The 29-Day Give

Alright, guys. Let's talk a little bit about the topic of community. Last weekend, I was a guest at Pagan Unity Days in Charleston, and was able to spend some time with the members of a local group down there. I came home feeling a renewed sense of purpose, spending much of the eleven-hour drive back here thinking about what I, as a Pagan, could do to help my community. Part of this stemmed from a conversation we had in which I mentioned that while the goal of many other faiths is salvation, in many Pagan paths, a focus is to leave the world a better place than we found it.

When you attend a public Pagan event, there are often donation booths available for you to drop off canned goods to feed the hungry, or to help sponsor an animal shelter. You'll find Pagans out picking up litter from the roadsides, just because they feel like it. There seems to be some inherent spiritual need within us to just do things that leave a positive impact on the earth and on the people with whom we share it. I've been thinking about this, in a variety of forms, since I got home.

Then, as fate would have it, yesterday I got an email from blog reader Leisl, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. Leisl pointed me towards a website called the 29 Day Gift Giving Challenge. The theme is simple. Over the course of 29 days, you give 29 things to others. It can be a material possession, your time, your money, even just your positive thoughts. The point is to shift your focus away from receiving and towards giving. Besides, what goes around comes around. If you want to attract abundance to yourself, be in a "perpetual state of giving and gratitude."

Why do this? Because, as the site points out, to see the world change, we have to do something to change the world. The 29 Day Giving Challenge was started by a young woman battling Multiple Sclerosis, when her spiritual mentor suggested that by giving things away, she could step outside her own problems for a while. As I explored the site more, I discovered that another About.com guide has already discovered 29 Gifts. Phylameana Desy, over at our Holistic Healing site, has started a group on 29 Gifts. This inspired me to begin my own. I've set it up here: Pagan/Wiccan 29-Day Give. Stop in, join the group, pass it along to your friends, and let's get a network of people together, all saying "What can I share with someone else?"