“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
– Maya Angelou

 We transition to physical existence fully imbued by Spiritual Source with a generous and intentional bounty of gifts. Our purpose and mission as physical beings is threefold:  1. To awaken and remember the gifts entrusted to us, 2. To animate, share and bless each other with our gifts in the moment(s) for which they were purposed and, 3. To graciously receive, accept and reciprocate with love and gratitude, the gifts shared with us by others.  The challenge for anyone aspiring to deepen personal relationships, develop as an enlightened, mindful leader or evolve to higher self, is to side-step ego, embrace self-awareness and fully engage the call to selflessly share your unique giftedness in the world and in the workplace.

The poet, David Whyte, describes this “awakening to giftedness” in these beautifully insightful lines from his poem “What to Remember When Waking”:

“To remember the other world in this world, is to live in your true inheritance…To become human is to become visible, while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.”  – David Whyte            

David’s words remind us that irrespective of religious tradition we each enter the physical realm laden with an abundance of intentionality yearning to be remembered, energized and shared.  In fact throughout much of David’s body of work he coaxes us, gently yet firmly, back to this idea of intended design of spirit…that we engage and share the fullness of our giftedness before returning yet again to spirit.  This idea has long been understood and embraced in Christian tradition as well. In the New Testament the first letter of Peter foreshadows David Whyte’s call to share our gifts:

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another” – 1 Pt 4:10

And again in Corinthians, we hear this exhortation on “giftedness”:

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit…one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.”  – 1 Cor 12: 4-11

And the idea goes back even farther, into the Old testament, where we see this very clear reference to “Intentionality of Spirit” in the opening chapter of Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.”  – Jer 1:5

And again in Isaiah Chapter 55:

“So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.”  – Isaiah 55:11

In moments of reflection, those of us who have aged, matured and witnessed the arrival and departure of at least fifty winters must surely come to a realization that virtually all of the events of great value in our lives have evolved from the sharing of gifts – on either the giving or receiving end. Thoughtful meditation on the unfolding of our story reveals these sharing-moments as authentic root source of emotional and spiritual wellbeing, relationship, connectedness, fulfillment and growth toward higher self. No material possession or tangible acquisition can impart the near-euphoric intimacy of the moment in which a unique and personal gift is shared, accepted and reciprocated. Limitations of spoken language prevent me from fully articulating the depth of this transcendent spiritual moment of profound mutual appreciation and reciprocation. I have simply chosen to refer to it as the moment of BlessingState®, a concept I will expand upon in future essays as language comes or me or as others find language to share their own BlessingState experiences with me.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” ~ Carl Jung

Same is true in the workplace. No amount of salary or perqs can engender the level of engagement, enthusiasm, or depth of commitment created by selfless team sharing and collaborative immersion in meaningful work.  Such are the characteristics of an environment of conspicuous regard for all stakeholders…an environment created by conscious leaders (Altrupreneurs) generously sharing gifts of spirit.

Gifts of spirit are myriad; we know them by many names:

time, treasure, prayer, belief, wisdom, encouragement, acceptance, silence, experience, guidance, humor, enthusiasm, creativity, introduction, endorsement, persistence, vision, courage, faith, support, challenge, vulnerability, agreement, friendship, candor, manual labor, community, condolence, empathy, inclusion, kindness, mentorship, listening, compassion, trust, honesty, comfort, loyalty, patience, confession, love, forgiveness, gratitude, or mere presence.

The list continues on, and as we name one we think of two more. The fullness of human giftedness may neither be measured nor contained for it is truly the stuff of spirit.

So as we look over our shoulder and mindfully consider each of the stones comprising the path behind us, it becomes increasingly clear that individual acts of conscious, intentional sharing (as giver or receiver) have blessed our lives in ways that could never have been anticipated in the actual moment(s) of sharing. The fruits of sharing-moments are never wholly appreciated until after the story had been pieced together in retrospect – months, years or even decades later – backcasting the intertwined strands of events to discern how synchronistic intention unfolded in each. In your own life, simply take one seemingly serendipitous increment of status-quo and walk it back through years or decades of antecedent events, one at a time.  I guarantee – if you proceed slowly and thoughtfully with this exercise, you will recall and connect numerous sharing-events which you never previously connected or even seriously considered in the moments through which they occurred.  Such is the cryptic, intentional work of spirit in the unfolding of our lives.

“Life  can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”       – Soren  Kierkegaard

Having awakened to both the blessing and the obligation of shared giftedness we are able to open ourselves to the fullness of our purpose in the world. As we remember that with which we have been gifted, and as we purposefully exercise our ability to share our gifts, we are increasingly guided to opportunities uniquely suited to our gifting charism. The call to blessing each other in both the giving and acceptance of these unique endowments is innate; we are born into this intentionality; it is our nature.  We may choose to ignore our call to sharing, but we cannot escape the obligation to animate and share our gifts, both in our personal lives and in our professional role as conscious leaders and mentors.

I can only smile as I meditate upon the prospects of a future world both led and inhabited by an overwhelming majority of conscious, intentional seekers of BlessingState®.      🙂

PS –  I am most interested in hearing your feedback, or learning how you would give language to your personal experience of BlessingState®  If you would like to share, please email me at: Altrupreneur@gmail.com  Follow on Twitter:  @Altrupreneur  Website: Altrupreneur.com

Connect with: Bernie on Linkedin  Or visit our Linkedin Discussion Group at:  Altrupreneurs Creating Enthusiastic Engagement