Sacred Reciprocity and How Abundance Flows

A serene goddess figure stands beside a glowing river at sunrise, gently pouring streams of golden light from her hands into the water, symbolizing abundance already in motion and flowing toward the viewer.

What Lakshmi Teaches Us About Giving and Receiving

I didn’t think much about it, just responded automatically, “No, I’m fine,” when someone offered to help. I was being polite, doing what I was supposed to do.

In my journey of self-discovery and working with the Goddess, especially Lakshmi, I questioned my unconscious conditioning. Over time, I began noticing something in those moments of resistance when someone offers me something—whether it’s help, a gift, or even something I wanted. At first, I didn’t think of it as a problem, but looking back, I can see how hard it was for me to receive, even when I needed it.

I tell myself I’m being humble. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, or else I think I should be able to handle things on my own. And yet… there’s another part of me that feels uncomfortable, even inauthentic in my refusal. The exchange closes before it ever really begins.

I wondered why I feel this way. Especially when what I turned away was something I had just said I needed.

Conditioning Around Giving

For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard the phrase, “It’s better to give than to receive.” It’s one of those things we accept as truth without ever really questioning it.

A fellow author, Becca Syme, uses the phrase “question the premise.” When we question the premise, we’re looking at whether what we’ve accepted as a “truth” is really true, especially for us. She uses it regarding writing truisms and in her CliftonStrengths training. However, truisms occur in every area of our lives. These little sayings get repeated so often that they seem like spiritual laws.

When I questioned this premise, I discovered it really isn’t true. I found myself asking, “If everyone is giving, who is receiving?” That question stayed with me for a long time. The slow unfolding of the answer opened a new understanding within me of the interconnected nature of giving and receiving.

Whether we realize it or not, the acts of giving and receiving aren’t separate, but part of a two-way process. You can’t have one without the other. However, because society has ingrained into us the myth “it’s better to give”, we reject the gifts offered to us. Even when those gifts come as support, time, or care from someone else. Often, this comes from the mistaken belief that we need to be humble or from our inability to accept help. And sometimes, without realizing it, we do this in hurtful ways to the other person. I’ve seen this play out in my own life.

Illustration of a woman holding her hands up in resistance, symbolizing blocking abundance, difficulty receiving help, and interrupting the flow of blessings.

When We Resist Receiving

My 98-year-old father has this problem. He grew up in the Depression era where you had to do everything yourself, either because the resources weren’t available or you didn’t have the money. Now, he can’t do much of what he used to do, such as yard work. He needs help, and it’s something not only I can’t do, but I don’t want to do. My nephew offered to do the yard work for us, but my dad refused. Our yard was looking pretty unkempt and awful!

However, after talking to him and explaining to him that his stubborn refusal to accept help denies the other person the blessings of giving, he finally relented. Now, thankfully, my nephew comes every other weekend to help in the yard. My nephew knows my dad appreciates his help—his giving.

Watching this interplay deepened my understanding of how intertwined giving and receiving truly are. I noticed it in smaller, everyday moments too.

If you’re like me, you’ve experienced being excited to give someone a gift because you know how much they’ll love it. But instead of receiving it with grace, they tell you, “No, I can’t accept that.” How does it make you feel? For me, I feel pretty rotten, and if this rejection of my gifts continues, I’ll quit trying to show that person how much I care about them. I’m unwilling to put my heart in jeopardy of being hurt over and over.

Soft illustration of a woman holding her hands in gratitude with hearts nearby, representing receiving blessings with appreciation and welcoming abundance.

When Receiving Becomes a Gift

And there are times when someone responds with enthusiasm and joy when they receive your gift. The way you feel is much different. Their gracious acceptance of your gift makes you just as excited and happy to have given the gift to them as they are showing you in receiving it. You want to give more things to the person because you know they’ll appreciate them. I remember one moment in particular.

Years ago, I experienced this when I was taking a workshop from a friend. He had a big pad of paper he was illustrating his points on, but he only had a black marker. I had a set of colorful markers at home, and the next day, gave them to him. He accepted the markers with such enthusiasm and joy, you would’ve thought I’d given him a million dollars. I felt so blessed and happy that my gift gave him joy. The experience made me examine how I received gifts.

Over the years, that moment stayed with me and taught me the gift of receiving with grace. The exchange wasn’t one-sided nor hierarchical. It wasn’t the size of the gift or the amount I spent that mattered, but the shared experience.

Watercolor-style illustration inspired by Lakshmi standing beside a river at sunrise, golden light flowing from her hands into the water, symbolizing sacred reciprocity and the spiritual flow of abundance.

