Health by
Giving GiftsDespite my dislike of the movie Pay
wow accountIt Forward, I love the idea behind it. Doing something nice for others really does create a chain effect. One person feels so touched by the kind, unwarranted gesture that he or she
ffxi gilwants to inspire the same feeling in someone else. Generosity levels are on the rise this time of year, but most of the focus is on tangible gifts, like fun tech gadgets or jewelry. We tend to forget that it’s often the smallest gestures that mean the most to people.
That’s why movements like 29 Gifts, a monthly gift-giving
dofus power levelingchallenge started by Cami Walker, are so innovative and rewarding. For twenty-nine days, participants make a goal of giving away one thing to someone else every day it can be as simple as a smile or as generous as they can afford. For Walker and her followers, the reward is greater
puma shoesthan anything they part with in the process.
“We change lives and change the world
christian audigier clothingone gift at a time.” This is the mission of 29 Gifts, which was started by one woman and now involves thousands of people in almost forty countries. The project was born one sleepless and particularly difficult
ball valvenight in Cami’s life. She was struggling with pain from a recently-diagnosed disease multiple
nike salesclerosis and felt frustrated and lost. Leafing through an old journal, she came across a passage she’d written after speaking with Mbali Creazzo, a South African medicine woman who’s now the spiritual advisor for the entire 29 Gifts team. Mbali told her to focus on giving things away as a way to alleviate her suffering and depression.
Cami tried it the next day, reaching out to a friend
designer handbagsplagued by the same condition. She was so moved by the results that she opened up her goal to the public, blogging about her daily efforts. The movement gained momentum, recruiting
glue guncontributors all over the world and earning Cami a book deal to write about her pioneering efforts. (The book, 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life, is available now.) Today, she’s participated in at least twenty rounds of gift-giving and inspired many others to do
Louis Vuitton handbagsthe same. Members start personal challenges and contribute to a community project that supports causes lacking attention from the media.
“I don’t know if it’s the giving or the change of
promotional usb driveattitude, but I feel better,” Cami shares. After just a few days of gift-giving, she noticed improvements in her physical health—walking more, using her cane less, and having the
energy to start working again. She credits the new
cheap cell phonesperspective that 29 Gifts has given her as the key to her healing. “I think I had that power in me already, but it’s just that my mindset was so negative,” she explains. “I was in such a negative
USB Memory Stickspace mentally that when I started giving, it helped to shift my energy and made me feel more open.” Rather than focusing on her diagnosis and the pain of her disease, she turned her attention toward finding opportunities to make other people’s days—which cheered her up in the process.
She’s still amazed at how far 29 Gifts has spread since that bout of insomnia. “It’s not a project I began with any kind of agenda, but there are many blessings that have come from it,” she says. Not only has it strengthened her personal relationships and
unlocked cell phonesphysical stamina, but it’s given her a completely different outlook on her life. “I feel like the MS diagnosis is a blessing now and that’s a huge change. Three years ago there’s no way I would’ve said that out loud,” she says. But the way she lives her life now—“purposeful and happy,” as she puts it—might not have been possible had she not been
windows softwarediagnosed. She feels that her acceptance of that has been one of the most surprising outcomes of the experience.“I’m not asking anyone to believe in or prescribe to anything,” Cami maintains. “All I know is that this experience has made me a more positive person and I’ve seen it help thousands of people now.” And really, taking twenty-nine days out of your life to do nice things for others doesn’t seem too hard, given the great results. It might just be the best gift you give yourself all year.