October 09, 2012
Alexia Isaak
In my last post I talked about the many ways I found to be generous that I hadn't noticed before. All I had to do was pay attention. Those things include giving money;of course, that's the easiest. It also means giving time through listening and waiting on others. Maybe it's visiting an elderly person in a seniors' facility. Generosity can also come in the form of giving skills like cooking for someone or sharing your professional skills with an organization. There are bountiful opportunities for us to give.
Now that we recognize the ways to be generous, I wanted to share with you the beautiful blessings and lessons I've learned from it that encourage me to want to do more every day. I hope they will encourage you too.
The greatest lesson that I learned out of all of it is that every act of generosity, no matter how large, is something you can do to make the world a better place. So many of us struggle with the fact that our jobs may not directly affect making people's lives better. Healthcare professionals and Peace Corps members have that covered, but the rest of us may also indirectly impact people's lives for the better. That detachment can make jobs very un-fulfilling, but if you choose to be generous, you are directly impacting people's lives for the better even if you aren't doing it through your job. I found that realization extremely rewarding.
The other thing I realized was that every act of gratitude performed takes out the equal amount of pain from the world. I hurt sometimes when I see all the pain in the world. I realized that rather than be a victim to it or feel it's too great for me to conquer by myself that I can choose to be generous in any way I can and do my part to remove pain from the world.
Just think if we all were a little more generous each day. If we were, then the world would soon be overflowing with joy. You can!