Okay, so, not so sure about the format of this post but I'm trying it anyway. Humor me...
Okay, I want you to think of your most favorite food. Maybe it's french fries or chocolate cake or banana cream pie or that special treat that your mom or grandma made for you only on special occasions.
Imagine that you have an abundant portion of this favorite food, all to yourself. Like, you have an entire plate of fries or a whole pie or cake or big ol' steak, just for you.
Now imagine that your worst enemy walks up to you and says, "Wow! Can I have some of that?"
What do you do?
Most likely, you say "sure." You don't think too much about whether or not you want to give it to them because, well, you have an entire pie- what's one little piece gonna do? You're still gonna have enough for yourself so, most likely, you don't mind sharing.
Now I want you to imagine that same treat, but you only have a single portion of it. You only have enough for yourself, and maybe, barely enough for yourself.
Now imagine that your best friend or your lover or someone you really care about walks up to you and says, "That's my absolute favorite treat. I would love a slice of that. Can I have some?"
Now what do you do?
You have to think about it, don't you? For me, I wonder about how much I want the treat; I wonder what it says about me that I have to think about it, I worry that I'm not a very generous person because really, I don't want to share the treat with them, I want the treat, for myself, and if I share it with them, I won't have any for me.
But mostly, I have to think about it.
In the first scenario, I didn't have to think about it, I just gave it away, 'cause I had enough for myself. But when I didn't have enough, when I thought there was a limited supply, I had to consider it, had to outweigh the costs and benefits of sharing, think about myself as a person, consider the consequences of my actions, etc...
And here's where I think gratitiude comes in to play.
I think that when we pay attention to all the things that we have, to all the things that are here for us, to all the little things that exist without us even noticing them, when we draw our attention to these things, we actually start to think that we have an abundance of things. I think that when we practice gratitude, when we shift our attention to what we have or are given instead of what we lack, we lead ourselves into believing that we have an entire pie. And when we believe that we have an entire pie, we just give things away, without thinking. We are just generous, naturally, without even trying. But I think that this generosity is supported by our belief that there is an abundance of things.
I also think that, in truth, we actually are existing in an abundance of things. I think that when we really look at what is around us, how much we actually do have, it isn't so much that we're tricking ourselves into believing that we have an entire pie, it's more like we're finally seeing the entire pie that's been in front of us the whole time.
Maybe it's a stretch but imagine that someone comes up to you, at work, and asks to speak with you, for just five minutes. I'd imagine that my first reponse would be, "No, I'm sorry, but I have a million things to do. I don't actually have five minutes to spend talking with you."
But if I think about how many hours there are in a day and how many things I have to do and how much of that entire day and list of things to do this five minutes of time would actually affect, I realize that five minutes, is nothing. I actually do have five minutes to spare. I just think that I don't because all I can see is the things I have to do and the lack of time I have to do them. But when I look at the abundance of time that there actually is in a day, I see that giving five minutes of my time is like giving a sliver of my pie. And I can do that.
I also think, that if I say yes to that person, if I actually give that person my time, they start to feel like they have a whole pie too. By giving our time or sharing our resources, we are creating the image of abundance for others as well.
Anyway, that's my thoughts, that's my exercise in gratitude and its affect on generosity.
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