Have you ever noticed how closely connected are gratitude and generosity?
Tara Brach puts it this way: “Gratitude is like breathing in—letting ourselves be touched by the goodness in others and in our world. Generosity is like breathing out—sensing our mutual belonging and offering our care. When we are awake and whole, breathing in and out happens naturally.”
Our lungs need both: to breathe in and to breathe out. Our souls need both: to be grateful and to be generous.
Lakota author Doug Good Feather concurs. He writes, “Gratitude and generosity are similar virtues, but they differ in that gratitude is an internal characteristic and generosity is our external expression of our sense of gratitude. Basically, gratitude is how we feel, and generosity is how we express that feeling out in the world.”
Sue Elias shares, “Research shows that gratitude can…lead to generosity. In a sense, gratitude seems to prepare the brain for generosity…. Perhaps this is why researchers have observed that grateful people give more. Our brains create a gratitude-generosity loop—we are thankful for the generosity shown to us, and that thankfulness inspires our own compassion and generosity. Gratitude is generosity in action.”
Erich Fromm asserts, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” To take this a step further, the person who is not satisfied is rarely generous, for if you are not satisfied with what you have the thought of giving some of it away would only deepen the dissatisfaction. On the other hand, those who approach life with a grateful heart tend to want to share their joy with others.
Robert Brault remarks, “There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.” Gratitude that is expressed is generally known as generosity.
As you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, breathe in gratitude and breathe out generosity. Be generous with words of kindness, concern, and affirmation to others. Be generous in acts of service. Be generous in deeds of kindness. Be generous in forgiving others. Be generous in giving a person your ear. Be generous in love. And be generous financially. Choose an organization you believe will benefit others, and make a generous gift to it.