December 15, 2009

December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

The year 2009 is almost over and the holidays are here. I hope you take time to look back over the year, note all the good things that have happened to you and be grateful for them. For many, 2009 was a difficult year economically, and simply surviving it could be a tremendous accomplishment to be celebrated. Whatever your situation, I hope you take time this season to practice generosity. This month’s featured article discusses how being generous makes you feel good and draws benefits to you. Keep this in mind as you close up the year: How can you be generous in sharing your time, your talent and your treasure with others, both now and in the new year.

Have a wonderful holiday season and happy new year!


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Posted by Barb | Filed Under Greetings from Kristin 

Generosity Blesses the Giver and the Recipient

December 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment

During the holiday season, it’s easy to get caught up in “to-do list mania”: buying presents, preparing for parties, dashing to the kid’s special programs and getting next year’s budget completed at the office. In all that busy-ness, it is important to get off the treadmill, feed the spirit and take time to remember one of the enduring themes that runs through all the religious holidays of this season: Remember to be generous. Remember the gifts of the Magi, the gifts of the Little Drummer Boy. Remember the miracles that are enshrined in the holiday stories – the Hanukkah miracle of lamp oil lasting for eight nights, the miracle of the Christ child’s birth, the miracle of the Buddha’s enlightenment. All of these are gifts of the spirit, freely given to us. Practicing generosity is the best way to give thanks for the gifts of the spirit: we pass on our blessings to others.

Generosity comes in many forms. You can give of your time, your treasure and/or your talent. Generosity is not just gifts of money. It can be the time that you donate to work for a worthy cause, to speak to someone who is worried, to visit a friend or acquaintance in the hospital, or to simply exchange smiles with another. Time is precious, and it can be a huge source of generosity. You share your time and your talent when you volunteer to lead a non-profit fundraiser, tutor a child, coach your daughter’s soccer team or help a struggling business.

What does generosity look like for my family and my business? It is paying people who work for us an above-market wage, tipping generously and giving ten percent or more of our income each year to charities and non-profit organizations. It is donating my time and talent to worthy causes. I volunteer and hold leadership positions at church and on non-profit boards. I am involved in my community. I serve the local HDI chapter as an officer. I run my business on the principles of generosity and giving back, and everything I have given has blessed me many times over. It is the right thing to do, while at the same time, it blesses the giver as well as the recipient.

Your time, talent and treasure are each representations of energy. When energy is dammed up and not allowed to flow, it disintegrates, like a battery that sits on the shelf and is never used. Think of how love, another form of energy, multiplies when you give it away. The more love you give to others, the more you recieve. Time, talent and treasure operate the same way – each is enhanced by allowing it to flow outward from you. When you bless others by giving money to worthy causes, whether that be a generous tip to the hair dresser, a check to a family member who is in financial distress or a donation to a church or non-profit organization, you set up a flow of energy that ultimately comes back to bless you. In the meantime, you feel the satisfaction of knowing that your money has helped others.

It’s not quite the same when you hoard money, time and talent or spend it entirely on self interests. Instead of flowing freely through a circuit, the flow gets damned up because it is not going anywhere. There is nothing wrong with having nice things or focusing on your career, but buying a fancy new car for yourself does not set up the chain of blessing that giving away money or volunteering for a charity does. Buying a new car has a different feel and purpose to it – you don’t get the same satisfaction you get when giving to a cause that is bigger than yourself. You don’t set up the circular flow of energy that comes from gifting your time, talent or treasure to a church, charity, or other needy person.

When I get concerned about money, I counter the anxiety by donating some money to people or causes. For example, when I was on sabbatical 2 years ago, cash flow was a challenge because I wasn’t bringing in revenue for my business. Many people are in the same situation during this holiday season – money might be a little tight in your home due to layoffs or the general economic slowdown. The local public radio station did a pledge drive during that time, and I decided to give generously even though my income was severely reduced. And, my husband and I hosted a reception and brunch for our extended family during a family reunion because we knew it was the right thing to do. These acts of giving were done with love and gratitude in our hearts. My husband simply said, “It was the right thing to do.”

Several days after returning from the family reunion, there were two unexpected checks in the mail that equaled the amounts that we had recently spent on family and charities. We started the blessing, and it was returned to us. When you give out of the goodness of your heart, you are blessed in ways, whether monetary or otherwise, that you can’t imagine.

This holiday season, remember to practice generosity. It feels good to give generously of your time, talent or treasure this month to some cause that is making a difference in your community. Be generous with the people you meet – if it’s only a smile you can share, share generously! Help others in both small and large ways. In this way, we celebrate the true meaning of the holidays.


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Posted by Barb | Filed Under Abundance, blog, gratitude