Selfish Generosity

My job is full on, stressful and frustrating. My goal is to protect the data of the customers of my company, keeping their private information safe and yet I have to battle with others and their own goals. Not everyone in my company has the same priority list that I do, which means when what I believe is important does not get prioritised I can be left feeling angry, jaded and disappointed.

However one of these days, after starting my workday at my local cafe, getting annoyed at seeing what is important to me sacrificed on the altar of feature development, I drove home to do some deep work. Arriving home, I saw that my bin had been emptied and that my neighbours was still out as well, as they do not work from home. I was about to walk past, just dragging my bin in, but I stopped to also take theirs up their driveway and put it away. The reason for this was a choice I made to not let my foul mood and frustrating circumstance stop me from being a good neighbour.

After doing this, I did feel better, those emotions were still there, but not as potent because I made the choice to be generous in my negativity. Being generous often makes us feel better, when we are making the choice to give freely to those with our time, our finances, our possessions or our attention. It is a choice to be loving and neighbourly, so when we make that decision in the midst of our own turmoil or pain, it lifts our head just a little bit from looking down at our problems to up at those around us.

So when we are in the pit of frustration, despair or whatever negative circumstance we are in, I think we can selfishly choose to be generous in order to lift up our gaze a little bit. We are being generous, but also selfish at the same time, knowing that by choosing to be kind, we are blessing not only another person but also ourselves, reminding us that while we are in a bad spot, we are still able to choose who we are.

So give it a try, when you are feeling overwhelmed, pissed off or just down, be kind, give someone a hug, choose to serve someone else or whatever generous idea comes to mind. Choose to be loving despite your circumstances, and you may just find your circumstances seem a little smaller than they were before.