I got my Giving Key at a point in my life where I was feeling pretty low. I had several bad relationships (both friendship and dating relationships) end in a pretty spectacularly crappy fashion, and I was really beating myself up over it. I chose the word LOVE because I felt that it was a message that I needed to carry with me... to remind myself of.
Around the same time as I got my key, I started practicing yoga again. I had gone to yoga classes years before, but in a gym and as more of component to my workout than as a true practice. I found a great local studio with great instructors. Through a lot of lifestyle changes, including yoga, I eventually found myself getting back to the old happy, positive, hopeful me. After about a year and a half, my key became more of an accessory than the original reminder that it had been intended. I knew it was time to pass it along, but didn't know to whom... and I sort of didn't want to. I had become attached to it.
A few weeks ago, one of my favorite yoga instructors didn't seem to be himself. He was definitely off and not as happy as he normally was. He made a passing comment about an ex, and it seemed that maybe he was going through some of the hurt that I had been experiencing when I first got my key. It was then that I realized my key had found a new home. The next time I saw him, I gave him the key, explaining what it was, what it symbolized and why I was giving it to him.
I explained that while I may not have yet found another external love because I've yet to get back on the dating horse, so to speak, I had found a profound internal love in myself, something that had been missing before. Part of the reason for the development of that love was my yoga practice, and since he was an integral part of that, it seemed only fitting that I give him the key at a time where I saw he might need it. It was definitely a full circle transition. He was really happy to be receiving the key, and I can't tell you how good it made me feel to know that I may have made a great person feel even a little bit better at a time when he was going through some of life's bumps in the road.
I am so grateful to have had this experience, and thank the Giving Keys for providing me with that opportunity.
-Gabrielle
