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As we celebrate this weekend with our family and friends, I find it a reminder to realize the significance of the 2 words that you get when you separate Thanksgiving to get Thanks and Giving.

Go back with me for a moment and remember how there were just 50 pilgrims, only half of the original settlers, that managed to endure the touch environment and lack of food their first winter. It was a Patuxet Indian named Squanto that helped the pilgrims communicate with the other Indians and learn their ways of harvesting. On that first day of Thanksgiving, they celebrated the Giving of the Indians and Thanks to God for their lives. Looking back, what we call Thanksgiving today is really a celebration of the Giving done by the Indians and Thanks for the gift that allowed the settlers to survive, thus founding the great nation we live in today.

It’s the power of Giving that I want to focus on today. When I was young, I thought giving was something you do to be nice or to make yourself feel good. I did not realize that giving was a dynamic that kept the flow of energy open between all. Considering that thought, to keep this energy flowing to you, you must keep it in motion.

Growing up I was in a scarcity mindset, and I would horde and protect the things I had obtained. I felt like I shouldn’t give because I didn’t have much to give. It took life experience and books like Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success to open up to the Law of Giving and steer away from a scarcity mindset.

Chopra says “stopping the circulation of energy is like stopping the flow of blood. Whenever blood stops flowing, it begins to clot, to stagnate. That is why you must give and receive in order to keep wealth and affluence- or anything you want-circulating in your life”. This applies to anything you want more of which includes the energy of love. Want more money, success and love in your life? What if you gave more of each?

So what is the best way to put the law of giving in action? Chopra says “make a decision that any time you come into contact with anyone, you will give them something. It doesn’t have to be in the form of material things; it could be a flower, a compliment, or a prayer. In fact the most powerful forms of giving are non-material”.

Have a wonderful Thanks…..and plenty of Giving this holiday weekend as we celebrate our freedoms and all the material and non material abundance around us.

On a separate note, check out this article in the WSJ that is a nice follow-up to my previous blog on investing.