Are you making sure you have all you are entitled to?

A short time ago, I was triggered by a major hospital charity asking for money.

My UK generation has accepted healthcare, free at the point of delivery, as a right for us. Something we are entitled to. Why should I donate to a charity supporting a hospital?

It was later that day, that Captain Sir Tom Moore’s death was announced. A man who had raised thirty-three million pounds to support the National Health Service. I was ashamed of my stingy heart and reluctance to donate to our local hospital charity.

It made me question the substance of entitlement. A word defiantly staked out in so many places. What are we entitled to in return for our work, in pay and benefits? It is certainly wise to be sure of that. When we make a contract, the signatories are clear of the responsibilities of delivering what is promised. Be sure. Check it and save misunderstandings.

But what about things which come into our lives without a contract, perhaps with a social norm or moral ethic?

How clear then, is our entitlement? And if we have entitlement must we take it up?

Pushing to take full entitlement can leave us in a ‘fight' mode, our adrenaline flowing and pumping us up, confirming that right has been done to us. We can have heightened our stress hormones that shape our level of aggression. And built a wall around us.

What if we use a principle of leaving fringes around our rights, space for others to share and a common area for diversity and equality in community? We can raise our feel good chemicals of dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin without medication.

We can move from a small corner of meanness to expanded awareness of all our fellow travelers. And we can provide ourselves with a warm calm of wellbeing.

#flourish #bekind #wellbeing