“There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.” John Adams

The education that teaches us how to make a living is easy enough to understand… the occupation that allows us to gain enough resources to take care of ourselves and our families; but what of the other education? Where do we obtain that one? How do we learn how to LIVE? What does it mean to live? The store shelves are filled with books on how to “get ahead”, “get things done”, “get more”, “get up the ladder”! With all of this getting, I wonder when we realize that life is more about the giving, than the getting? For me, this is the purpose of that other education. The one that comes from parents, siblings, friends, children… the giving education. The education that one cultivates over a lifetime…The one that teaches us that giving is really living. All of the best moments in our education on how to live involve giving. Giving our time, talent, love, respect and patience to the people and things close to us and perhaps, sometimes, to those half way around the world!

NOW TRY THIS: Do one thing this week that is not about getting. One thing that is purely giving…with no attached obligation for return. If you have a habit of doing this each week, encourage someone else to do the same.