Be Generous- Be Yourself
Be Generous- Be Yourself. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” —Mother Teresa. A generous person is not required to give all their possessions away. A generous person is also not required to allow others to push them around. Being generous involves firstly, the readiness to give or being willing to give more than is required.
Being generous takes kindness to the next level.
- You might be kind at heart, and often think about helping others, but unless you take the time to actually get the ball rolling in offering your time, energy or other resources for the benefit of another individual, you have not truly mastered the art of being generous.
- Generosity moves us to give of ourselves willingly, and expect nothing in return.
- I know you should be wondering how giving away your assets can help you live a better life.
- The truth is that many often regard generosity of one of the keys to being truly happy in this miserable world.
- In fact, many medical practitioners will attest to the fact that being generous is also very good for your health.
In fact, here are some of the proven benefits of giving generously:
- Reduced stress
- Lessening the likelihood of suffering from depression
- Increased sense of purpose
- Greater happiness
- Stronger families and marriages
- Less clutter
- Reduced risk of dementia
- Greater appreciation for all that you have
More likely to benefit from the generosity of others
- A generous person often seeks out opportunities to do good for others.
- Just think about volunteers who make their way to help out at Soup Kitchens every weekend.
- Those of us brave enough to sign up for the Peace Corps is also considered quite generous.
- But simply helping an elderly lady with her grocery bags, or stopping to allow a child to cross the road, can be considered generous.
- This kind of concern for others proves beneficial because it forces us to focus on the needs of others instead of on our problems.
- Anything that minimizes the effect of our problems, whether in our relationships or even financially, will have a direct effect on our health.
- Being generous protects us from all the cynicism and narcissism that makes it so hard to navigate our way through this world.
- I would, however, encourage you to be cautious as you endeavor to be more generous.
Be very careful of how you demonstrate your generosity.
- Please be especially careful when being generous to members of the opposite sex.
- If you are already taken, and you don’t want to send the wrong impression, avoid gifts or favors that are personal.
- A personal gift is anything related to one’s body.
- Perfume, for example, would be considered a personal gift.
Please also bear in mind that your safety may come into play when being generous.
- Many people have gotten robbed when asked by a seemingly homeless person to give some money.
- Reaching into your wallet or bag, and revealing where your cash is kept, and how much cash you have, is a bad idea, no matter how needy the person may appear to be.
- A safer option would be to let the person know that you will return with a gift.
- I would strongly suggest that you go to a secure location, one that is away from prying eyes and package everything that you would like to donate to this individual in advance.
My final word of caution is that you need to feel out the person before being too generous.
- Some people like spontaneity and others prefer if you first ask them if they need your help.
- Even the best of intentions can put you in awkward situations if they are not executed correctly.
- We have discussed at length, how improving various aspects of your personality can help you to heal yourself, and avoid a lot of the emotional baggage that comes along with the negativity in this world.
- The final of this book holds the most important key to healing all the scars caused by this nasty world. Please read on to learn more about what that is.
Be Yourself
- “ Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. ”― Oscar Wilde
- “The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.” — Fred Rogers
- We all need to learn to be ourselves again.
- This is one of the most crucial aspects of successfully navigating through this catastrophe we call life.
- This encouragement is in no way giving you the right to be a jerk.
- We have already discussed that healing ourselves from the pain caused by this world requires that we work hard to get rid of our negative traits.
Traits such as being arrogant, rude, dishonest, and stingy have no place in your life.
- When we proudly walk around with these ugly habits, we are inviting all sorts of negativity into our lives.
- The result of that is only more pain and disappointment.
- That is why I encouraged you in the very first chapter to get to know yourself.
- This will better equip you to heal yourself, by learning more about your faults.
So what exactly does it mean to be yourself?
- It requires that you distance yourself from all the labels the world around us has imposed on us.
- These ugly labels come about because of the way we look, the way we dress, or even the community we grew up in.
- There is no reason for us to allow the world around us to squeeze us into a mold that doesn’t represent who we are.
- Just think about how liberating it would be to not have to pretend to be something you are not.
This is all within reason of course.
- We would never want to take certain liberties that may have far-reaching effects on our personal lives, and may even jeopardize our jobs.
- That means that you might want to hold off on anything drastic, like dying your hair purple and green, until you find an employer that is willing to accommodate such a choice.
Here are 5 important reasons why you need to start being true to yourself:
- You will never be able to please everyone. If you constantly allow the people around you to determine who you are, you will constantly have to change what you stand for to try and make everyone happy. The only problem with this is that you will be dealing with so many conflicting demands that you will eventually end up disappointing someone. Additionally, putting yourself under this kind of pressure will leave you feeling dissatisfied in the end.
- The society around us doesn’t know what it wants. The media portrays both the meek homemaker and the fierce go-getter, as the ideal woman. The society also demands that men be sensitive to the needs of the opposite sex and the dangerous bad boy as well. Which will you be if you are simply allowing those around you to determine who you are? Whatever you decide to be, just remember that it is quite exhausting to be putting on this kind of show every day.
- You will end up making life-changing decisions based on the whims of the people around you, who will not suffer the consequences of these choices. If you decide to have a child, simply because your family thinks it’s time, you will be the one to have to take care of that child! If you decide to pursue a career because your peers think you would do well in it, you will have to live with the burden of a career that you hate, forever.
The truth always comes out. Sooner or later, people will begin to realize that you are faking. Unfortunately, as we see in the case of many celebrities, the truth often comes out in a big scandal or breakdown.
- When you are content with who you are, you will be truly happy. How can you love yourself, when you are constantly pretending to be something that you are not?
When all is said and done, you need to take control of your life if you want to see real improvements. You cannot expect different results if you are not bold enough to make drastic changes. And the time for those changes is now!
Conclusion
- I hope you have benefitted from this article.
- By benefit, I mean that I hope you have decided to make some need changes.
- Progress may be slow at first, but you will never regret the decision to change yourself for the better.
- Every step, no matter how small, is a step forward, and can thus rightly be viewed as progress.
The universe has a way of rewarding the good in us and helping us to find the good in others.
- By now, you should have realized that the secret to healing ourselves, and successfully navigating through the catastrophe of life, lies in our hands.
- Unless we acknowledge our faults, and actively work to try and improve on them, our lives will never get any better.
- “ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. ” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Know Your Limits- Be Honest & Be Kind