|
Re-Gifting Life
by Bradley Davidson
At my work team's annual Christmas party, re-gifting has become a running joke. It all started a
few years ago when someone was given a personal care kit - complete with clippers, a nail file,
and tweezers - as a Christmas gift. Forgetting where the gift had come from, the poor recipient
re-gifted it and took it back to the same group's party the following year. Once the
embarrassment of re-gifting went away, we all had a good laugh and it became a tradition to
re-gift the same kit each year and bring it back to the party. Everyone in the office has now received that personal care kit at least once.
Re-gifting Christmas gifts is tricky business, at best. If you perform a Google search for
"re-gifting", you will get over 300,000 results ranging from "How to re-gift without hurting feelings" to the "Social Faux Pas of Re-Gifting". Whether re-gifting is a etiquette "no-no" or not is the
topic for someone else's newsletter. However, there is one gift that is perfectly acceptable to
"re-gift"; in fact, this gift should be re-gifted. That gift is the gift of our lives.
You have been given a life that is unique. No one else in the universe is exactly like you. You
have special talents, abilities, and passions. You were given those special gifts of life for a
reason; to give away to others. Not to give so that you will receive something in return but
giving for the sake of giving. It is not until we give without an expectation of return that we
have truly given.
How would our world be different if each of us committed to giving away a part of ourselves
this year? This could mean volunteering, offering to sit and listen with unconditional positive regard to a friend who is having problems, holding the hand and praying with someone who is
sick or dying, being present and available for a friend who is grieving.
Will you commit to changing the world this year by re-gifting that precious gift of you?
| 
