The financial "tsunami" has many of us drowning in the sea of loss and insufficiency or the anxiety of impending gloom. 

In my experience and observation, times of hardships are always times of greatest learning and provide the most opportunities for evolution.  I would like to see the positive benefit of it for humanity at large. 

I have recently read two inspiring stories that hopefully may also provide some relief...

One was sent to me by a friend in an email.  It's from a real news story that was on SF Chronicle in 2005:

Click here for article

The is quoted from the email sent to me:

If you read a recent front page story of the SF Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.

She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around ~she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were
following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.

And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.

This story reminded me the space of giving and gratitude. 

Along the same spirit, I want to share a local news story I stumbled upon a local newspaper recently.  It's about Lee Chung-hing, a congee stall owner in a public housing estate, who has started to offer hot meals for free to elderly people.  The news spread and his stall has attracted elderly people even from other districts.  He said he's doing this because he had received help and gifts from the estate’s residents in bad times (including when his stall was burned down in an accident) and he wanted to give back.  He had also won lotteries in the past and made a small fortune. He's particularly compassionate to the elderly people with limited means, who receive little aid from the government. 

(And I recently read that the disparity between the poor and the rich in Hong Kong is largest among Asian cities.)

His story attracted much attention and he has since been receiving big tips from his patrons and donation of food and money from all sides.  His stall is very busy these days and his business has gone up as a result despite more people coming for feel meals.  He thanked everyone who have donated to him and supported his giving to the elderly.  He said he has enough donation for now and he will continue to give. 

Links to the Chinese news stories:

http://appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?iss_id=20081024&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11866&art_id=11759974

http://appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?iss_id=20081024&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11866&art_id=11759975

http://appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?iss_id=20081026&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=12731&art_id=11767125

As I read this what struck me is the space of "abundance" he's in which allows him to give so unconditionally.  He is grateful for the help he had received from the past and the luck he has had with winning the lotteries in the past. 

If we could all be in a state of gratitude and let "giving" flow through us, no finanical tsunami can drown us.... It's such a great space to be in...

Would you like to start cultivating a space of gratitude?  What I like to do is to keep a gratitude journal and write down what I am grateful about regularly.  It really helps to bring me to the space of gratitude very quickly.