Giving is one of our greatest joys. It’s one of the most powerful ways we can show the Universe that we trust it and that we are choosing to live an abundant life. Give freely, raise your frequency, and feel awesome about the impact you can make on the world.
If you really want to be a superhero, you’ve got to remember that it’s not all about you. So much of this blog is about self-love and physical and mental health, and it is awesome if you are working on becoming a better, stronger version of yourself. The more successful you are, the more money you can make, the more time you can free for yourself, and the more you can contribute to the world and play a role in making it a better place.
Being generous allows you to feel selfless but actually get quite a bit in return. Generosity is good for your mental and physical health, and it can help you lead a happy and healthy life. It can reduce stress, enhance purpose, fight depression, and help you live longer. It improves relationships, and it helps you be more kind, positive, and connected to those you care about.
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” -Dalai Lama
Being more generous can also improve confidence and make us feel better about ourselves. Focusing on what we are giving rather than on what we are receiving helps us look outward and stop dwelling on our own problems. We get to see ourselves being kind and helping others, and we begin to feel better about ourselves and our purpose. There is nothing more selfless than wishing to help others, and including others in our thoughts contributes to our happiness.
Benefits of Generosity
Generosity is the act of being kind, selfless, and giving to others. Being generous can greatly increase both others' well-being and your own well-being. When we give and receive freely, our mind helps us connect socially and increases our ability to trust others, making us feel happier and more secure. The even cooler thing about generosity is that it grows. When we’re more generous, it makes others more generous, and we can spread positivity and abundance to others.
Generous people report being happier, healthier, and more satisfied with life than those who don’t give. Generosity shows us that we are capable of making a difference in the world and willing to put in the time, effort, and money of acting toward that cause. Generosity feels like you’re acting completely selflessly, but it truly provides you with so many benefits.
Greater life satisfaction
Better relationships
More career satisfaction
A more positive outlook
Better physical and mental health
Higher self-esteem
Reduced blood pressure
Lowered risk of dementia
Reduced anxiety and depression
Improved chronic pain management
Generosity makes us happier. Giving our time and money to others gives us an emotional boost. It triggers feel-good chemicals like endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin. Generosity can even help extend our lives. Generosity can totally change your life. It can make you happier, healthier, and improve your relationships with others. It’s absolutely worth making sure generosity is a big part of your life.
How To Practice Generosity
Believe that you can give and receive freely, and plug some generosity into your life through some of the tactics below. Then consider how great it feels when you give and receive; raise your frequency and expect more good things to come your way. There are all kinds of ways to be generous, from donating to a cause you believe in to volunteering your time. Not only will it benefit others, but it could also benefit you.
Pick one or two causes that have real meaning to you and give to them every month. Give however much time or money you can, but do it consistently so it becomes a habit.
Give people you care about gifts that you know they would really love. This might be an actual present, quality time, an act of service, whatever. Get to know them and what they really love to receive. Show that you think about them even when you’re away from them and that you don’t need a holiday to be generous with them.
Leave extra every time you tip.
Respond with patience and compassion as often as you can.
Smile, compliment, and laugh as often as possible.
Click below for a FREE SMART goal -setting worksheet and flowchart that will help you plan a SMART goal around your generosity goals!
Upgrade your generosity and compassion with some of these tactics:
Do some research and pick a local nonprofit or charity you care about and give your time and money to support them.
Embrace gratitude more often to remember how lucky you are. This will help you want to share more positivity and generosity with others.
Start small. If you want to be generous, but don’t have much to give, that’s okay! Donate just $1 or $5, whatever you can. If you can give more, go for it. If not, you can likely afford at least a dollar to start becoming your greater, more generous self.
Spend time with others who are generous and enjoy volunteering and giving back. The people you surround yourself impact the person you are.
Find a group that enjoys volunteering and make a habit of volunteering together.
Live a more minimalist life, and purposefully decide to own less. You’ll free up money and energy to help others.
Plant some bee-friendly flowers or put a bird feeder in your backyard
Say hello to strangers on the street and brighten their day.
Smile and laugh as often as possible, and try to bring joy to others lives as well.
Compliment others, genuinely and often.
Generosity rarely happens by chance. It is an intentional decision that we make to live better lives. But it does not need to be as difficult as many people think. Sometimes, starting with the simple steps is the best step that we can take. If we want the full positive effect of generosity, we have to make it a regular, ongoing part of our lives. Generosity has to be a practice that you build on over time.
If we want the full positive effect of generosity, we have to make it a lifestyle. -Michael Hyatt
Economic Inequality in the U.S.
As a good friend pointed out to me, some of this blog only actually works for people who already are quite privileged. Many of these tools can help you find more happiness if you already have everything you need in place except what you can control (your behaviors, beliefs, perspective, mindset, etc.). If you don’t have your basic needs met, happiness does not come so easily. Not everyone can afford healthy foods and produce, access to education, and a house to fill with energy and joy.
That sucks. I wish that I could help everyone wanting to improve their lives. I wish that there wasn’t such a huge wage gap between upper-income and lower-income households. I wish there was more I could do to help people less fortunate than I am. So, to that end, here’s my plea: be generous, be compassionate, give back, volunteer. Keep growing and developing your own energy, success, and confidence. The more successful you are, the more money you make, the more time you can free for yourself, and the more you can contribute to the world and play a role in making it a better place.
It can be easy to feel guilty about becoming more successful and having more money when so many people have so much less, but I don’t think about it that way. The more money and success you have, the more you’re able to put back out into the world - time spent volunteering, money donated to good causes, and influence that can lead to social and political change. If we all did this, we could help decrease the income gap, create opportunities for more people, and start more small businesses.
The Truth About Money
Money does not buy happiness. *Gasp!* Yep, that’s right, if you’re working your butt off to become successful and develop your wealth, and you’re still not happy, you could just be looking at it all wrong. We now know that happiness levels do increase with income up to roughly $60-75,000 in annual salary. However, after that, there tends to be little correlation between income and happiness. The average millionaire is no happier than the average person who makes $75,000 a year.
In fact, although a higher proportion of people who make $70,000 tend to be happier than people who make $40,000, the difference there isn’t huge either. Money can “buy” happiness when it pulls people out of poverty and allows them to access their basic human needs, but it doesn’t do a ton for our well-being after that.
This is good news! If we make more than $40k, and especially if we make more than $70k, we have plenty of opportunities to develop our own generous, motivated, and incredible lives. If we’re that lucky, we can use that extra money to give back and make the world a better place. Consider your options for giving back today, no matter how small or large those might be.
Keep Going
Put positive energy out into the world as often as you can - express gratitude, think in an abundant way, and be compassionate and generous. What you put out into the world comes back to you in spades, and you can share your rewards with others. Helping others makes you feel freaking awesome about yourself, especially when you can make people feel great about themselves too, and it’s definitely worth making a consistent part of your life.
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