The Balance of Giving and Receiving: Finding Safety and Abundance in Healing

We often hear that giving to others is good for us. And it’s true: acts of kindness, generosity, and connection can increase feelings of joy, belonging, and even physical well-being. But what happens when you are living with chronic pain?

When pain becomes a constant part of life, your ability to give can feel greatly diminished. The needs of your own body, heart, and nervous system grow so large that it can feel like there is no room left for others. Many people carry guilt or shame in this place, believing they should be able to give more, do more, or show up more.

Receiving as a Path to Healing

What often gets overlooked is that receiving is just as vital as giving. Allowing yourself to receive support, love, compassion, and care creates space for the nervous system to soften. In that space, healing can unfold.

When we cultivate a sense of safety in the body, pain can begin to shift. The nervous system recognizes that it does not have to stay on high alert. Breath deepens, muscles release, and the cycle of tension begins to unwind.

From Scarcity to Abundance

Pain often creates a mindset of scarcity: I do not have enough energy. I do not have enough capacity. I am not enough.
Instead of staying in this mindset, you can begin to gently turn your attention toward what is available.

Healing invites us to notice what is present rather than what is missing. There is abundance of rest, abundance of compassion, abundance of possibility. When you place your focus on what is abundant, you train your brain and body to remain in a place of safety rather than fear.

This is where the power of neuroplasticity comes in. Your brain learns from repeated experiences. The more you invite in safety, presence, and abundance, the more your pain pathways begin to quiet. Over time, your body remembers that it is safe to soften, to release, and to heal.

The Circle of Giving and Receiving

As your body finds greater safety and ease, your capacity to give naturally grows again. Not from a place of obligation, but from overflow. From abundance.
And in that flow of giving and receiving, you begin to reclaim balance, connection, and resilience.