Giving

There is pleasure in giving. In fact one ancient author famously known as Luke says, “it better to give than to receive.”

“What has giving got to do with anything?”, one may ask. But it has a lot to do with how one perceives life.

From a Coaching perspective, I get curious about how much we give to ourselves as individuals, that is, from time to attention and everything in between.

The other day, I was inspired to clear my wardrobe of clothes that no longer fitted and still in very good condition.

In fact some I had worn only about three times. After doing a sterling job of clearing, I looked at the heap of clothes and asked myself, “What am I going to do with these now?” And something told me, “take them to the Hospice!” And so a few days later, I did just that.

After dropping them off, I felt a warm pleasurable feeling of accomplishment. I thought to myself, this is interesting!

So this is really what it means, when the good book says, it is better to give than to receive? I had never felt that way before. Now I am looking forward to do it again in the near future.

But this experience got me thinking about how truly generous we really are towards ourselves as individuals.

A mentor of mine once told me, that there are three 3Ts that we are called in life to give, namely: Time, Treasure and Talent.

My thoughts dwelt on the first T – Time:

How much time do I give myself as an individual and exercise generosity towards myself? When I give myself the time, do I get the warm giving feeling of pleasure? Is it even worthwhile for me to give myself time? How does giving myself time serve me? What will happen when I generously give myself time, or what will happen if I deny to give myself time? How does giving myself time make me feel?

Some wise person once said, that you can only give what you have.

The giving of my Treasure to Hospice, triggered the reflection of how I give myself time, and what this really means for me. I do not have all the answers yet, but I am still posing the same questions to myself and genuinely seeking for answers from myself. My inspiration is to continually self-improve and become a better version of myself.

I have had the privilege of inter-acting with many people from different walks of life and diverse backgrounds. One thing that stands out for me, especially from those that have impacted on my life, is their level of generosity. I keep looking to them for wisdom and principles that I believe will be useful in my own life.

The common principle that I clearly notice among many of these wonderful people, who keep impacting positively on my life is: Giving.