Charity seems like the perfect energy with which to start a new workweek. For many, Monday has a heaviness to it because it represents a five-day commitment to work. And it is a long way to the next weekend.

I think the energy of charity and giving seems like the perfect contrast to completely lighten up the way one feels. I’d like to share an Inspired Personal Story from my book Extreme Thought Makeover. It’s associated with Day 11: Anonymous Charity, Buy a Meal. Here it is:

I decided to add a story of my own here, because a wonderful thing happened to me this week. My daughter Kate and I stopped at a neighborhood restaurant where I first started practicing this lesson years ago. We haven’t been there much recently because I moved across town to be near Lake Michigan.

We happened to get our favorite server of old, Charles. He has absolutely incredible positive emotion and boundless energy. I rose to go to the cashier to ask for my check, when Charles stopped me and said, “someone has already paid your bill, and I can’t tell you who it is. The legacy continues.”

I have no further details to share, but it’s a sweet thought imagining all the possibilities. The laws of the Universe are in perfect order. What you send out is what you receive.

—  R.S.

See if you can incorporate a charitable act, or even better, an anonymous charitable act into your morning. It’s really wonderful to think of the Universe subsequently plotting to bring that energy back to you! Let me know the feeling it brings, and if indeed it lifts you up.