The more money I give, the more comes rolling back to me.....

[Th1onein]

This is a very strange phenomena, wouldn't you say? I used to hold onto money like there would be none coming tomorrow. Now, I continually follow my heart and give money away, and it all comes right back to me, multiplied. I'm serious. In the last three years, my income has more than quadrupled, and I am steadily pouring it out, not on myself, but on others. Now, it's about to double again. It's amazing.

Maybe it's like a flow or something. The more you clutch it, the less can flow through your hands?

[grasswire]

1. and yet, for some who give it away, it doesn't come

I don't think your theory holds as a general phenomenon, as much as I wish it did. Too many people give sacrificially and don't experience the "blessing" of more pouring in. But it works for you!

[Rosemary2205]

36. I am the perfect example of that

I made a very nice income and we spent more than 50% of our income on other people. We could not have our own kids and joined the foster/emergency home system in our state. We spent a lot of our money to build an ongoing weekend camp for kids at risk.

We got hit by a drunk driver. My husband is disabled by permanant brain damage and I am paralyzed but able to work again. Our income is less than half of what it was before and we ended up in bankruptcy before it was over.

But to be honest, I don't really feel bad about. Oh sure, I wish I had my legs and my husband could remember stuff from 5 minutes ago but both of us actually feel really lucky and fortunate to be able to still love and laugh and be able to contribute to the world.

But the very idea that Karma is direct or that giving begets getting financially is just so not true.

[renate]

37. maybe your generosity didn't result in material return

...but the pure beauty of your spirit shows both in what you did before the accident and in how you responded to it. So perhaps your generosity either is a reflection or a cause of your joyful spirit, which is worth so much more than things.

I don't think karma is direct either. But I suspect that somebody as wise and giving as you is surrounded by love, and there's nothing higher.

I wish I could give you a million of these: :hug:

[Rosemary2205]

38. Thanks. - I'd rather have the hugs than $ anyday! :)

Even corporate America knows that making charitable contacts comes in handy to business building and networking. but the money doesn't mean much when you are laying in a hospital bed wondering if you have anything left of use in this world. Having a stead stream of visitors sure helps though!!

:) :)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Karma

Rules.


Good for you! :hug:

[Pharaoh]

3. Exactly right

In order to receive you must be willing to give, it's a self fulfilling loop, Love works the same way. But the giving must come from the heart with no expectations of anything in return, your motivation in giving is key.

[Th1onein]

4. Maybe that's what it is.....just giving out of a whole heart.....

The people in my life, all of them, my family, my friends, my clients, my employees, see and feel the generousity, and they are generous, in return. That's one way of putting it, I guess. But, to me, it feels like this kind of vibratory state of love and caring, all around me. You really do change your world when you give unconditionally, just out of kindness, and expect nothing back.

I have a lot of people working for me, and I treat them all like they're gold (they ARE gold, because they make me a lot of money). But the thing is that most of them work FOR me; they work for the praise as much as the money. And the clients are so loyal, I guess, because I treat THEM like they are THE most important client I have. When they talk to prospective clients, they almost sell my services FOR me.

Anyway, I am very grateful. And very fortunate. I look forward to the day when I can spend most of my money on other people. That's a little strange, but it's what I want.

[I Have A Dream]

10. I believe that this is exactly the key point. The motivation is key.

If I give just to get more back, it doesn't work for me. If I give because my heart tells me to do so, my financial needs are always taken care of.

[Journeyman]

5. I'm a strong believer in casting bread upon the water. . .

yet I always remember J. Paul Getty was a legendary miser -- installed pay phones in his home for the use of his guests.

[Th1onein]

6. This is the way I look at, sometimes:

Say you have $1000, and you have bills that total $500. You've got a surplus of $500. Now, that $500 doesn't mean much to you, and certainly one/fifth of it means even less. But, you look at a bum on the street, nowhere to sleep, hungry, or just yearning for a bottle of booze. That $100 means the world to him. And, if you give it to him, freely, without worrying what he will spend it on, you've put your money to really good use. He needs it a hell of a lot more than you do.

[amitten]

7. Same here.

Life is good, isn't it?

[nonconformist]

8. You are exactly right. In fact, many financial experts agree with this as well.

I thought that was strange, the first time I heard a financial guru say that, because it seems to be more of a spiritual/karma/energy in the Universe-type of belief... but you know what? I'll be damned if I haven't found it true in my own life.

