- Foreward
- Introduction
- My Journey
- Adversity
- Anger
- Body Wisdom
- Love Knocks
- Money Tree
- HealthLoveWealth
- Simplicity
- Generosity
- Shock! Treatment
- Responsibility
- Grateful
- Growth Notes
Care for new growth
In springtime, plants send out tender shoots. A late freeze can damage this new growth or stop it for the season. I also grow and send out tender shoots. Until I grow strong again, my new growth is vulnerable. Today I become aware of my new growth and give this growth a chance to flourish.
Decline victim
Some folks become expert victims. They attract others who take advantage of or abuse them. They allow themselves to be victimized. Today I look calmly at any tendency I have to play victim. I choose to give up being victim.
Find Light in Dark Times
Chapter 9:
Generosity: Spirit of Plenty
(sample excerpts)
Find Light in Dark Times gives you philosophical and spiritual tools to help you recover from
losses of all kinds, then emerge into the light. These are sample sections from Chapter 9 on generosity.
Come, eat some grapes until you no longer hunger. Imagine that there’s plenty for everyone on the planet. Imagine if all people of the world had plenty of everything we genuinely need, enough for every woman, man and child. Suppose we had ample food, clean water, clean air. What if we had plenty of shelter, clothing, energy, health care.
To rebuild our world as a spiritual place, start with the spirit of plenty. While it will take plenty of work to supply plenty of food for every mouth, we could achieve this goal if all the people of the world united. Even if this doesn’t happen in our lifetimes, we can glide forward toward such a brilliant destination.
Generosity goes beyond giving money to charities or church. It goes beyond giving toys to needy children or food to hungry folks.
True generosity of spirit radiates like a perennially shining sun. People or other creatures who come in contact with a fully generous spirit will be warmed by such contact. If you are a font of generosity, you will also be warmed as you radiate to others. Generosity works like heat, reflecting back from those we help.
How can you become generous in such a deep way?
Start by giving time and attention to those you already know and love. Give affection generously. Pet your dogs, cats, horses, gerbils and geckos. Hug your children. But don’t feed them too much food or you will undermine their health. Overfeeding is not to be confused with grand generosity.
With generosity, a spiritual trap is to self-bestow a halo of goodness as we help others. This is our payoff if we function in an egoistic way. Some sweet folks practically shimmer with beatific halos. But if they elevate themselves above those they help, they weaken the heart connection.
True generosity flows directly from your heart. You don’t know or care that you are doing good because you don’t judge yourself in a favorable light. Your heart simply functions in this giving way, and your mind doesn’t jump in to seek approval from yourself or anyone else.
. . . (Generosity's limits section)
Eleanor suffered from acute kidney disease. Her doctor suggested a kidney transplant as a treatment option that would give her freedom of movement. Patrick, her son, offered to give her one of his kidneys. The transplant was successful. This act of abundant generosity didn’t make him feel any sense of loss; in fact, it made him feel even closer to his mother, more loving. Part of him had become part of her, just as part of her had become him when he was born. There was reciprocity in his generosity, but he did it in love and kindness, not from duty. While the operation to remove his kidney was not fun, Patrick did it without hesitation. His mom needed a working kidney; he gave her one of his.
Sometimes the person you give to does not appreciate what you have given. This may happen when a person is ill, in pain or just plain crotchety. Even when you give her time, attention, flowers, special food, she remains grumpy. Sometimes the grouch even snarls at you as if your generosity interfered with his sense that the world is against him. You wreck his sour world view, you wretched giving person! Have you encountered these sorts?
