The Delicious Issue

Hang onto your hats—in this rollercoaster economy, the very notion of abundance seems preposterous when your 401(k) is bleeding to death. Everyone I know is talking about cutting back, doing away with or doing without. But instead of obsessing about what we’ve already lost and might lose in the future, maybe it’s exactly the right time to start giving things away. That’s the message of a website called 29 Gifts (29gifts.org). It was started by a woman named Cami Walker, who followed the unusual prescription of a South African spiritual teacher to give 29 gifts to others in 29 days in order to escape her constant preoccupation with a serious chronic illness. You can read her complete story on the website, but the prescription itself was simple—give something away every day. The gifts can be anything—old clothes, running an errand for someone, food, money, a kind word, a postcard to an old friend—and you can start it any time. There’s no contest or time limit, and the official rules are more like gentle suggestions. I’m a skeptic when it comes to the popular idea of visualizing prosperity, not because it won’t work, but because it emphasizes attracting more success, joy, riches to me, me, me. I already think way too much about me, me, me, so a ritual like 29 Gifts is appealing because the focus is on being a spiritual spendthrift rather than a money magnet. And if nothing else, it will give me something to do besides letting Crazy Jim Cramer reignite all my latent bag-lady fears every morning. 29 Gifts has my vote for the Delicious idea of the month.