[man4allcats]

9. I think you're right.

I have given away a lot, at least relatively speaking based on my income. For a time when I found myself out of work that money would have been useful, but I never doubted I had done the right thing in giving it away. Interestingly, now I am back at work and making a pretty decent check so I feel like things are coming back to me, but I still give away a lot of cash to people that I believe really need the help. I just think it's the right thing to do. During my life, many people who couldn't really afford it (my now deceased parents foremost among them) have helped me. I count it as a privilege now to return the favor to folks who might not otherwise get a shot. I honestly don't care if I ever see the money again. I would more than willingly mark any such perceived debt Paid In Full if, rather than paying me, the person wishing to make repayment helps someone else who needs it. Try it. It's fun. I wish I could win the lottery just to give it away. The fictional millionaire John Beresford Tipton from the classic 1950s TV series would surely have had one hell of a life.

[I Have A Dream]

11. I love this thread!

:)

[calimary]

14. Nice one, isn't it?

I've had a few moments appealing to my lower self. This one helps me go in the other direction.

:toast:

[rumpel]

12. the ways of the Universe - perhaps

The way to happiness:
Keep your heart free from hate, your mind free from worry.
Live simply, expect little, give much.
Scatter sunshine.
Forget self, think of others.
Try this for a week
and you will be surprised.

~ Norman Vincent Peale

[lvx35]

13. There's an inspiration.

Thanks for that. Doing good is the highest attainment. I admire you greatly.

[Pharaoh]

15. You might want to check out

The DVD "The Secret" which explains certain spiritual laws of attraction, this is about exactly what we are talking about.O8)

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1962709345

[cui bono]

41. Okay, I think this is a sign...

I went to Amazon earlier to link to a book and on the home page something caught my eye and it was "The Secret". I didn't look into it since I wanted to get my post done, didn't thought about it again, didn't remember it actually. Now I'm reading this thread and follow your link and it's the same thing. I guess I should look into it.

[Me.]

16. 2 More R's And This Lovely Thread

Can stay around for a while

[all.of.me]

17. money is another form of energy

the more you put out, the more comes back to you. great, ain't it?!

[Me.]

18. !

:kick:

[babydollhead]

19. walt whitman says it for all..

This is what you shall do:

Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body… .
Walt Whitman

[tblue37]

20. Actually, I have experienced a simialr phenomenon.

Perhaps it is just my perception, since as soon as I stopped having trouble getting enough money for rent and other necessities, I immediately started giving out whatever small amounts I could spare, and as my income rose my giving did, too. In other words, it's chicken-egg: I can't tell whether my giving just naturally developed as my income did, or whether my income grew as my giving did. But both have grown significantly over the past 1 1/2 years. Because I was so poor for so long, I live very frugally, so even a modest increase in my income over the past 1 1/2 years has put me in a position to be more generous.

[tblue37]

21. = casting your bread upon the waters

I am not religious, but I do rather beleive that if you are compassionate and generous, there will always be those who want to help you.

[tblue37]

22. I just thought about the Secret Santa who recently died of cancer.

Wouldn't it be nice if his example became something more and more people aspired to?

[The Cleaner]

23. Isn't that the same teaching as the "Word Faith" heresy in RW land?

You know, give money to a ministry, watch the pastor get rich, and supposedly get rich yourself off God?

I fear the motive becomes selfish and greedy. Does not the Bible say to give without expecting anything in return?

[I Have A Dream]

25. Please see post 4 where she describes what she means in more detail.

She addresses exactly what you said.

[Metta]

24. Thanks for this thread.

:thumbsup:

[bmbmd]

26. Not a strange phenomenon at all.

The prophet Malachi reports it like this in chapter 3:

6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'
8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

Even ancient man recognized the principle of good measure, tamped down and running over being a result of generosity.

[1monster]

27. We used to give quite open-handedly... and then most of our money

making assets were stolen from us.

And I don't recall any of the money we gave freely and especially none of the money that was stolen from us every coming back.

If it did (and I'd prefer the stolen assets be returned), we'd we living on easy street instead of wondering if we will EVER be able to retire.

[Th1onein]

28. I will never be able to retire either......but that's okay

I could retire in one year, if money were the only factor involved. But I have a business partner who lives very fully and one of his joys is spending money and buying toys. And besides being my partner, he is my friend. I will work until he dies so that he can have a good time spending half of the money that we make together. He deserves that; he's worked very hard all of his life, and he has been very good to me.

But that's his choice, to spend his money on himself. My choice is to spend my money on others. I don't do it to fulfill some law that says the more I give, the more I get. I do it because it helps people, and because I cannot be happy if someone else is having a rough time. It's a moral choice, for me.

If I didn't make one cent of it back, that would be fine with me. What I have noticed, though, is that it "fills me up." It fills up my soul, somehow, and changes the electricity or something, in the air around me. When you give freely, asking nothing back, just reveling in the happiness, or the peace, that you are giving to others, it changes things in some basic, maybe even subatomic, way.

