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Thursday, June 13, 2024
“‘Tis better to give than receive.” “Give a little to get a little.” “What you give comes back to you tenfold.” These old adages about giving (and there are plenty more where those came from) are true–giving benefits you more than you could ever imagine.
If you want an abundance, you must give it away. It sounds like bad math. “To gain more, I need to give more away?!” you may incredulously exclaim.
You’re right; the math doesn’t balance, but that’s how the Universal Mind (check out The Secret of the Ages and other books by Robert Collier), the Law of Attraction, and the Law of Abundance work in this unbelievable universe. Spiritual things don’t play by math rules.
We’ll explain how giving is better than receiving and how becoming more generous can help us live lives of abundant happiness and success.
Donating money to charities comes to mind when we think of giving. However, generous giving occurs in a variety of ways, like:
Generosity means giving our time, talents, services, money, labor, and hearts to others. We give, expecting nothing in return.
Random acts of kindness and giving are just that–random, like when we wait until someone asks us to volunteer or donate. However, we don’t have to wait for an altruistic opportunity–we can plan generosity.
What causes a person to schedule their generous giving ahead of time? Some donate to specific charities because they feel strongly about shared missions and values.
Others donate purposefully and regularly because they believe doing so improves the world.
Some do it, compelled by a greater sense of purpose and connection to their communities. They give to create bonds.
For many, giving (for any reason) leads to a sense of fulfillment in an otherwise consumerist society.
Volunteers donate more regularly to the nonprofits they volunteer for.
When we give, we must give from a place of abundance without expecting anything in return. We give, assuming our contribution will make a big difference in someone’s world.
However, whether it’s a good feeling in our hearts or friendships borne of this giving, we usually get something beneficial in return.
Let’s look at some time-honored, anecdotal evidence of giving being better than receiving.
Giving makes us feel good, and the evidence is in our biology. A 2006 study by Jorge Moll and associates at the National Institutes of Health found that brain regions associated with pleasure, trust, and social connection “light up” when people give to charities. They referred to it as a “warm glow.”
Giving releases endorphins into our brains, producing additional positive feelings. This might be why some people routinize their giving habits. They could be addicted to the positive feelings known as the “helper’s high.”
We form a special bond with those we give to. We feel closer to them, and often, they feel tied to us, too.
We view people through rose-colored glasses the more we give. Kindness and generosity lead us to perceive others as being genuinely good at heart, and we assume they are generous souls, too.
Believing the best in others, we more easily develop a social community of cooperation and interdependence. We are hardwired for connection, even the most introverted of us. Connecting to others improves our self-esteem and confidence.
On a practical, business-minded note, giving improves our networking opportunities and expands and strengthens our networks. We gain exposure to diverse groups of people, which becomes a positive pool for talent, creativity, and ideas.
Giving tends to improve our physical health and longevity. Research suggests giving keeps us healthy and helps us live longer. While no one knows why, the hypothesis is that giving activates the brain’s pleasure and connection centers, which reduces stress and its ill effects on the body.
Giving demonstrates gratitude, and those thankful feelings benefit us. An attitude of gratitude promotes a healthier, more fulfilling life. Giving helps us grow in gratefulness.
Generosity grows. We put positivity and care out into the world. In turn, it ripples and reaches further than we can see.
When we do something nice for someone, they are more likely to treat others kindly, either because they were inspired by us or just because they were in a good mood. Generosity is contagious, and it spurs kindness in others.
It’s easy to feel like we are too small to make a difference. However, we can make a world of difference in the lives of one person at a time with our acts of kindness and generosity.
Helping others fills us with a sense of control and power in an often uncontrollable world. Giving back or paying forward to others is a great way to feel empowered and like we matter.
Our generosity today could become our legacy years from now—what better way to be remembered than by our kindness?
Business owners can gain a competitive edge over their competition by practicing generosity.
Investors want to see that a company takes an ethical stance on environmental, social, and governance issues before investing. With no shortage of buying options, consumers want to vote with their dollars on the business that does good deeds.
Manifest generosity. Share your wealth, time, heart, and helping hands to give back to your community or pay it forward to someone else who might never be able to repay you. Generosity multiplies, paying out more than we put in. It’s one of those secrets of success, happiness, health, and so much more.
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