Five Things To Practice
To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
–Confucius
Some of us were raised to decline generosity - to argue over who pays the restaurant bill, not to accept money for helping someone out, not to accept food or drink at someone’s home. Some of these beliefs have strong cultural ties. Others are just a fear of imposing. We don’t want to be a bother.
Generosity is a two-way street. It’s just as important for someone to be generous as it is to accept the offerings. Most of us like to be generous. When we’re being genuine, from the heart, with no strings attached, being generous makes us feel good – it makes us feel great. We have no reason to deny others that feeling (unless, of course, these are strings attached). In fact, our own generosity is probably just coming back to us.
Today I will allow others the opportunity to be generous.
Tags: Confucius, generosity, philosophy
