Forget About It

"The more you give, the more you get." We’ve all heard this before. But have you tried it and found the results very disappointing? You give and give, just to find you’re getting nothing back? Yes? Then the problem most likely lies in the way in which you’re giving.

Kabbalah teaches that there’s actually a specific method through which every sharing action that we do or any Light that we reveal can expand exponentially. How? The only way to make whatever amount of Light we reveal create even more Light is to forget about our positive actions.

Most of us tend to hold onto the good deeds we have done: Look how great I am! I donated 10% of my monthly income to that charity, I stayed up all night consoling my friend while she was sad, I gave up my whole Sunday volunteering for this cause or that cause, etc… And then when we are upset with someone or when something happens in our lives that we’re not happy about, we think to ourselves, “I did this great spiritual action! Being who I am, with all I’ve done, how can this happen, or how can he do this to me!?” We keep very good accounting, holding onto all the good we have given.

But Kabbalah teaches that if we hold onto what we have done, if we hold onto what we have revealed, it will not grow. In fact, Kabbalah tells us that every spark of Light we reveal actually IS meant to expand exponentially… but only if we let it go, only if we forget about it. You see, giving is only a small part of it. Because it is only when we forget about what we give that we will get.

There is a story about a man who made it his life’s work to dig wells for people. He had a certain gift around understanding where to dig for, and find, water. If there was a city or village that didn’t have water, he would go there, find water, and dig wells, which allowed countless people to drink. And he didn’t ask for anything in return, including recognition. He dug the wells, and forgot about it.

One day, his daughter was walking near a river when she fell into it and drowned. There was a great sage in the town at that time, and many people ran to him to they tell him what had happened to her. The sage’s response to this was, "Can’t be. Impossible;" it can’t be that the daughter of this man whose entire life’s work is to create water for other people is going to die in water. As he said these words, suddenly people in the town were yelling that the daughter of the well-digger had miraculously been restored to life.

It is an amazing story; a miracle. If a person wants to have the power of miracles for himself, his family, and the world, he has to be allowing his Light to grow. But the only way your Light can grow is if you let it go. The reason this miracle occurred was because this man who was digging the wells for the people had never held onto his positive actions, and, as such, it created a "bank" of miracles, so to speak. Therefore, when the miracle for his daughter was needed, it was waiting in the "bank."

Many of us do actions of sharing, but that’s not enough to create a "bank" of miracles. We have to, like the well-digger, let go of the actions. We have to forget about all of the good that we do. Only then do we have the power to create unbelievable miracles. Only then can we get what we give.

When we share and do positive actions with this consciousness of forgetting about them, we will get back what we are giving. It’s important to know, however, that it might take time, it might not be the same thing we gave, and it might be from a different person… but it will come back; it is a law of the universe - if we let go when we give, it will come back.

Try not to expect a reward or recognition for giving. If you really need to feel like you got something for what you did, try taking some satisfaction knowing that your action will come back to you at some point in one way, shape, or form… no matter how much you’ve forgotten about it.