Today is your birthday. Every single day you are born anew. You do not begin today where you left off yesterday. A good night's sleep is not only sleep. You may work hard during sleep. In any case, the person who goes to bed last night is not the same person who gets up this morning. At every instant, there is change, and you change. The beautiful thing is that you can be as you want to be. You can be happy. The only thing is that what you have thought will bring you happiness may not bring you happiness at all.
There are no closed deals in life. Life marches on and takes you with it. The greater gains you make, the greater responsibility comes along. You make conditional agreements with life. You ask life to give you something you want, and promise you will be happy, and then when you get it, you are already moving on to something else. Getting what you want does not necessarily bring you happiness.
This is a lesson that may not have quite gotten through to you. Life is not about getting. When you are in the getting mode, your attention is on yourself. In a giving mode, your attention is out of yourself. Giving expands. Getting contracts. When you talk about giving, your hands gesture away from yourself. When you talk about getting, your hands beckon toward you. Your hands tell a story. Unless you are giving out, you are pulling in. Hold your hands in front of you palms up, and you are offering. Close your hands, and you are taking back the offer, bringing it closer to you.
You think it could only be wonderful to receive. Imagine fame. Imagine a billion dollars. Imagine adoration all over the place. You would be as satisfied or dissatisfied as you have been without fame, money, adoration. After a change in your situation, you are still left with yourself. What you are given is not the making of you. What you give is the making of you.
If you sincerely wish to be happy, then find a way to give. Find your way. The more you create happiness for others, the more you create happiness for yourself. You will have somersaults of joy.
We are talking of true gestures from your heart, not just motions of giving. If you give and feel resentful afterwards because you did not gain applause, you are giving with one hand and taking back with the other.
If you want to stir your heart with happiness, add happiness to someone else's life. The way as you pour salt on your food to season it, pour happiness on someone's heart, and your own heart is seasoned.
Learn new ways of giving. A little giving goes a long way. A little courtesy. Even a pinch of love changes the complexion of everyone's life. A ray of light is light.
Unless you are giving, you are neglecting. Giving thought to another is good. Giving a glance at someone's face is good. Greeting someone is good. Listening to someone is good. Responding to someone is good. Take time to attend to someone. Getting some place on time is not more important than giving attention to the person before you now. Giving attention to another for no other purpose than to add a little light to their life is serving the Universe. There are no little acts. Everything you do or say or give matters a lot. It matters to you, the so-called others, and it matters to Me. I am the Recipient of all your words and your time and your sweetness, and I thank you.