I have my older two children staying with me for a week and have decided to spend less time on the computer. As it is one of my special interests I am literally dragging myself away from it kicking and screaming. To make sure I have less contact with it I have invited some of my favourite fellow blog writers to  to stand in for me.

Todd Silva’s idea has been a complete revelation to me and I cannot stress enough how much fun it is.

My daughter gave me a puzzled look the other day and said “Dad, why do you keep leaving pound coins everywhere?”

If you want to know why read on…

Ladies and gentlemen, Todd Silva…

Do you know what the greatest gift is that you can give?

A couple of years ago, I began something that I call Give Away A Dollar A
Day. I had experienced some real hard lessons around money and finances,
and, what sprung out of all the “inner work” that I did to try and
understand what had happened, was the inspiration to begin this simple and
joyous practice. The discoveries that I made were that much of my life was
spent looking out for No. 1, with little time spent giving to others. In
short, I was a taker. Those hard lessons I mentioned were my wake up call.
And the inspiration to begin to give daily was how I was being gently guided
to turn this behavior around, and to start giving back.

Although I’ve given away a dollar every day for almost two years now, along
the way I’ve learned so much more about the many ways that I can give, that
you can give, that we can give – we can give thanks by expressing our
gratitude for all that we have right now, and we can be in service to
others. We can forgive – others, and just as importantly, ourselves. We can
give unconditionally which is without a doubt the most essential part of
giving. We can give time to be with our loved ones, and we can give them
love.

What I’ve come to learn is that the greatest gift that we can give, though,
is to give of who we really are. It’s to give back to others, to all of life
itself, the true essence of who you are, from your heart, from your very
core. “Follow your bliss”, as the late mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote. It
means – discover who you are and what you’re here to do, and then GIVE to
the world from that heart center within you.

I’m a sales engineering executive, and as such, spend much of my time at
work discussing business related issues with associates and clients. But my
most favorite thing to talk about is this idea of “Follow you bliss”. When
the time is right, and the conversation is open and ready for it, I like to
ask, “If you had no worries or concerns about money or time – in other
words, if you knew that the clock wasn’t going to run out on you anytime
soon, and that all of your bills were going to be paid – what would you
choose to do?” I love this question, because it almost always takes everyone
by surprise, and elicits a pretty healthy smile!

Do you give yourself time to dream about what you would do? Allow yourself
the time to fuel your dreams. And then begin to take the steps toward
realizing your dream now – even if it’s just baby steps.

Because when you are following your bliss, you are giving from the very
essence of who you are. And I truly believe that there is no greater reason
for your being here. And that there is no greater gift that you can give.

Blessings,

Todd Silva

PS – This is from The Power Of Myth with Bill Moyers, by Joseph Campbell,
page 113 – “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you
ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are – if you are
following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within
you, all the time.”