What Counts Is Not What You Give, But The Love You Give It To

Giving is an act of faith whose only true test is love. It is an act of affection that comes out of the heart and spreads with eyes closed. The amount of affection this act has implied is the measure of its vigor. Also, giving without ulterior motives can be simple, but giving willingly and sincerely is not that easy.

So no: it’s not just what you’re able to give to others or what you get from them, it’s also the love you invest or reap in every action. It seems contradictory, but in order  to be able to fill the soul, it is necessary to share the emotional intensity that we carry within it.

The action of giving can fill, as well as the action of receiving

It seems that the concept of receiving something from someone implies the idea of ​​adding up, and that the concept of giving involves the idea of ​​extra. It is likely that it sometimes happens that way, but there will be many other occasions when this law will not be respected: without realizing it,  there are those who forget that the action of offering may be able to feed us in the same way or even more than to obtain.

It is true that both things are important. In fact,  giving for the mere pleasure of doing it from the heart is just as valuable as knowing how to receive the same from others. Both assume a dynamic that must be produced alternately and that generates happiness and personal satisfaction.

We receive and we earn, but we give and we can earn more. The Greeks considered in the past that emotional intelligence was in people’s hearts. Therefore, what is valuable is the love you convey in what you give or the emotion you show when you receive it, not the superficial act of doing it.

When giving is also giving yourself

In this same sense, it is fair to say that talking about giving and receiving from the heart means giving ourselves as people and knowing what others want us to achieve. That’s really what personal relationships are all about:  an emotional part of us flies away every time we give sincerely, and an essential part of the other lodges in us when we open to receive it.

Giving gifts without affection means nothing, doing a favor out of interest is not kindness, thinking of the other out of obligation is temporary, etc. However, everything changes when we put love into what we do.

In this case,  if we place affection when giving, we will be enriching what we give. We will be taking off the masks, we will be opening the most vulnerable doors within us and we will be missing the purest part we have.

That is the one that is most valuable and the one that lasts as an effect on the people around us:  if someone did something for you from the heart, you will be aware of how this act is engraved in your memory. Honest emotional acts are locked in this box in which we keep throughout life the memories, objects, people or ideas that are really valuable.

When giving with love, something comes back

It’s possible that you’re thinking you give more than you get, and that’s not fair. Also, I’m pretty sure you’ve ever gotten tired of not seeing a response similar to yours from other people. The disappointment you feel when you realize this isn’t about not receiving, but about feeling that maybe you aren’t very important to them.

For this, it is necessary to be observers and filter our action of giving in a healthier way. Once we manage to do this, we are more likely to recognize a simple smile of thanks, a few words of affection, and a minimal gesture intended to make us happy.

Thus, it may seem difficult to distinguish such frankness, but it is not impossible. We cannot live in society if we do not believe in reciprocity, in the goodness of human beings or in mutual gratitude. We deserve a love that we have to be able to give to keep our self-esteem in a healthy state.

Images courtesy of Pascal Campion.