I still haven't figured it out, but that change permeates everything that you touch. You cannot look at it like you're investing something. You have to do it, I think, out of pure motives. The best way I can describe it is that it changes the world and the people around you from a winner/loser paradigm to a winner/winner paradigm. Everyone's heart opens up, when they see someone acting in such a manner, and they begin to help others, and it just flows and feeds back on itself.

I'm not good at explaining this kind of thing, but I hope you understand.

[1monster]

29. I understand. And I wasn't really complaining (except maybe about

what was stolen).

Anything I have given has been given without expectation or desire of receiving anything in return. It was, as you say, to help others. And I still do give money unsolicitied to homeless people on the street when I have some. (I always have this shamed feeling that it is too little, but I can't give what I don't have.)

There is also that feeling of "There but for the grace of..."

[DemReadingDU]

31. Sometimes it's volunteering

Sometimes it's just a little bit of time doing for others that also can be an uplifting moment for the soul.


Nice thread, bookmarked to read again. :)

[tomreedtoon]

30. Utter crap. But I continue to give anyway.

I have given away lots of things - money, goods - to people with whom I have only the slightest connection. I did it because it was the right thing to do for them. Sometimes it was the difference between them keeping their apartment or being on the street.

At times this giving has financially hurt me, sometimes to the point that I have an overdrawn checking account. But I still do it.

None of this "coming back" stuff happens. Not in terms of money, or gratitude, or any of that stuff.

But I keep giving because it is the right thing to do. If I didn't, I couldn't look at myself in the mirror - or a pool of water, if I managed to even lose access to a mirror. And that's worth more than the money that your stupid fairy tale claims I will get back for giving.

[Th1onein]

32. I don't think that it is a scientific fact that you give and it will return

but there's something about giving with joy that feeds on itself. Maybe my income has quadrupled because I give my labor with joy, too. The people that I work with, and for, are eager to "pay back" with something, whether it's their own work, as with my employees, or recommendations, as with my clients, I don't know. But that spirit of kindness and unselfishness permeates everything, after a while. It gives me an absolute THRILL to take a burden off of someone's shoulders. To see the relief on their faces and to know that I brought that about; that I changed this world for the better in just that one small way--well, nothing can compare to that. Nothing.

You're saying that you can't live with yourself if you don't give. I understand that. I feel that way, as well. But there is an underlying law here--maybe it is that a generousity of spirit causes a generousity in all the things that you come into contact with?

[seabeyond]

33. having been poor, penniless and hungry in past.... now that i am financially

secure, i tend to horde. not cause i am a bad person, or i dont give, but because of fear. anytime sittin in fear of anything, is not a healthy place to be. half a decade ago i started embracing letting the money go. without fear. and yes.... i found, .... a growth of money. i take it beyond to a respect of money. in spending, handling, and giving.

then there are those that have little respect for their money and i think that has as negative a effect as the extreme opposite of hording.

[vanlassie]

34. Dear Money:

..."I have unecessarily and foolishly invested
my happiness
my self-worth
my success and power
my security
my love
my freedom
in you.
I made you an end that I have served rather than a means towards my self-expression and true life purposes." K Bradford Brown

There's More To Life

vanlassie

[Lorien]

35. A close friend of mine still believes in this phenomenon completely

he has always been generous to charities and friends in need...and now he's $200,000+ in debt. He's self employed, and whenever he gets a fairly good contract in instead of dumping all he can at his debt load he goes right back to giving his money away. I'm all for charitable giving and donate to various causes regularly myself (though I've seen no change in my own fortunes because of it), but I always find myself telling him that he has no money to give, period. Everything that comes in belongs to the bank; until the debts are paid, he can't give away what rightfully isn't his to give. I really do wish that the universe did repay kindnesses with equal or greater kindnesses, because my friend would be very well off indeed if that were the case. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that way.:-(

[lumpy]

39. What is the name of that TV preacher who tells us

that sending big bucks to him will cause 'god' to rain many big bucks in return. Oh yeah.

[cui bono]

40. It's a spiritual/metaphysical concept. If you hold onto your money

you create a mindset that you don't have enough and so you create that reality because that's what you believe. If you give away you create in you the belief that you have plenty so that's what manifests in reality. Based on the belief that the physical world is a reflection of one's consciousness.

It's also kind of what visualizing is about. If you visualize something to the point of feeling that it is real you can create it in your life. The key is feeling it emotionally because then you create the feeling that you believe it is not only possible but that it is a reality. So then your consciousness is there and it can manifest in the physical world.

What you believe you will perceive. Rather than I'll believe it when I see it.

[GreenTea]

42. Strange..Hmmm...Pat Robertson's says the same thing will happen to me if I send all my money to him!