Generosity – The Art Of Giving
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
There is a secret to life, it is experienced by most and given freely by many but even most of them are not totally aware of its power. It has been around since the dawn of time and holds the key to fulfilment and if it were to be given the full attention and action as it rightfully deserves by all then the woes of the world would soon dwindle away to nothing…….it is Generosity or The Art Of Giving.
Have you ever noticed how you feel when you give someone you care about a gift and are rewarded by the look on their face, the cry of joy and outburst of appreciation? Do you feel your heart expand with emotion and cannot stop the grin from invading your face? Is it not the best feeling in the world knowing that you have been responsible for making that persons day brighter, that their world is a better place simply because of the generosity you gave from your heart?
Even more satisfying is when you show generosity to a complete stranger, whether it is a smile, a helping hand across the street, giving a lift to someone toting their groceries down the highway, paying for the meal of the car behind you at the drive through or donating to a childrens library, whatever it is you can guarantee that this act of generosity will more than fill any holes you feel in your heart.
It is a proven fact that giving induces more happiness than getting but it is also a fact that people are generally better at taking than giving which is a major reason why the whole world is in a state of unbalance.
There are many ways to show generosity but one of the most valuable forms and, unfortunately, the form people tend to over look, is the giving of oneself. Giving of yourself has so many advantages and is completely free!! Todays world is busy, full of commitments, most families have both parents working, along with the commute to and from their jobs, school and sport and other activities, spiritual and home duties, the last thing on your mind when getting home is being generous with your time but in fact, it is the most rewarding and relaxing thing you can do. The simple act of taking your attention off of yourself and putting it onto someone or something else has an instant effect, gone are cares of the day and how tired you are, gone is the irritable feeling from dealing with traffic on the way home and you are suddenly enveloped in your sons exciting rendition of his day at school or his basketball game or your wifes experience at the mall and nothing else matters but the expressions on their faces.
Of course the other side of generosity is that the more you give the more others want to give back to you, there will be some who may try to take advantage of your generosity but these people are easy to spot and remove, you will discover that showing generosity you automatically attract generous people to you and that will only make your life better. There will be days when you really don’t feel like being a happy generous kind of person, on these days stay away from others until you are feeling better and with time and practice you will find that days like that become fewer and farther between and before you know it your life will look rosier than you believed it could!