Generosity

The book I have been reading - Braiding Sweet Grass and the research I have been doing on neoliberalism in education has made me reflect on generosity a lot. 

 I think capitalism perpetuates this idea of scarcity so that we consume more. Take more. It creates greed. It has to - the economy depends on people buying things, the more the better. 

But I think that makes us feel as though we’re in a constant state of lacking. That we’re not sufficient.  

And I think this sense of insufficiency kills generosity. 

It creates competition and greed instead.  

What if we created a feeling of abundance and generosity? The feeling that we have more than enough. That we are sufficient? Because I imagine a lot of us are sufficient, despite marketing’s best attempts to tell us otherwise. 

Abundance. That’s a state that feels good. And a lot of psychology research suggests that giving also feels good. 

Could we be more generous in our assumptions? More generous with other people? More generous with ourselves? 

I think of this like widening the goal posts. Giving ourselves and others more room to change, to make mistakes. Being accommodating, of our thoughts, feelings, sensations. 

Yoga often speaks about a state of non-attachment. If we feel as though there is abundance, and we feel generous, then I think this facilitates non-attachment. We don’t need to grip and cling to things, we can easily let them pass.  

I don’t think many people benefit from greed and competition.  

I think many people benefit from generosity.