A mail received on generosity received !

Dear Friends, Let this blog find you practicing unconditional generosity in your life and discovering a new level of success, peace & joy.   I had sent a mail in Feb 2014 on Gift-iv-ism, a video talk by Pavi Mehta. In reply to this mail, I received the following very touching mail. The sender consented to share this more widely (with changed names) (email received on 13 Feb 2014) Just a few days ago I was myself hit. Yes I say ‘hit’ by a priceless act of generosity. My son is now studying in class 12 and is up for his board exams. Being dyslexic he needs a writer from a class junior to him to write for him. Until he was in school this was all taken care of by his teachers but this time I was staying in the loop as he figured this out. Kids from class 11 were asked to volunteer and I was not in a completely trustful space and feeling anxious about the whole business. I had myself spoken to the child who volunteered as well as to the teacher but after the first day of the prelims the boy who had volunteered dropped out. This added to my feelings of not being in control, not trusting etc. and I was soon losing sleep over it. Then the class teacher called and asked me to talk to a girl who had volunteered and fix things. I spoke to the girl ‘Reshma’ and asked to speak to her mum too –  as the class 11 exams would be happening simultaneously and I wanted to be sure that her mother was ok with her helping my son Abhishek. When I asked to visit her home, Reshma said it was not possible as her home was being renovated – and so with no chance to meet her mum, my reservations and worry sustained. I was finding it hard to sleep and tossing in bed and praying like crazy when at 10.50pm the phone rang – it was Reshma’s mom – instantly I was worried thinking she wanted out from the commitment but instead she warmly told me that she was praying for my son to do well as was Reshma’s grandma. She said that they would ensure that Reshma came on time and that she was a good student and would manage to handle her own exams as well – she said it was karma that we had connected.  She said we have a small home and Reshma was not comfortable for me to visit her but she herself did not think it mattered and was keen to meet me and reassure me. I met Reshma the next day and told her that what she and her mom were doing for us was priceless – big home small home was no matter – I too came from a small house and a big family but the caring and the sharing that we lived with was more important and that she should always count her blessings for example a warm and generous family. They opened my heart and until I saw this film I have been thinking of how to repay them – now I know – I have to pass it on. May this mail inspire you to pass on the generosity that you receive in life! Would you like to share your experiences of priceless contribution? Click here Warm regards, Rohan

2 books | Request to post your experiences of priceless contribution

Dear friends,

Let this blog find you making priceless contribution in all situations around you.

We have been researching on effect of ‘Priceless Contribution (PC)’ to the life of the contributor.

	It all started with a friend Mohit Gupta (a passionate photographer, finance professional & co-founder of a community ‘Silver Nitrate Art’ which aims to promote all forms of art, sketching, painting & poetry) gifting me a book – Give & Take: Why helping others drives our success: by Adam Grant : With many real life examples and stories this book establishes that people who have been highly successful leaders in life had one common trait: They naturally went out of the way to add more value than what they received in any interaction.
We found the concept very intriguing. In parallel, we came across concept of Gift-iv-ism by Service Space. They encourage people to engage into unconditional generosity to all with random acts of kindness, especially to peers and those who are doing even better than us in some area. Then Mohit suggested another book “Go-Giver by Bob burg & John David Mann”. This book brought a new level of clarity, direction & joy in my work as well as in my life. It is a story about an investment banker JOE, a ‘go-getter’ who is struggling with his targets. He meets PINDAR a consultant whose success is legendary. Pindar introduces him to 5 laws of stratospheric success. These laws, along with the accompanying stories are very relevant & useful in current times.
The Five Laws Of Stratospheric Success  THE LAW OF VALUE: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. THE LAW OF COMPENSATION:Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.  THE LAW OF INFLUENCE:Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.  THE LAW OF AUTHENTICITY:The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.  THE LAW OF RECEPTIVITY:The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving. The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea: Bob Burg & John David Mann

Please do read the book to truly connect & dive deep into this concept. Law #2 impacted me a lot. In the last few years my work in training & coaching has allowed me to serve just a limited number of people. The law of compensation made me rethink my business style.

Also Law #5: I was very cautious and wary of receiving gifts. The general thought was I have to now keep an account and find a way to give a gift in return. Till then it remained like a burden instead of joy. I learnt that: by being wary of receiving I’m blocking somebody else’s generosity and the universal circle of contribution.

We are now quite convinced that PC is a simple & essential route to success, joy & peace at the same time. It results in more positivity, humanness, trust in relationships and reduces struggle. In corporate life it translates into more ownership, harmony, alignment & collaboration.

What is PC (priceless contribution)? Contribution: Adding value by action, thought & intent Being conscious of adding more value than what you receive in any interaction Helping someone to help themselves: encouraging, acknowledging, (including own self) Encouraging people to excel, to be their best, to take the next leap, to trust their capacity etc. Acknowledging people (genuinely, dil-se, creatively, citing instances) for any action, show of excellence, progress, contribution they made to your life It is intended to bring delight, progress, inspiration, calmness or to reduce turmoil in the recipient’s life It is done beyond what was expected from you, what you are paid for, what is your job description. You went out of the way to do it by choice.   Who to contribute to:   Family, friends, colleagues  Self  Acquaintances, service providers, even strangers or brief encounters!! Priceless: What is experienced by the recipient cannot be bought with money. Unconditional: Done without any expectation of return from the same person or others

Current progress:

With the objective of spreading the concept of PC we are experimenting with a small group who report status of their PC out of the day’s total interactions. In this process I noticed that I now start many interactions with focus on making priceless contribution. It is leading to more enriching conversations.

Our request from you:

We need your help. We are now collating examples of PC in day-to-day real life situations. We shall use this collation to inspire more people to make PC. Can you tell us some priceless contributions made to you or by you? Some examples of PC are given at the end of this note.

2 ways to tell us:

Reply to this blog OR

Click this link and fill this simple google form

We promise to circulate this collated list to all of you. The collated list may help you practice PC in your life & access a new level of success, joy & peace.

Warm regards, 

Rohan