Tomorrow doesn’t matter, for I have lived today ~ Horace

A young, grey cat with the greenest eyes wandered into our yard last week and made serious eye contact appearing to ask for my assistance. Not particularly a cat lover, I hoped she would go away, but after hours of continual pacing and meowing, I poured some milk into a bowl. Needless to say, Greyling knew she had found a friend and yes, I did name her.

Long story short, our house guests were afraid of cats and our Saturday night party was outside so we tried to chase her away all weekend. Greyling was determined to stay in our yard despite my sons chasing her with a noise maker and sprinkling her with water. Finally, I called around to see if anyone had a clue about this well-groomed, sweet cat, but there was no luck.

I was told by my cat-hating friends not to feed her again because my solicitous behavior was encouraging her to hang around, but that advice just felt wrong. After a few days, I drove her to an animal shelter so they could find a new family for Greyling. Before I could give up hope, a little voice said make the effort and call the community vets to see if they knew about a missing cat. The first call struck gold so I drove over and there, taped to the vet’s countertop, was a flyer with Greyling’s image; she had been missing for over a month.

I called the shocked owner who was over-the-moon that her little creature had been saved. But the real, unexpected revelation happened to me. My spirit was flying high with such joy the entire day that I just couldn’t stop smiling. I kept thinking about their happy reunion and was reminded of the pure pleasure that a simple, random act of kindness can elicit in the mind, body and spirit of all persons involved, but especially me, the one giving received the gift.

As Deepak Chopra says in Seven Spiritual Laws of Success about the Law of Giving – – Make a decision that any time you come in contact with anyone, you will give them something. It doesn’t have to be in the form of material things, it can be: a smile, compliment, appreciation, flower, attention, affection, laughter, wish, joy, blessing or love. He believes giving unconditionally and from the heart will proportionally return the same type of energy in return. Deepak offers his simple wisdom:

• If you want joy, give joy to others
• The more you give, the more you will receive
• Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given
• The easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want

I wrote the above blog in 2016, however, it resounds even more deeply in today’s edgy world. Modeling and practicing these universal laws of giving and receiving supports a communal personality within Ribbit, our enlightened data analytics company. This shared persona becomes the spirit of our internal team which is then dispersed externally to clients and their customers. Eventually, this personality becomes the backbone of customer loyalty, RIBBIT’s most valuable asset and gift.

Our team at RIBBIT hopes your holiday is filled with kindness, joy, support, hope, health, positive energy, and love!