The art of receiving

As a parent, we give and give and give to our kids.  And then we turn around and notice our friends, partners or other family members and we give some more.  Then after giving all we can, we collapse into a heap at the end of the day whining about how we never have enough time to ourselves.  I get it.  I’ve been there.  But I think we each create our reality and we’re actually responsible for creating the lives we want.  So then I reach out, ask for help, and create support systems.

The problem is that when someone is willing to help me, I actually have to be able to accept that help.  I’m better at it now, but receiving hasn’t always been easy for me.  Sure, I was good at receiving physical gifts, but I wasn’t so great at receiving compliments or acts of service from my friends and family.  I used to energetically push those gifts away by minimizing, deflecting, or reassuring people that I had everything handled. read more