Giving And Forgiving Is The Key To Happiness
If I have to name the two most difficult things humans do, they will be giving and forgiving. I am not talking about providing a change from my pocket or forgiving someone who accidentally bumped into me. I am talking about giving someone something very dear to us or forgiving someone who has done damage to us, or even forgiving ourselves is one of the most challenging things to do.
A long time ago, two friends showed up in front of a philosopher/scholar to learn something. One of them served water from door to door to earn a living, and the other owned a business and was wealthy. The scholar asked the guests to introduce themselves and what they want from him. So they both introduced themselves as friends and told the scholar that they were there to learn something. When the scholar heard that, he laughed out loud. Both friends looked at each other and then looked at the scholar with a question; why did you laugh both asked simultaneously?. The scholar replied that how could you two be friends when one of you enjoys the riches while the other is living hand to mouth?
It is not about just giving away our wealth to the other to become a legend or feel better about ourselves, but what I mean is giving away to help and create a difference in others' lives. When we believe in abundance, giving does not just stop giving change to help someone or cut off the friendship because the wealth does not match. However, we can argue that we can share how we do business, or help them with some skill that can help them get better, or anything else that can help them get better in their life; especially, if we genuinely want someone to do well. Instead of telling them penciled success stories with all errors removed, let us share the reality of success with them and see if they can do it as well. Do we not believe in abundance? Is it too painful to watch a friend grow or anyone that we know? Giving any kind is good, but when we add empathy to the recipe, the entire game changes. Because sympathy might allow us to provide others with our pocket change; however, empathy allows us to help the person flourish. It allows us to share our real powers with others without looking down on them. And the more we offer, the better we can get at it.
The other tricky part for us humans to do is forgiving. Often when we refer to forgiving, we think about forgiving others. However, this also includes forgiving ourselves. Often, we are harsher towards ourselves than others if they had done the same thing. My friends, we all are humans, and we all make mistakes. It is understandable that we try to avoid errors and do not want to be wrong; however, life takes us through a roller coaster ride. Sometimes things are in our control, but most are not. And it is essential to understand that blaming ourselves for something does not make things better for us or others around us. When we are sad and angry from the inside, it affects every aspect of our life, whether we realize it or not. We often cause more damage to ourselves and others just because we have not forgiven ourselves, and a lot of times, we do not even realize that we cannot forgive others because we have not forgiven ourselves. While we try to be kind to others, let us try to be kind to ourselves as well.
My friends, we all grow together. Let us try to be more giving and forgiving.
I love you all