Welcome everyone to your Mind Energy Workout! It’s time to exercise that magnificent mind of yours and build the muscles needed to accelerate your growth. My goal is to write Mind Energy Workouts that take you 15 minutes or less to read.
Today I am going to share with you one of the five Laws to Stratospheric Success from one of my favorite books, The Go-Giver, by Bob Burg and John David Mann. The law is the Law of Receptivity. It is a BIG one and often misinterpreted. The Law of Receptivity states “The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.” This is the law that gives you permission to actually receive… however for many, this is not as easy as it sounds.
For many, there is a deep rooted belief that says giving is good and receiving is less good. You have heard the saying “it’s better to give than to receive.” See, we are programmed to think that good people only give and the minute you start opening yourself up to receiving than you’re not as good anymore. Why is that? Bob Burg says, “Whether you are aware of it or not, there is often a part of us that silently disapproves of, and actively resists, your receiving.” It might sound silly, but if you think about it, it totally makes sense. Think back to the last time someone paid you a complement? How about the time someone offered to help you with your groceries, or even just when someone says thank you or expresses their gratitude to you. How well did you receive it? I know for many that is not an easy task. We have a hard time accepting a complement, we don’t accept a helping hand, and we brush off someone kind words of gratitude. It’s easier to brush it off as nothing than to receive it with open arms. I know… I’ve done it. In fact, many times. Every time I go to the grocery store they offer to take my groceries to my car. Not once have I accepted the offer. Someone will pay me a complement, whether it be a friend or a client and in the back of my mind, I’m thinking “oh, they’re just saying that…they’re just being nice.” It’s like there is a part of me that cannot fully receive it. However, after studying this law, I’ve really made a conscious effort to receive, to welcome, more good into my life, and guess what, it works! You see, if we cannot receive a compliment or a helping hand; if we hold back and resist asking for help from those close to us; if we feel awkward, guilty, or undeserving when good things come into our lives, then we are not open to receiving. And honestly, it should come to no surprise that we are lacking in the quality relationships, gifts, success, etc. that we desire in our lives. We have shut off the flow… the flow of giving and receiving, the flow and circulation of life really and that’s a bad deal for us. The circulation of the giving and receiving it what makes it all work perfectly.
In the book The Go-Giver, the two main characters, Pindar and Joe, have a discussion about this law and relate it to life, literally. They relate it to breathing. As I take a nice big deep breath in, it’s followed by what? A nice healthy exhale, right? So what is more important, the inhale or the exhale? Neither right! They are both just as important! You won’t survive if you are only able to exhale or only able to inhale. You must exhale AND inhale to stay alive. Both the giving and the receiving are necessary to your life. What about your heart? Your heart compresses and relaxes, compresses and relaxes to pump blood through your body. So which is more important, the compression or the relaxing? Again, neither! You can’t survive if your heart just compressed or just relaxes. Both are necessary to live. Again, it’s the giving and receiving that is necessary to your life. Well the same goes for all other giving and receiving in the world! In fact, every giving is only possible because there is also a receiving! Choose to be in the flow of life, be open to receiving good into your life. Bob Burg says “When you live generously and focus on creating value for others, great value will come to you, suddenly and unexpectedly from unseen places.”
Now there’s one more important point I want to make about the Law of Receptivity. This really rang true for me and made me stop and think, so I want to share it with you as well. Since the Law of Receptivity is about effectively staying open to receive so that you can give more, that means by leaving yourself open, you also expose yourself to not only success and greatness, but also to setbacks and disappointment. This is probably the most challenging thing when it comes to being receptive, it means you allow yourself to be vulnerable. For many, being vulnerable is the last thing on earth they want to do. So Yes, it takes courage to embrace the unexpected, the unknown, and to take a risk by putting yourself out there. When you put yourself out there to welcome and receive true greatness, you also put yourself out there to receive a no, rejection, a broken heart, or a less than ideal outcome. It can be easy for us to shut down the flow, put walls up, and guard and protect ourselves, but again, then it’s only us who’s missing out on receiving anything else into our lives. Once again, we have shut off the flow. I noticed this the other night when I was journaling before bed and I was expressing some gratitude for some kind words that people had expressed to me earlier that day. I noticed I was just writing the words, but not FEELING the gratitude. It was like I wasn’t allowing myself to really FEEL what I was writing and therefore was not fully receiving what those kind people had said to me. Of course I noticed that having studied this law and caught it in that moment. I took a few moments to breathe and allow myself to open up and fully receive their kind words and to feel a true and real sense of gratitude. It was an amazing feeling! So be aware of when you are closing yourself off unconsciously. We have been programmed to block and protect ourselves from adversity, however then we also block and protect ourselves from feeling love and gratitude. What a shame to miss out on feeling those! There is more value in you opening yourself up than you shutting down the flow and building walls around you.
So there you have it, the beautiful and wonder Law of Receptivity. It is about staying open and in the flow, in the circulation of life. Love giving, but also love receiving and the more you receive, the more you will have to give. It’s a beautiful thing!
Here is your CALL TO ACTION:
I have 2 action items for you…
1) A great way to exercise receiving is through gratitude and appreciation! Count your blessings. Bob Burg says that sitting quietly at the end of a busy day, and practicing heartfelt appreciation is an act of voluntary receptivity. It’s a way to thankfully accept what you have already received and/or of what you hope to receive and this evokes the Law of Receptivity. My challenge to you is to take at least 5-10 minutes every night this week to count your blessings and express gratitude and appreciation for all the wonderful things you have received in your life.
2) Throughout this week, do your best to accept a complement, a helping hand, affection, a big sale, a big WIN. Consciously stay in the flow, the circulation of life, and remind yourself by doing so that you are opening yourself up to receive more good and in turn will be able to do more good; you will be able to give more!
Also, if you haven’t already read The Go-Giver, it’s an amazing book and you’ll want to pick it up and read it right away. The Law of Receptivity is just one of five Laws to Stratospheric Success. Check out: http://www.thegogiver.com/
So, there you have it my friends, your Mind Energy Workout. Stay strong, stay plugged in, and continually fuel your mind and your heart!! I look forward to our next workout together!
Keep Living the Dream!
