Does being generous help you live longer? I am sure we have known people who are not generous live to a ripe old age, but have they been happy? Scrooge certainly became happier when he had more generous thoughts.
Being generous does not just mean giving money to people or buying things. It means being kind hearted, giving a cheery smile to someone who looks miserable, or doing some good deeds.
Random acts of kindness work both ways. You do something nice for someone, and you feel good about it.
Generosity means thinking well about as many people as you can rather than think badly about them. Not always the easiest thing to do, but just see how much better you feel when you think generously about someone that you don't get on well with.
Of course generosity can also mean respecting others, which sadly is often lacking within families. I have old fashioned traditional family values which meant you respected your parents. I know some parents don't deserve the respect sometimes, but sometimes children feel as though they can say what they like to parents and maybe even think it is acceptable to do so.
I hear about so many rifts amongst families and the saddest thing to hear is how some parents use their children as weapons, keeping them away from grandparents, just because they have a grudge with their parents, or because their parents refuse to be treated badly and stand up for themselves.
It happens so often these days and I do wonder if respect and generosity has diminished.
Try being generous today whether it is a thought about someone or whether you physically do something to brighten someones day, and see what happens!
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