is to quietly let the spirit guide you. “Make your choice quickly and step back so that others can come forward.” Further, you do not call attention to what you’ve been given, or show displeasure if someone seems to have gotten something better than you. It is not the gift, but the gestures of giving and receiving that count. It is a very different sort of giving and receiving from that practiced in majority culture, where the giver is often calling attention to his or her generosity, and the gift is often followed by effusive thanks from the receiver. The strengthening of community is much more important in the American Indian practice, a gifting more akin to prayer th... posted on Aug 16 2011 (36,685 reads)

I ate my breakfast, at a certain point, I begin to think about the tip I would leave. Certainly, I’d give the waitress the saved dollar. I’d add it to my usual tip. But why not more? The thought filled me with a little charge of happiness. I’d leave a ten-dollar bill! That would be pretty generous. About $4 on a $6 meal. What would that be? 60% or so.      Then, as I was finishing off a bite of scrambled egg and feeling the pleasure of my planned generosity, something else entered my mind. Maybe the ten dollars was too easy. Didn’t this morning call for something more? It called for something that crossed the boundary into the realm of m... posted on Aug 26 2011 (12,026 reads)

in my wallet. What initially started as a nice conversation piece at parties turned into a pile of kind acts that I just had to unload. Slowly, my perspective started shifting. Instead of looking at how I could manipulate situations to my benefit, my mind was busy trying to think of ways I could make someone's day better. The cards were a pocket-sized prompt to be a better person! I began to realize that what I was carrying wasn't just some nice cards -- I was carrying the potential for generosity in every interaction. All this leads me back to the day I handed the book over to the stranger. It was amazing exactly because it was ordinary. I had experienced a moment where I wanted to ... posted on Sep 11 2011 (23,396 reads)

just searching for ways to express the gratitude we feel. All of our relationships -- with family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances -- become fair game. As do interactions with total strangers. A few years ago, in downtown Chicago, 10 of us had decided to try an experiment. To create an excuse to connect with those we walk by all the time, we'd whipped up 150 bagged lunches, split up into groups of three and hit the streets. Beyond just the lunches, the idea was to really explore our own generosity within each interaction. So with everyone who looked like they could use a lunch, we'd start with making our offering and then letting things happen organically. Some would heartily accept,... posted on Oct 18 2011 (22,841 reads)

describe how while at lunch the two suddenly realize that it is Friday, the day they mail out and post their gifts. Spontaneously, they decide that that week's gift should be a $52 tip to the waitress who had been serving them in the restaurant. The post on the site says that after they wrote the tip on the credit card receipt, they decided to "run away without watching (their) waitress's expression as she opened the leather folio."  That's it right there. That's generosity. Giving in a sacrificial way with the intent of blessing others while seeking nothing in return -- not even recognition, gratitude, or praise. And this lesson is the biggest gift that Giver... posted on Oct 25 2011 (15,790 reads)

more, visit the Communication Insight Center.] Last week, I played the piano for my friend Macy Robison's cabaret-style recital Children Will Listen. The 1,400-seat Browning Center auditorium at Weber State University was sold out. The crowd loved her. I played exceptionally well, but the outcome could have been very different. Prior to this event, we had performed the recital for audiences of no more than fifty people. Each time, nerves bedeviled me. I majored in music in college, but over the last two decades I've played only intermittently, and never professionally. A few months ago when I had worked with Macy in the recording studio, I found the circumstan... posted on Nov 4 2011 (16,186 reads)

life you’d want to read, with a climax and denouement. It’s not told from the end as we discussed. There aren’t a lot of specifics or characters. But even without any specifics in place, perhaps this all tells a story anyway. At the end, this life will have been a journey of perseverance; a century, I hope, of opening to truth and love. I will have cultivated a generous heart, I will have never lost the spirit of fun, I will have loved well, and set an example of love, truth, generosity, beauty, laughter and kindness. I will live and die at peace, confident that I did my very best.  ... posted on Nov 8 2011 (39,052 reads)

fragmentation and lack of connection. Living Economies Forum: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth LivingEconomiesForum.org “The old economy of greed and domination is dying. A new economy of life and partnership is struggling to be born. The outcome is ours to choose.” ~ Author David Korten • Focus more on matters of family and community and on building trust. • Devote less attention to maximizing incomes and more attention to acts of generosity. • Ask our employers for more time off instead of higher pay. In our local communities, we can find ways to design more relationship-friendly places such as farmers’ markets,... posted on Nov 20 2011 (23,696 reads)

work at the Free Farm because we believe that healthy _local_ food is the foundation of social justice. While 93 percent of the varieties of crops have gone extinct in the part of the Planet we call the U.S. –and all over the World– city kids, like many of us, are learning how to facilitate the growth of food and how to let some crops go to seed.  The concepts of both regeneration (not sustainability) and community are being shared and practiced. We are planting seeds of generosity and harvesting kindness to and from the community. With this growth of soil and community, local neighbors are getting more and more involved. As these neighbors volunteer at the farm and&... posted on Dec 5 2011 (9,156 reads)

should make more money.” “I should lose weight.” “I should volunteer more often.”   In saying “should” so often, I found myself feeling trapped by a sense of obligation and expectation. I felt this vague pressure to conform to external standards, to be someone or do something. It felt like just being me wasn’t okay. I felt pushed to follow a particular path, behave in specific ways, and believe certain things. In observing my mind and growing towards a more compassionate life, I realized that I had internalized both the messages and the method of the “shoulds.” &nbs... posted on Dec 14 2011 (39,527 reads)

