Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, is reported to have said that giving brings happiness at evert stage of its expression.
We experience joy in forming the intension to be generous, we experience joy in the actual act of giving something, and we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.
Thanksgiving Day can be hectic and filled with anxiety. But for your own health, I hope you will find time to recall experiences of generosity, both given and received, that have occurred for you over this last year.
Giving everyone in your family a chance to do the same is not a bad Thanksgiving ritual.
Generosity of spirit – giving of yourself to those around you – is one of the cardinal marks of being fully alive.
I hope that your experience of Thanksgiving Day this year is bathed in the joy that generosity brings.
This is Dr. Scott Morris for Church Health.