Sacred Reciprocity and the Flow of Abundance

I’ve come to understand this as sacred reciprocity: a mutual giving and receiving that benefits and blesses both parties. It’s a foundational principle of Lakshmi’s sacred abundance and her generosity. Lakshmi blesses us when we share our abundance with those less fortunate than ourselves. When I have plenty and am thriving in my life, I want to share my good fortune with others. I now realize this doesn’t always mean giving money.

It shows up in ways I didn’t recognize at first. When we share our talents, our skills, our wisdom, or our love and compassion with others, this can be as valuable—or more so—than giving them money. Sometimes, receiving another’s time and attention uplifts our day more than a $100 bill ever could. A bouquet of flowers can brighten an otherwise stressful day. Or, like my friend showed me, a simple set of colorful markers can bring a person joy.

Over time, I began to see something else within all of this as my work with Lakshmi deepened. I started recognizing her presence in these exchanges. It made me question whether what I thought was humility was actually resistance.

If we continually reject gifts from others, how can we expect to receive from the Goddess, the Divine? Most of us ask the Goddess—or the Divine, however we name it—for blessings, for certain things or events to happen in our lives. And we wonder why they never show up in our lives.

How Divine Blessings Often Arrive

The answer, or the way these blessings come, isn’t always how we expect them. The Goddess quite often uses an intermediary to bring those blessings to us. But many times, when a friend or loved one offers us what we need or want, or that will positively impact our lives, we reject it. We push the gift away with false modesty. We reject those gifts because “it’s better to give than to receive,” and by doing so, we’re rejecting the very blessings we’ve prayed for. Not because they aren’t there, but because we don’t recognize them when they arrive.

As I reflect on my life, I now recognize that when I reject those gifts, I received fewer and fewer blessings flowing to me. I’m no longer in alignment with receiving, and wonder why my life is so difficult or I feel blocked. However, when we receive and accept with grace and gratitude, showing our appreciation for the blessings coming from whatever source, we receive more. And more… and more. Our lives get better and better, and we’re thriving.

Receiving gifts from others with grace provides us with practice to receive the life-changing events and circumstances we’ve prayed to the Goddess for.

Ethereal watercolor image of a woman standing at a river’s edge at sunrise with arms raised and golden light streaming between her hands, symbolizing allowing abundance and divine blessings to flow.

Giving Without Expectation

Sacred reciprocity isn’t only about receiving. The way we give also matters. Just as we must receive with grace, we must be generous with our gifts. This means we can’t give out of duty or a sense of obligation, or even with the idea of receiving blessings because we’re giving. We can’t give because it will give us a tax deduction or with another ulterior motive. When we give expecting to receive something from the other person, or demand something in exchange, we’re not practicing sacred reciprocity, nor will it bring us any blessings.

The blessings of giving come from doing so with love, an open heart, and a desire to bring joy to another person. Giving in this way allows the Goddess, the divine, to work through us to provide the person with their sought-after blessings. These moments over the years have brought me to the place where I now believe it’s as blessed to receive as it is to give.

I still hesitate sometimes. The instinct to say no, to deflect, to close the exchange before it fully lands, is entrenched in my subconscious. But from my work with Lakshmi, I’ve learned a different way which allows for the possibility of something else: the flow of sacred reciprocity. It isn’t a choice between giving or receiving, but allowing the flow to move in both directions.

There’s nothing here you need to figure out or change. But you may have noticed something while reading—some small moment, a memory, a familiar reaction you hadn’t fully seen before. This is simply a space to stay with that a little longer. To notice what’s already there, without needing to do anything with it.

1. Where in my life do I find it hardest to receive such as help, praise, money, support, love, or opportunity? What story do I tell myself in those moments?

2. If I imagine allowing myself to receive something without deflecting it—what comes up? Not what I think should happen, but what I actually feel.

3. What beliefs about giving and receiving did I learn while growing up? When I question the premise and evaluate these beliefs based on how I feel, are they true? Which ones aren’t and might be limiting my abundance?

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Continue Exploring with Lakshmi

If something in this essay resonated with you, Lakshmi’s Sacred Abundance offers a way to continue the exploration through relationship and devotional practice.

Through spending time with Lakshmi, the Guide invites you to explore abundance beyond simply having more. You’ll discover the relationship between receiving and giving, prosperity and generosity, support, Sacred Reciprocity, and what it might mean to recognize yourself as part of that flow.

There isn’t one right answer or a particular place you need to arrive. The Guide offers different ways to spend time with Lakshmi, reflect on your own experience, and discover what becomes visible for you.