted upon it would offer so much richness to our life it would spill out to the world around us in a profound way. This law is simply the law of self-love or self-care. Now how can self-love or self-care be of contribution to the world around us, isn’t that selfish or self-indulgent? If we look to nature we see evidence that self-care is the ultimate form of contribution, for if we are not doing well, we are lacking on any level, what do we have to offer another?

Plants seek full expression of themselves, a powerful drive to become strong and healthy, and in that spirit, they offer beauty to the world around them, they offer powerful nutrition to the creatures that rely on them for food, they provide shelter for creatures that require it, and they only can be powerful contributors if they are rich in life and in health!

Our whole ecosystem is one of contribution to self, an expanding environment that seeks to enrich itself, seeking full and powerful expression of all that it can be, for if that was not to occur those that rely on each level of that system would perish. It is in our DNA to survive and thrive, to contribute fully and generously to ourselves, so in our strength, in our personal abundance, we naturally contribute just “with our being”, and without the need to seek to contribute beyond our means, for if our needs are looked after, the needs of the world will soon be taken care of.

I am sure there is more to this conversation to be had, but for now, it is an interesting realization that I am eager to explore, in my goal to be more of a contributor to the world around me.

David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler

www.theiamproject.com

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