STRETCHING YOUR WINDOW OF GENEROSITY

 

There is a small window of time when the world erupts with giving. What is it that causes this massive move toward generosity for a few weeks on either side of Christmas? Much of it comes from Christian teaching of the Christ story turned into family traditions passed down through hundreds of years. It is impressed on us that at Christmas you look outward and give. One must assume in these days of crass consumerism we are driven to it by a hundred commercials interrupting our radios, TV, and social network platforms, by advertisements blazing at us from store displays, and other people bringing up the subject of Christmas shopping. I believe a vast increase in charitable giving happens because people are gathering last-minute deductible expenses for their income tax. Oh, how our purse strings open when we think we will get something back for our spending – generosity indeed.

During a recent meditation, the leader spoke of generosity and led us in an exercise about feeling generosity for someone we liked. This wasn’t about buying a gift or sending an e-transfer. We were asked to imagine all the things we would want for that person. Want to try it now? Happiness – can you picture the smile on a person’s face when they do something they love? Can you imagine how good they feel when paid a compliment, or the sense of safety words of reassurance would bring them?

We would all be better, the world would be a more peaceful place if we exercised this type of generosity throughout the year, expelling into the universe quantities of good thoughts, words and actions toward a loved one, ourselves, a stranger on the street. I think one of the most generous acts of all would be if we could stop judging using old biases to make hasty decisions around people, situations, world events. I catch myself in a miserly frame of mind mentally criticizing someone I perceive as slovenly, or people ambivalent to others’ needs, or oblivious to what is going on around them while they inconvenience everyone else (I even judge myself harshly for this).

Feeling compassion or love and reaching out is part of the human design. Being aware of these feelings is the first step to acting on them. Generosity is smiling at a passerby, giving a kind word to a friend, or a compliment to the man fueling your vehicle.

So back to that small window of time. Let’s expand it from a few weeks to fifty-two. And while we’re at it let’s grow our awareness so we take in the people around us who could use a little generosity and catch ourselves when we’re judging. The world is imploding, in the Middle east, eastern Europe, and our neighbour to the south. Add in the catastrophe’s caused by global warming and there is nowhere we look that isn’t facing huge challenges. We may cope with them by judging, hiding, or ignoring the reality. We would be better served if we made these things wake-up calls for generous thoughts and acts. We all want world peace. I believe, opening our hearts and pouring out generosity is the only way we’ll make it happen.