Continuing with my observations of self improvement inspired by the post titled "Constructive Principles For Peace Of Mind" on the blog Weekend-Windup, this post is about needing recognition.
In the blog Weekend-Windup, one item in the list is "Don't look for recognition always."
At a young age, I recognized that many people in my life would give to me, but with strings attached. So I decided that I wanted to grow up to be a person who would give with no expectations. The act of giving, whatever it is, is its own reward.
The funny thing is, that while striving to be anonymous, I was never the person who could walk into a room and blend in, something I always wanted. I would become the center of attention in one way or another. While carrying around my own sad stories, I was given the talent for bringing joy to others. I never met a stranger and related to each person I saw, whether I spoke with them or not.
Giving to others, of myself or some material thing, is a gift to me too. My way of thinking is that material things belong to all of us. Whoever needs it should have it. Holding onto "things" does nothing for me. Giving something away makes me happy. So giving is its own reward.
Learning to accept the attention from others in a gracious manner instead of dreading it has taught me that some recognition can be healthy because it one of the ways we relate to each other as humans. Needing the attention to be happy or feel accepted or part of the thing called life is not healthy.
6 comments:
it is a humility that we have to understand...that we can accept the gifts as well as we can give them...that was hard for me...
I am a giver of attention, but not good at being the receiver. That's probably a good thing, since the only time my attention is necessary, is when someone needs something.
I think you've stumbled across one of the secrets of happiness---giving. Good for you.
Today I was on a hike where we all got very wet and uncomfortable. One person looked in her pack and found that she had forgotten her heavy gloves. I had on my second pair with some overmittens. Once my hands warmed up sufficiently, I shared my mittens with her. Almost immediately her hands were better, and mine were fine. It made ME very happy, not to mention HER. I know what you mean, CiCi. :-)
You're a great example of making a positive out of a negative. And what an accomplishment to learn to give things up when they're no longer needed and someone else needs them more. Not many of us can say that, I suspect.
You are a generous soul, CiCi. Thank you for sharing.
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