This year, at my request, my Christmas gift from my children was a midwife in Guatemala. I'd just put myself through the rigors of the "Twenty-seven Things" spiritual practice---moving, throwing away or giving away 27 things a day for 9 consecutive days---and was utterly exhausted of ownership. Even stripped of so many of the things I've kept through the years, I want for nothing. So this year I finally acted on my long-held desire to use the occasion of Christmas, and my sixtieth birthday which immediately follows, to donate to efforts that improve life for others in the human family.

So I got a midwife...or rather, in my name, a woman in Guatemala will receive training to become a midwife. Since my dear friend Deborah's daughter is waiting patiently for a daughter through foreign adoption, there is a remote chance my midwife will one day help to birth the child that will become Deborah's long-awaited, already-loved grandchild. And if not Deborah's, then surely someone else's. I'll never know the name of the midwife, the babies she helps to birth, or the women who love those babies, but the feeling of connection to them is a powerful experience. We are mothers and grandmothers together. Children will grow up in better situations because of this gift from my children to me.

Consequently, through The Hunger Site, I gave a friend the birthday gift of a year's worth of education for two girls in Afghanistan. These are children who would otherwise never have the chance to open a book and learn to read. The world now expands for them.

This brings me to two other things worth mentioning. One is Larry Stewart, a now-millionaire who has, for years, quietly given away money to those in need as the man known as "The Secret Santa." Larry is now very ill with esophogeal cancer and hopes others will carry one his work. Do this! Go to his website at www.secretsantausa.com and see how you, too, can accomplish much with just a little.

Then there's Daniel Goleman's recent article about a study that tells us doing good for others elicits what are now being called "feelings of elevation." We are, says Goleman, "wired to be inspired." When we see others doing good in the world, it makes us feel better; thus, the world's great love for someone like Mother Theresa. But we feel even better when we are the ones doing the good.

Who among us doesn't need feelings of elevation? Doesn't need to feel inspired? And to discover we can create this by doing an act of kindness for someone else? It's almost a perfect match of need and gift. I wish I could recall the source of this quote, but here it is:

"Where the world's great hunger meets our great gift, that is the place we find our purpose."

On our "kindred spirits" links, there are any number of ways you can make the world a kinder place today.

Give someone a midwife. Give two children a chance at an education. Give a cup of rice to a starving man, woman or child. Give a mammogram for a woman who has no health insurance.

You will be elevated. Even if no one ever knows your name or what you did, you will know...and that's all you ever need for a full and happy life. Just ask the Secret Santa.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Meredith Jordan,

What a wonderful idea! This year I taught my grandsons to give to Heifer International, and see for themselves how good it feels. There are so many ways to help others when so much is given to us. Thank you for your wonderful gift of LIFE!