29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life

One month after she was married, Cami Walker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  She struggled with extreme pain, an inability to walk, loss of sight in one eye, an overwhelming stack of medical bills, and depression.  When an African medicine woman, Mbali Creazzo, gave her a "prescription," to give away 29 things in 29 days, Cami ignored it at first, but once she started, she couldn't stop, and the result transformed her life.

Half way through the 29 days, Cami was able to walk again, clients were calling her for work, her relationships improved, and she felt more optimistic about her life.  She asked some friends to join her in the 29 Day Giving Challenge and put up a website at www.29gifts.org for everyone to share their stories. Now, the site has over 5,000 members.

Cami has captured her story in the inspiring new memoir, 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life.  It's a moving book that captures the power of giving, and will inspire you to try the Challenge.  You can watch Cami talk about her experience in the YouTube video below, and on The TODAY Show Monday, October 26th.



I've done the 29 Day Giving Challenge four times and each time has been a profound experience.  I particularly enjoyed taking the Challenge during the 29 days before Thanksgiving, and am thinking about doing it again this year, which would mean starting on Thursday, October 29th.  You can give away any kind of gift: a smile, an object, a batch of cookies, advice, your time, a prayer. It all counts.  Mbali suggests that one of your daily gives be something that you feel like you can't live without.

Will you join me?

Full disclosure: Cami is a friend, and she mentions a blog post that I wrote on my personal blog, Have Fun Do Good, about the 29 Giving Challenge in the book.  I received a review copy of 29 Gifts.