The Happiness of Generosity
My friend Charles Burke over at Bullseye-Living.com opened a door for me tonight with a very thought-provoking article he wrote called “Feeding Pigeons in the Park.” He was talking about the way most of us tend to read a piece on a blog and then surf away to read the next article, the next blog, without ever leaving a comment.
His article (which I highly recommend, by the way) made me think about how we miss so many opportunities in life to connect with other people. Just as we read a blog entry without consciously thinking that a real person took the time to write and post it for us, we breeze past people in our everyday world without thinking to acknowledge their reality. We’re rude to telemarketers; we often treat cashiers and clerks, food-servers and secretaries, cabbies and bus drivers as if they were mannequins. And all the while we complain about how isolated and lonely we feel in the world today.
A favorite wisdom-saying of mine is “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If we want a world of greater connection, we need to reach out and connect. If we want to be acknowledged for our contributions, we need to acknowledge the contributions of others. If we want to be seen and treated with kindness, we need to recognize the humanity of the people who cross our paths each day, to offer them the kindness of a word of greeting or appreciation, spoken with sincerity.
When we reach out to others, when we extend ourselves with a helping hand, a listening ear, a genuine smile, we’re making the world a richer, more human place. And our little acts of kindness not only open the hearts of others, they lift us up as well. When we’re generous of spirit, we’re repaid immediately with a physiological burst of gladness and a lingering sense of calm. We’re built, it turns out, to love.
Go read Charles’ article and join the crew that’s deciding they no longer want to be pigeons. It will put a little love in your heart.
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