"When it comes to money, people have to progress from "Who's going to help me?" and through "I've got to help myself" onto "I've got to help others". It's in helping and serving others through your jobs and businesses that you'll prosper the most, as you're helping others." Sean Hyman.

To give, you first must have.  Time, encouragement, things, money - whatever the commodity of the gift, you must first have it to give it - so giving is a POWERFUL place to be.  No matter how small the gift, the giver is in that moment richer than the recipient.  Giving joyfully magnifies the gift for the giver too.

Knowing that place of need, and recognizing that even in that place, most of us are still better off than the rest of the world.  In fact, according to a  Forbes.com article, ""the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants."  For those of you in the bottom 50% of America's standard of living, who wish they were in the top 50%, maybe the answer to moving from handouts is to help others.  Zig Zigler says ""You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."

In a little while, we will start holiday shopping for gifts, so I wanted to bring this show to you now.  As you create your shopping budget, include something for the less fortunate.