How Generous Are You?

http://www.ted.com/talks/sasha_dichter.html


How generous are we? The question can only be answered by each of us individually and it may not be as easy as we may think. We live our lives with every intent of being good citizens and great role models, but the reality is that many of us fall short of being the best we can be, learning more and sharing more. I’m taking it upon myself to become more generous than ever.

In Sasha Dichter’s video, The Generosity Experiment, he provides an inspiring experiment in which he says, “yes” to every request for help. Sasha’s goal was to learn how to stop saying “no”. He makes a great example of how many times we say “no” in our lives. Do we ever take notice to the amount of “no’s” adding up over time? After adding up all of the times we’ve said “no”, we now become people conditioned to say “no” more times than not with most things. Sasha inspires the audience to say “yes” with compassion and commitment. He concentrates his efforts on the poor and provides examples that can connect with everyone. He speaks of taking risks that most people won’t take. We’ve all heard someone make a comment about “taking the road of least resistance”, well Sasha commands the audience to take risks by asking the tough questions, being tough in business yet coupling our toughness with generosity.

Sasha’s speech, means a great deal to me because I don’t believe I’ve been the most generous I could’ve been in many events throughout my life. I believe being generous can be contagious which is why I’m committing to becoming more generous. Over the years, I’ve been asked to give of my time, energy, and money and have found every excuse not to. It was easy to do, I found myself traveling the path of least resistance. Wouldn’t be phenomenal if we ALL gave just a little bit more, time, energy and money to those that need it?