shocked by the size of her injury as well as the picture of her fully clothed, clearly better off relative. " So Mike and I are going to walk you to wherever it is you need to go- the bus station is only a few blocks away and you can catch the next bus out there but I want you to be safe." I could feel my jaw drop," "Thank you so much."  "Don't mention it we don't want you to get hurt."   I was blown away by their act of complete kindness and generosity. These were strangers who I had been afraid of but what I really learned instead, was that they were far better, stronger people than I had ever been. In this one moment of kindness these t... posted on Dec 30 2011 (12,449 reads)

his disease was in remission so his immune system wouldn’t attack his new kidney. Last August, when Taber’s mom stopped by to say hello when he was back for a checkup, Batson volunteered her kidney. “Sandra, you might think I’m weird, but you guys have really been heavy on my mind,” Batson told her. ”I just want you to know that I’m willing to step forward and be tested as a donor.” Clay Taber says he was “astounded” by her generosity. “I went back and gave her a big hug and told her how much it meant to me. I’ll be honest, I kind of broke down in front of her.” After tests ruled out the chance of a... posted on Jan 16 2012 (24,356 reads)

growth. Growing is good -- not growing is downright un-American. You didn't get a raise? You're not growing? Well then you must be no good. But why only 1 way to measure growth? If I get a 10 percent raise next year but eat less healthy food, spend less time with close and extended community, or do more self-serving work, did I really grow? Just because the number is easy to measure, is that all that matters? Here's a few other ways to grow besides financial: - Grow in generosity (give more of yourself)  - Grow in compassion (connect more deeply with people/planet)  - Grow in physical health (deeper care for 'lifestyle habits')  - Grow i... posted on Feb 10 2012 (15,799 reads)

it can be. Later that same evening Sachi slips a large envelope into my hand. “A gift from Ankur,” she says, “for you to pay-forward.” Inside were a stack of large prints of his photographs. Many of them featuring little monks in red robes, their faces animated, their gestures so alive. It is clear that their photographer is blessed with an ability to see through the surface contours of the moment straight to its heart. I am properly stunned by the unconditional generosity of the gift. Life is Magical Ten days from the day I met him, Ankur was back in Ladakh armed with his camera, a heart of service and his faith in the universe. I received a short em... posted on Mar 13 2012 (40,252 reads)

and one detaches from that. Wholesome states of detachment from self are those in which one is not bound or held by self-absorption. Therefore one is free -- not bound, not held -- to use one’s time, which is temporary and limited, to do wholesome things. Ultimately these wholesome things make one feel good, so there’s a selfishness involved, but also a selfless-ness in doing things that make others feel good. In this kind of detachment, there is a deep connection to compassion, generosity.   Sitting pushes me to the limit of my self-directed effort; it mobilizes my willed, committed direction, yet it also shatters my self-protective, self-defining maneuvers... posted on Mar 20 2012 (34,988 reads)

annoyance. Some even invited us to a drink or a meal, and sometimes to sleep in their homes, wanting to understand our intentions.  We would repeat over and again the words that to change the world, you must begin by changing yourself. Those words were usually met with curiosity and interest, very rarely with derision, and quite often with amusement at the two “hippies” that were walking along the side of the road speaking about creating world peace through inner peace. Their generosity and kindness, however, was universal, with some people even offering us money to help us on our way. And this did not only occur in Italy, but in every one of the thirteen countries in whic... posted on Jul 22 2012 (12,348 reads)

grandmothers are different from mine. My grandmother lived a mile away. I played under her bushes where spring violets grew. She baked a dollop of meringue on a saltine cracker as a treat for me—and prepared delicious Sunday dinners: chicken that my grandfather caught and vegetables that she grew in her garden. Her bathtub had feet and her phone had a party line. She folded Christmas wrappings to use again. She kept her money in a safe inside a kitchen cabinet. Coal was heaped high in the basement to heat her house. She wore housedresses and braided her hair into a pigtail she could sit on. Contrast a contemporary grandmother in Argentina who told m... posted on Dec 15 2012 (16,954 reads)

as diverse as the Association of Medical Ethics and the Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions. But he is no stranger to struggle.  He served as a caregiver in a family whose mother was an invalid and father suffered from alcoholism.  They were on public assistance all that time.  As he said, “At that age you feel like a leaf being blown by an ill wind.”  He witnessed the indifference of those with money and influence, but also the compassion and generosity of those with nothing, and it made an impact.  At age 13 he wandered into a magic store and had a serendipitous conversation with the mother of the owner who was there.  She took ... posted on Feb 22 2013 (21,454 reads)

required them to decide how much money to contribute to a common pool. In a blow to conventional wisdom, the researchers found that people who made their decision quickly—in less than 10 seconds—gave roughly 15 percent more to the pool than people who deliberated for more time. In a second study, the researchers instructed some people to make their decision in less than 10 seconds and other people to think for longer than that; again, they found that quick decisions led to more generosity while deliberating bred selfishness. “These studies provide strong evidence that people, on average, have an initial impulse to behave cooperatively—and with continued reaso... posted on Mar 13 2013 (19,641 reads)

spirit. This empowering shift in perspective helped him survive and then to inspire his fellow prisoners to take control of their own mindset. What is the fear, high desperation, that you are attempting to run away from? How do you pay attention to it so that you can walk through the other side of desperation and discover something very new? Act on inspiration from talks or books. The CEO of a well-known tech firm attended a talk on service-oriented organizations, including the generosity-driven Karma Kitchen, where your bill always reads $0 because the meal is a gift from people who came before you, and you are invited to pay-it-forward for those who come after. He was so i... posted on Apr 2 2013 (40,572 reads)