The Power of Generosity

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. You know, our minds often get caught up kind of in a spin as we get caught up thinking about our plans, our hopes, our fears, our problems. So much of our mental dialogue revolves around the story of me and my life story. So, you know, my hopes, my fears, my problems, my desires. But what if we changed the focus from what we can get to what we can give? It's not that we need to stop doing things for ourselves and reaching our goals, but rather there can be this, you know, attitudinal shift that lets go of trying to acquire happiness, connection, love and validation from outside of ourselves and focuses instead on giving them.

So it means giving your kindness, your patience, your courage, your love, and most importantly, your presence. So how could you bring this practice of generosity into your life today? And perhaps by listening deeply when someone's speaking, being patient in moments where someone's holding you up, or maybe by doing a small act of kindness when nobody's looking. You know, it's often been said that the secret to living is giving. So invite you to experiment with this practice today. See if you can soften the habit of focusing all the time on what you can get from the world and start shifting your mindset to what you might like to give.

Let yourself be a gift to the world, and then be attentive to the effects of doing that in your own mind and body. So mindfulness itself is an act of generosity because each time we practice, we're cultivating qualities like non-reactivity, patience, joy, compassion, and wisdom, and these are qualities that can't help, but ripple out to the world around us. So in that way, mindfulness is this continuous choice to give our best selves to the world each day. So let's practice today's meditation together now in the spirit of giving our best selves to each other and the world.