The only essential is this: the gift must always move.*
Lewis Hyde

If we receive all that we have
as a gift from others –
Whether that is how they intended it
or not –
If we have thankful minds, then
we have so much to give,
Though not necessarily in the
form in which we received these
gifts.

Bruce Feiler** offers seven tools
for navigating transitions that
I found myself reflecting on as means for
transitioning the gifts we receive into
gifts that we give –
I thought you may like to have
a play with these, too:
Accept the transition (the received as gift),
Ritualise it (habits of reflecting and reimagining)
Give up old mindsets (about the things we have),
Try new things (experiment in giving),
Seek wisdom from others(find out what others are doing),
Unveil a new self (expect the practice to be transformative),
Compose a new story (more dramatic and compelling).

*Lewis Hyde’s The Gift;
**Bruce Feiler’s Life Is In the Transitions.