A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Galveston Today...

OK, actually it was IN Galveston that this funny thing happened.

We are still in Houston (flying to Denver tomorrow) and we decided to drive down to Galveston to have lunch with a friend of ours. This friend shared an interesting story that got me thinking...

When we posted our webpage post-hurricane Katrina (before we knew our house had only minimal damage), this friend made a substantial contribution. Things were hectic for us, we weren't sure of hte status of our cats, our house, and all of our belongings. It was a crazy time. In fact, it took 3 emails/IMs from her and about 4 days for me to respond that we received the funds. It took me 2 weeks to get a thank you note in the mail to her. I'm not making excuses, I'm just telling you what happened.

Today, this friend confessed that she had MAJOR issues with teh fact that we weren't instantly showering her with gratitude over her generosity.

Of course, we had no knowledge of this whatsoever, and we never would have unless she had shared this with us today.

She went on to say that it brought up a lot of issues from her past (imagine that!) and that the whole situation gave her the opportunity for a major breakthrough, which she had. Wow!

Who knew that by our decision to offer a way for people to contribute, one of our benefactors could wind up having a major breakthrough and letting go of some old limiting beliefs??!?! More proof that you never know who you will touch by your actions, great or small.

More importantly, I got to hear about her breakthrough with regard to giving adn receiving. Which is something I have (admittedly) been thinking about myself. I was listening to someone speak about giving without any expection of receiving (even of receiving a thank you) and for the first time, that message hit home.

This friend said that she did receive my thank you note, adn it came after she had worked out all her "crap" so she was truly able to appreciate the note. How interesting.

The other thing I find interesting about this situation is to think about who was the only person affected by her initial state of indignance over our slow reponse to say thank you? Her, of course.

Whenever we hold a grudge, refuse to forgive or give with expectations, teh only person who ever gets hurt is US. Not the person who (in our egocentric perception) has "wronged" us. How Interesting.

So my question for you today is:

Where in your life are you hurting yourself by refusing to let go? Are you willing to take that step adn let go so that you can experience joy and peace?