“They say the true meaning of Christmas is not receiving but giving.
Today, look for opportunities to be generous.”
These are the first 2 sentences of today’s activity from the mindfulness advent calendar that my sister gave me. Full disclosure, when she gave it to me I was so excited I had to forbid myself to start it until Dec. 1st, which means I promptly forgot about it until this morning, Dec 13th. Now I get to do 2 per day to catch up, a crash course in mindfulness if you will.
But despite the background to how I came across this quote, it struck me. It sounds cliche and without the second sentence attached to it, I may have breezed right over it. But as fate would have it, one of my core values, my core beliefs, is generosity is never wasted.
The value of generosity is in the giving of it. If this is true, then it can never be wasted because it doesn’t rely on the appreciation of the recipient to make it valuable. It doesn’t require the recipient to use the act of kindness wisely.
Being generous affects the person being generous. ‘
Ironically, despite helping people all day long we can miss out on the feeling of generosity if we aren’t mindful (aka intentionally thinking about it). This isn’t to diminish the good that we do by helping others by working in healthcare, generosity can be separate from that.
We can use generosity to support ourselves, to restore ourselves from the speed and overwhelm of the season.
Reviewing the definition of “generous” can shed some light on the difference of generosity vs. helping.
Generous: showing a readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected.
Being generous is going beyond what is expected.
So back to the recommendation of looking for opportunities to be generous. How can you be generous today?
With a kind word?
With stopping to listen to someone when you had something planned for that time?
Financially?
Letting someone who is rushing go ahead of you in line?
Sending an out of the blue text to someone thanking them or telling them you appreciate them?
Helping a coworker if they are overwhelmed?
Holding the door for someone even if it means you wait an extra minute?
Helping someone lift something into their car?
It doesn’t have to be money. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or energy.
And yet, it can bolster our resilience as we look for opportunities to be the good. Being generous increases the production of serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin… the feel-good chemicals in our brains.
Generosity is never wasted, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.
Give yourself the gift of being generous.
Give yourself the gift of feeling better. You don’t have to accept being exhausted or frustrated just because you work as a nurse Schedule a time here (or DM me) to have an hour where we can figure this out together.
#nursingbeyondthejob #nursecoach #nurseburnout #worksatisfaction #resilience #nurseselfcare #happyatwork #healthcarereform #selfbelief #nurse #emotionalmastery #feelbetter
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