What’s your Upper Receiving Limit?
How do you know when you’ve reached it?
I’ve been having the most amazing fun time this past week participating in a private Facebook Giving/Receiving Circle Event hosted by my friend Dena Crowder.
(She’s the one whose upcoming interview on Visibility and Value I plugged last week. It’s not too late to sign up here. Today is day 3 of the series; Dena will be aired on day 6.)
In addition to fun, I’m getting insights and having breakthroughs around my Upper Receiving Limit. By that term, I mean the point in receiving from someone else when something inside you goes, “Stop! That’s enough now.”
Here’s how the event has worked:
**I’m telling you in case you feel called to create one of your own!
There are eight or so of us involved. For the first week, each of us posted a list of the things we wanted to give—it might be a physical object, (must be willing to ship), or might be a service, preferably deliverable at a distance—and the things we wanted to receive. (Again, physical object or service—all gifting economy.)
Even the act of making this list required getting through some old tapes about “selfishness.”
After the first week of posting and reading other people’s posts (fascinating!), we were guided to pick one person we wanted to give to, and one we wanted to receive from—posting in their thread which item we were giving to or receiving from them.
We’ve since gone on to round 2, 3, even 4 or more. We’re invited to share our experience of giving and receiving—we’ll continue for another week for that purpose.
There’s no need to give to the same person you receive from, or to keep giving and receiving “equal.” (These are all old “shoulds” that came up for me.)
My first manifestation of my Upper Receiving Limit:
It happened right away after Round One. I woke in the middle of the night feeling anxious, with a ball of tension on my solar plexus. “Stop! That’s enough!” it said.
Dena wisely asked me what the fear is about—what “happens” if I receive too much. It took some reflecting on the physical sensation to come up with the answer: It feels dangerous to receive too much, because it will make me more visible, and more of a potential target for judgment or rejection.
Wow. I hadn’t realized that was hanging around inside me!
It makes me look forward even more to Dena’s interview about Visibility and Value.
Another sign of my Upper Receiving Limit (URL):
I started trying to delay gratification, to stretch out my receiving. I called it “savoring,” but quickly realized that was just another way to keep from receiving too much, too fast.
In summation:
The experience has felt really luxurious—unexpected abundance! Giving and receiving run into each other, like watercolors blending. When I am giving, I am receiving. That part feels natural, Recognizing I’m also giving when I’m receiving is coming a little slower.
Coach’s Challenge:
Notice this week if and when you hit your Upper Receiving Limit. What does it feel like? How do you respond? How could you respond instead? The gift of the URL is the chance to boost the ceiling higher each time!
