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The Healing Power of Generosity by David Fischman |
The Healing Power of Generosity
David Fischman, Author of The Secret of the Seven Seeds
http://www.davidfischman.com/specialoffer
Have you already bought your plasma screen TV? Do you have an MP3 player to store your music? Technology puts amazing things within our reach nowadays. On a daily basis we have access to hundreds of ads for attractive, innovative products. But in this world where we are offered so much, we end up concentrating on our own needs and our next purchases. Norman MacEwan says: “We live a life with what we receive, but we make a life with what we give.” Many people spend their time “living” their lives, but few “make” their lives by giving generously. It is by no means easy to have a generous attitude in a society that urges you to focus on yourself and consume for yourself.
Nevertheless, balancing the effort to gratify ourselves with the desire to give generously has its advantages. Allan Lucks, in his book “The Healing Power of Doing Good” reports on his research with more than 3,000 volunteers from 20 organizations. Lucks discovered “the uplift of giving,” a physiological phenomenon produced in our body when we give and serve disinterestedly. Lucks found that after people have helped others, they experience a feeling of well-being and tranquility that counteract stress and tension. It is a fact that disinterested service helps people to stay healthier, both physically and mentally. Another study carried out in Tecumseh, Michigan with 2,700 persons found that those who constantly did volunteer work had a mortality rate 2.5 times lower than those who didn’t. In other words, generosity heals, reduces stress, and gives us tranquility and well-being.
Companies are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of generosity, and many have introduced volunteer schemes for their personnel. Some organizations, for example, “adopt” a government-run school, and the company’s personnel work to repair and refurbish it. Other companies “adopt” impoverished communities and help them along the way to development. In the United States there are organizations that even donate employee time –giving their employees one day off per month, for example, to do volunteer work in an NGO.
But generosity should not only be expressed in social assistance work. Generosity should be expressed in the office, in routine personal interactions. Dave Toycen, author of the book “The Power of Generosity,” mentions that a good measurement of people’s generosity is the way they relate to workers of lower rank in an organization. A generous person relates to his or her subordinates with humility.
Other ways of being generous at work are, for example: listening carefully to a colleague; recognizing and thanking persons in the organization; sharing our knowledge and experience with others; or, simply, being attentive and friendly when dealing with a customer.
The story is told that a certain farmer was always winning first prize in the corn harvest. At the beginning of the sowing season, he would always share his best seeds with the other farmers in the valley. One day they asked him: “Why do you share your best seeds? Why don’t you keep them for yourself?” He answered: “I don’t do it only to help my neighbor – I do to help myself, too. My corn will be pollinated by the bees and the wind from other fields. If the other fields have poor quality corn, sooner or later the quality of my own corn will go down.”
It is the same in life. We are all interconnected, even though society tries to persuade us the opposite. If we are generous, we will be pollinating the seeds of goodness in other individuals, and we will eventually create a better society for us all.
David Fischman, Author of The Secret of the Seven Seeds
On November 21st David Fischman and a group of the world’s leading experts are sharing their response to “What is the secret of success?” as a bonus offering for anyone who invests in one copy of The Secret of the Seven Seeds.
http://www.davidfischman.com/specialoffer
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