Mind Boggling - Chapter 3

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

I realized that one has to be very careful in choosing what to work on in life to get that good feeling I was getting from giving. Some would say that things like a cuban cigar, alcohol or chocolate make them feel good.

I said that giving is not easy. I will also add that you must only give what you are happy to give. Never give by force. Forced giving results in bad feelings of resentment and sacrifice and soon enough, you will revert to your old ways of being mean. In fact, if you can’t give happily, just don’t give at all. There is such a thing as too much giving. This is when the good feeling you get from giving turns sour. Just like when you smoke too many cigars or drink too much alcohol or eat too much chocolate. Too much of anything, including giving, can turn a feel good remedy into a virus.

So far, I have found that the best way to decide whether or not to give is to first count your blessings. It has been said that there is nothing free in this world but I have found that the most valuable thing in the world is free and that we all have it. That is, our minds and our bodies. And you can add to that, your spirit and also your soul.

My reasoning is that since I was not consulted on the little, but very important question, of whether or not I wanted to be born, I obviously did not give or pay anything for the body I have. Neither did anyone else, at least not the body they had at birth. Granted, it seems that God spent a little more time on some people’s bodies than others but the simple fact is that none of us paid for our bodies. Maybe this is the reason that throughout the ages we have always been warned to be good to our parents.

Count your blessings starting from the body that you are in and the mind that you have that enables you to think and create a life for yourself. Look at the amazing creature that you are and know that no-one else has ever been born who is like you. You are unique and special. From there, include whatever else there is in your life that makes you feel blessed.

Then ask yourself what price you would be willing to pay for those blessings. I mean if God had asked me before I bought my car whether I would be willing to give way in traffic to trucks, buses and matatus in exchange for the car, I would gladly have promised to do so. When you count your blessings, you come to realize that you can never do enough good to pay for those blessings. So you try your best to give as much as you possibly can.

I have found that faced with any challenge in life, the best way to overcome it is to count my blessings. I can then gather up the strength and courage to push myself a little further than I thought I could. When I counted my blessings, I found that feeling good about just giving way in traffic and in the lifts is ridiculous! I should be giving much more than just that for my body, my health, my family, my friends, my career, my children, my house, my car …. and the list goes on and on of the blessings I can count.

At this point, I needed to find something else to give, and give happily.