Generosity, Gratitude & Grace
Giving from Heart-Centered Connection
Generosity
What we give…gifts, time, love…often
Gratitude
How we thank…smile, hug, pray…always
Grace
How we behave (and receive)…with elegance, refinement, poise…effortlessly
Life is filled with opportunities – to give…gifts, thanks, grace.
Opportunities
How often are you aware of the multiple times each day when you have an opportunity to give? And to receive?
Perhaps you are presented with an interaction (planned or unplanned), a request, a gift (expected or unexpected). Maybe someone, a colleague, friend, or child, needs help or your listening ear…a stranger needs your soft glance and smile.
No matter the opportunity, we can consider how we would like to respond.
Generously
Gratefully
Gracefully
Can you see yourself responding to others, to circumstances that occur each day…Generously…Gratefully…Gracefully?
Attachment…Letting Go
The cultivation of awareness is a process, a practice. But when our awareness is developed, fine-tuned…we come by opportunities to give more openly, without attachment.
Holding, grasping, attaching strongly to outcomes, time, things…causes tension in mind and body.
It’s taken me a long time to learn how to let go, how to not hold such strong attachments to things, people, outcomes…tight control. And the learning is ongoing, as I consider myself to be a work-in-progress in the area of developing this skill.
Can you remember a situation where you’ve been asked to give something you didn’t feel prepared or willing to give? Who was involved? What was the situation, the environment where the request was made?
What or how did your body feel and where might you have felt sensations of holding, tension, attachment, discomfort, irritation…something else?
Opening…Softening…Giving
To give the gift of patience or time…to offer thanks for the blessings in life…to flow with ease through your day…all can be done harmoniously, happily, heartily when connected to a heart that is open and soft…unattached, not holding or grasping on to outcomes, things...
Connecting to your heart, intuition
Filling your heart with generosity, gratitude, grace…may first require a softening of tension, a softening from prior hurts and sadnesses.
Moving through the world with a heart open to sweetness, delight, caring, kindness, love…and even an openness to the unknown…comes from developing a connection to the heart.
Connecting to the heart…
comes from moments of silence and stillness…moments where you are able to soften the world around you, soften the tensions held in body and mind.
allows you to connect to your intuition…to know what feels good and right and possible for you in any given moment.
creates in you a spirit of generosity…aware of how much you have to give…be it a material gift, patience, time, love…and gifts that can be received from another.
opens you to the ability to give thanks…there are always moments where gratitude can be offered.
fills you with your inherent state of grace…God-given, needed by us all.
Although we often go to the gut for feeling or knowing when we discuss intuition…can you also pause here to sense that intuition stems from the heart?!
Maintaining Balance
The act of giving, in itself, creates a balancing…because when we give we also receive.
At the same time, it is important to remember…
During times of consistent giving (like motherhood!), we must not neglect the need for balance in order to stay connected to a heart of gratitude and generosity. Balance so we do not lose steam, become depleted, or forget our connection to the heart…to God.
So we ask for grace…for how and when to move forward, to give, to know we are on the right path…to understand the best way to give our time, talents, and treasures.
What easy, simple gifts can you give today that will allow you to be in a state of balance…to be both the give and receiver?
a smile
a hug
a prayer
hope
Dear Lord ~ Share with me
Your path…I will follow
Your breath…I will pray
Your water…I will cleanse
Your energy…I will serve
Final thoughts…
In this month of love…May you approach each day, each loved one, each moment with a soft, open heart…filled with generosity, gratitude, and grace!
And…Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
xoxo Michelle 🩷
