Live to Give

Posted on September 07, 2018 by Connie Holmes, One of Thousands of Relationship Coaches on Noomii.

Do you know that there are several ways you can be generous? Many people think it is just with money, but being generous can be with your time and talent as well. When you are really generous, you do all three and do it pretty regularly.

Why do you think some people are tightwads? I think it is because they are fearful. Fearful coupled with feeling they do not have enough money for their own needs. Of they never learned the importance of giving. What about the people who won’t spare a minute of their time? I feel it is because they think they don’t have enough time for their own needs, they do not realize what a true gift it is to share time with others, and it could quite possibly be that they are an asshole. What about the people that don’t share their talents? To me, oftentimes it is out of fear that someone doesn’t share their talents. Fear of a new competition, or fear of the time it will take them to share their talent with someone else. But in teaching someone else a talent, that teaching will continue on down the line and quite possibly change the world.

But why not be generous? When you are generous you are giving a gift of yourself, and that is truly a beautiful thing, and it is an everlasting gift. Also, when you are giving you are living. Once someone becomes a giver they start to see this for themselves and realize how wonderful it is. Also, when you are generous, generosity will always come back to you. It may not be in the same form and it may not be in the same day or week, but it ALWAYS comes back to you.

Here is a true story that just happened today at work. Periodically while out running errands on my lunch hour I will drive through Wendy’s and get the $0.99 Frosty’s for everyone in the department. What fun it is to walk through the department, or come into a meeting, delivering cool, chocolatey goodness like I am Santa Claus? It is honestly a gift to me to see their smiles and looks of surprise. Doing this a few times a year costs me $14 each time. I don’t care how much money you make, but anyone who is working can afford $14 a few times a year! Today I had one of those mornings that I was simply ravenous. It was 10:37 a.m. and I sent an email to the department titled, “starving but lazy.” I said that if someone went out to pick it up, it was my treat to get a ton of White Castle burgers and fries for the department. My Goodness! You would have thought that I said, “puppy dogs for everyone!” with the response that I received. It was so fun to hear the commotion and excitement and see the person who ran out to get them leave in 5 seconds flat. I loved it! That was a gift to me!

So earlier I mentioned how when you are a giver, it always comes back to you in one way or another. Today’s return gift to me honestly came back in about 3 hours. I gave a crisp $50 bill to the person picking up the food and every penny of that was spent. Definitely worth it to feed 11 people unexpectedly! At my work we have something called a “Treasure Chest” where coworkers can give a thank-you letter and a gift card in $25, $50, $75 and $100 increments for doing a special job. I am not even kidding you…3 hours after the surprise White Castle I received a Treasure Chest with a $50 voucher to claim a gift card of my choice for a job that I did last week! I was truly surprised by this, but within hours my generosity generating generosity back to me! True story — I can’t even make this stuff up! So I chose to redeem 2, $25 gas cards, one for me and one for my husband.

And do you want to know what? When a colleague ran out on her lunch hour she came back with Frosty’s for the entire department! On her generous dime!

I have been wanting to write about generosity for a while now, so with this situation happening today, this story literally wrote itself. So please remember this the next time you wonder if you should give of your money, time or talent. Eventually you will come to a place in your life that you don’t even stop to think, you just do it because it is an automatic part of who you are. And when that happens, enjoy the abundance you will discover in your life!