What do you have to give?

I met with a client the other day in order to do some Estate planning. During our meeting, he said that he wanted to direct his wife to give her property to their granddaughter. As I explained to him that he could not make such a direction in his Will since he didn’t own the property, I shared with him a very simple tenet: we cannot give what we don’t have.

Since then, I’ve started to really ponder these words outside of the legal context. They appear to be a powerful guide for almost every area of our lives.

How can I expect to give my children an appreciation for stillness in nature if I myself don’t have a practice of regularly decompressing outdoors?

How can I give of my time to the things that excite me if I don’t have a handle on my priorities and my boundaries?

How can I give my attention fully to each moment that presents itself today if I don’t have a habit of consciously drawing myself back from worrying about tomorrow?

We cannot give what we don’t have.

Perhaps, instead of focusing on what we feel we need to give, we can turn our attention to what we actually have. That way, if we encounter lack, then we know where we need to build ourselves up.

We can garner inner strength by taking some much needed time for ourselves.

We can accumulate pockets of space by naming our priorities and enforcing our boundaries.

We can increase our energy by tending to our diet, both physical and emotional.

We ought to make it a point to give from our excess rather than from our already depleted reserves.

If you want to give of your time, ensure you create time.
If you want to spread joy, purpose to seek joy.
If you want to give of yourself, you first need to know who you are and what you want.

After all, we cannot give what we don’t have.