Generosity - A Series On The Attitudes Of Mindfulness (Week 4)

The next theme of mindfulness we will be looking at is generosity.

John Kabat-Zinn suggests that giving ourselves over to a life of giving,

What would make others happy,

Enhances interconnectedness.

And science says that performing acts of kindness can release endorphins and stop pain signals.

It also increases positive feelings within us.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Kokoro is a Japanese word for mind,

But it is also the same word for heart and spirit.

So when you are practising mindfulness,

You are also practising heartfulness.

Having a generous spirit will usually lead to generosity and action.

And although we actually all have an innate generosity,

We tend to talk ourselves out of doing anything about it,

And so the action stops right there.

You might have watched an ad on TV or seen someone suffering physically or emotionally,

And something happens inside of you.

Your heart lurches,

You feel sadness or an urge to change that thing,

But we then make excuses for not taking action.

Someone else is probably helping them.

We don't need too many people involved.

I have no money at the moment,

So I can't help.

I don't have time to stop and talk to them.

There might be times when you do send or give money to a cause,

Or you touch base with someone who is in pain to offer a listening ear,

Or it could be a hug or even a smile.

Generosity doesn't have to be about giving things or money.

Maybe you could start with something small.

Mother Teresa said,

If you can't feed a hundred people,

Then feed just one.

Maybe you could start with a smile or by paying attention to someone when they are talking to you.

Take a minute to think about a time when someone was generous with you and how that felt.

Alan Cohen said,

Money is but one venue for generosity.

Kindness is an even more valuable currency.

Take a moment now to think about a person that you could practice kindness towards.

Use the first person that comes into your mind.

Think about doing something that would make them happy.

Imagine yourself doing this and imagine their face or what they would say to you.

Maybe you notice something now within yourself.

Maybe a lightness around your heart,

A smile around your eyes when you picture this person feeling happy.

And now I want you to picture what would be an incredibly generous thing to do for someone you don't know that well.

What would that be?

Who could that be?

Notice how you have a dialogue going on here.

Maybe talking yourself out of it straight away.

Reasons for why you shouldn't do this.

Be mindful of this for a moment.

You may have heard of the story of the Native American Indian grandfather speaking to his grandson.

A fight is going on inside me,

He'd said to the boy.

It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil,

He is anger,

Selfishness,

Envy,

Greed,

Arrogance,

Self-pity,

Inferiority,

Lies,

Pride and ego.

He continued,

The other is good.

He is joy,

Peace,

Love,

Hope,

Serenity,

Humility,

Kindness,

Benevolence,

Generosity,

Truth,

Compassion and faith.

The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person too.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

Which wolf will win?

The grandfather simply replied,

The one you feed.

Do you see this same battle within yourself?

Be mindful helps because when you see the tensions within yourself,

You can then make a decision which you feed.

You can allow the selfishness or meanness to win or you can choose to be kind and generous in your life.

Have you seen the movie Pay It Forward?

It is about a boy who comes with an idea for a homework project to make the world a better place.

The idea is simple.

You help a person out in whatever way you can and they must do a good deed for three other people rather than pay the favour back.

The result was that many many people were the recipients of some amazing,

Generous acts.

Imagine a world now where people were not selfish but kindness and generosity were the norm.

Jonathan Maybury,

The author says,

Generosity could be as contagious as a zombie plague as long as enough people were willing to be carriers.

Could it be possible that you choose to be a carrier of generosity?

So we have looked at generosity towards others but we also need to be generous towards ourselves.

I don't mean buying new clothes,

Eating at fancy restaurants and drinking champagne,

Although there might be an occasion for this.

I mean being generous with time for yourself and with compassion.

You know our lives can get hectic.

There are so many things calling for our attention in our work lives,

Our home lives and our relationships so it's vital we don't lose ourselves in this time.

It is so important to dedicate some time to ourselves.

I don't mean five minutes to catch up on TV or social media.

I mean time to totally de-stress,

A digital detox.

Time to calm your body and mind and just breathe.

And is it possible to do this with love and compassion towards yourself and not with guilt because there is still so much to do?

This is important.

You are important.

So let's do this now.

Take this time to take care of yourself,

To be generous with yourself,

To love yourself just for a short time.

I invite you to close your eyes.

Put your hands on your lap,

Palms facing upwards and take a deep inhale through the nose and exhale with a deep sigh through the mouth.

Do this again a couple more times.

Just spend a minute thanking yourself for all you do,

For all your hard work and for all that your body does.

Just be with yourself right now.

Be present.

Give yourself permission and this gift of time.

I want you to imagine now that there is lovely warm liquid gold being poured over your head.

This is a very comforting sensation.

Feel the warmth sliding over your scalp,

Forehead,

Face,

Neck and shoulders.

It runs down your arms and you can feel the warmth pooling around your fingertips.

And again,

There is more liquid gold being poured over you,

Flowing past your shoulders and pouring over your chest and back.

This warm feeling is so pleasant for you.

You feel like you have been wrapped up in a nice,

Cosy,

Warm blanket.

It continues down over your thighs and down your legs,

Gathering around your feet.

Keeping your eyes closed,

Imagine your whole body is now bathed in this colour gold.

Your whole body glows gold.

You can feel the warmth in your feet and toes,

Hands and fingers and your head and face.

Sit now in silence and enjoy this time you are giving to yourself.

Enjoy the warmth and the golden glow.

You are totally relaxed now and you will enjoy this time you are giving yourself.

Where each moment will feel like an hour of deep rest and relaxation until you hear my voice again.

Jones,

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