In our last article, we looked at generosity – how to practice it not only during Christmas, but also in our everyday lives. However, generosity is not only about giving away money or things, but also everyday little things, such as smiling at a saleswoman, praising a colleague or giving advice to a friend. With all such little things, in the end, we not only help others, but also ourselves.
Generosity and kindness are among the basic pillars of mindfulness and have very beneficial effects not only on our psychological but also on our physical state. A meta-analysis of studies with a total of more than 200,000 participants showed that generous people are generally happier and healthier. Therefore, kindness should not be something special, but on the contrary, we should make it a natural part of our lives.
What is mindfulness generosity?
As we mentioned above, generosity is not only about material or monetary giving. In the field of mindfulness, generosity is considered to be any activity during which we detach ourselves from ourselves and focus our attention one hundred percent on others.
So, for example, we can be generous in any conversation just by really listening to the other person, giving them feedback and sincerely supporting them. All you need is to be able to fully focus on the present moment. A few simple practices and tricks will help you with this , including, for example, meditation.
What is the present moment? Detachment from thoughts of the past or future and fully focused on the given moment that we are currently experiencing. Learning to live in the present moment is one of the main goals of meditation. Even with it, we only let the current feelings and thoughts that are running through our heads at the given moment affect us. Our Better Concentration course is perfectly designed for this purpose.
So, in your next interaction, try to put aside all other thoughts and focus only on the conversation at hand. Generosity can also be complimenting a colleague, spontaneously writing to a friend asking how she is and inviting her for coffee, or just smiling at a random passer-by, holding the door for someone else when entering a store, or sincerely thanking a saleswoman. You will see that even with such little things you can lift the mood not only of others, but also of yourself.
