May 1, 2023 by Dymphna

T-Bomb: How generosity changes your brain

Truth Bomb Tuesday: If you don’t practice generosity, life starts to box you in.

Generosity has to be a central practice.

You need to make it a central discipline of your life.

If we become selfless – actually, hold up. I don’t really like the term ‘selfless’. We often use it to describe the tendency to be self-sacrificing – to willingly give up what we want so others can have what they want.

But that doesn’t make sense in an abundant world. It doesn’t make sense when there’s enough of everything to go around. If there’s enough for everyone, why would anyone need to give up anything?

And I do believe the world is like this. There is enough for everybody, and there’s no scarcity or shortage, other than what humans have made for themselves out of selfishness and greed.

So let’s not go with ‘selfless’. Let’s stick with generous.

Anyway, I think time spent learning the art of generosity is time well spent.

First, it’s just a nice way to be. I think it’s one of our highest and most noble expressions. And it’s a fun way to experience yourself.

When you can give the people you love things they love, it feels great. (Same goes for random strangers.)

So generosity is its own reward.

However I’m also not sure you can really make the life of your dreams happen if generosity isn’t a guiding principle.

I mean, selfishness (the opposite of generosity) comes from a sense of lack – from a sense that there isn’t enough to go around and you need to get yours, even if that means that someone else misses out.

But if you really believed in an abundant world – a universe just champing at the bit to make wonderful things happen in your life – selfishness just wouldn’t make sense.

But if you don’t believe in an abundant world – where everything you could ever want is available to you if you can just summon enough patience and focus – if you don’t believe that is the case, how far are you ever going to get?

How far are you going to get before you bump into the fences you imagined to be there – into the walls of your imagined prison.

No, to fully reach your potential, and to fully live in an unlimited way, we need to practice generosity.

Because every act of generosity is a statement of faith – faith that there’s enough to go around, and everything is going to be ok.

And every time we make that statement, we refresh the synaptic pathways, until you just naturally see the world as abundant and overflowing with opportunity.

So practice generosity.

It’s fun to do, and it changes how you see the world.

And who would be selfish if they had the choice?

And we all have the choice.

DB.