When Life Gives You Lemons

[Epiphany]

When life serves ya lemons... remember you can change your order!

So when I got a phone call from my boyfriend of the past several years two days before my birthday telling me he's looking for greener pastures, I knew it was time to pull out the juicer and start squeezin' me a few lemons. That phone call made me suddenly mighty thirsty.

A few days prior to this I had found this website: 29 Day Giving Challenge and rather than roll myself right up in a big ol' ball and die a la Sinatra, I decided now would be the perfect time to start my giving.

So today was Day 1 of my 29 Days of Giving, and here's what I managed today:

1) Books For Pleasure - I bought a friend of mine a book off her Amazon wish list and it came awhile ago, so today I took it down to the post office, had it weighed and then came home and shipped it out media mail using my Stamps.com account. Yay! I opened a Stamps.com account awhile ago just so I could do this sort of thing, but I still wasn't 100% confident I was calculating the postage right. It looks like I am so now my little postal scale will be a valued accomplice on my 29 day mission.

2) Happy Birthday to US ALL! - I cruised my Facebook birthday list and I wished all of my friends with birthdays today a happy one. It's a little thing, but I remember how nice it was to have people posting all over my wall on my birthday last year, so I wanted to participate by giving back some of that birthday cheer myself.

3) Birthday Dinner - Another one of my brilliant Facebook friends mentioned on my wall that in ancient Rome the tradition used to be that the person with the birthday was traditionally the giver of gifts and celebrated the day by giving small, sweet cakes to his or her friends (birthday cakes) instead of the roles being switched. That actually makes more sense to me that the person with the birthday should give just from the joy of making it another year around the sun on the planet. So in that spirit I invited a friend of mine out to dinner at my favorite restaurant. Whenever I'm going through a challenging time, my particular winter comfort food is lentil soup, so how perfect was it that the vegan soup of the night was Mexican Lentil? We had a great time catching up over dinner and I even nabbed myself some pumpkin pie to take home for later, so I ask you, whose gift was this dinner, really? Heh.

The 29 Day Giving Challenge simply recommends giving one gift every day and they don't have to be expensive or complicated. The challenge is to just keep giving. So that's the challenge I'm up for right now. I'm keeping my heart open and I'm going to continue to give regardless of situation or circumstance. Regardless of thoughts or feelings that pass through the transom of my awareness that tell me I can't or that I don't want to, or blah, blah, freakin' blah.

This is the challenge and this is the healing of my heart. I invite you to read my experiences over the next 29 days. I also invite you to start your own revolution of giving in whatever way feels appropriate for you, do it in a way you feel comfortable, or maybe try stretching and doing it in ways that make you a little bit uncomfortable. I welcome you to share my stories and I look forward to hearing about yours.

Peace & Love From My Ever Expanding Heartspace,
Epiphany

P.S. - Personally I'm just crazy for lemonade, but maybe that's just me. ;-)

[Dawn]

welcome to the 29 Gifts family! i am looking forward to reading more of your blogs, this first one was really inspiring. it's said that it's not what happens to us, but how we choose to respond that matters. i'd say you've chosen well. Hugs, Dawn

[Joyce Kirby]

Welcome to the challenge!! You will love it.

[CassandraMadeIt]

Welcome!

Your story reminds me of a breakup I had many years ago. After he left, I stared at my bookcase, about half-empty. It was lonely without all his books. But something in me decided I needed to clear the whole thing out. So I have all my books away. For a period, I stared at that empty bookcase; such a metaphor for how I felt. But one day, I was out & saw I good book. So I bought it and another another one too. Within a month, I'd bought several new books. Over the next few months, I'd find something new and interesting to read and put it in that bookcase. One day, I realized the bookcase was starting to fill with all these new books, new ideas, new challenges... and it dawned on me: if I hadn't let the bookcase empty, I wouldn't have had room for new ideas, new challenges, and new books! I also realized; had I not done this, my heart would have been still full of that man-- and you can't find a new one if you're still full of another. So I decided to spend a period of celibacy to clear out my head and heart of all the unresolved relationships in my life. The next time love came to me, I knew myself so much better-- and I was a clean slate able to love with all my heart. The love that came back to me was incredible.

I think you are transforming your life in a beautiful way.

I think by loving, our hearts expand; I think when we give and share love in the face of loss, our capacity for love grows even stronger.

I too am crazy for lemonade; it goes great with garbage soup and oops pie.

[kell435us]

Loved your blog! It actually has inspired me to start giving again....conciously, anyway. Thanks :)

[Harriet]

welcome and blessings to you! wonderful, wonderful gives!

[Ruth]

Epiphany, You are one amazing person! Enjoyed the blog and hope that 29Gifts brings you much delight.