Things That Work / Generosity

 

Neil Thomas

Just in time for Christmas

Christmastime is a time of generosity. Giving is always way up at this time of year. Afterall the weeks leading up to Christmas are reminders of the Hope, Peace, Love and Joy promised by the prophets. 

Vocabulary.com defines generosity as a quality that's a lot like unselfishness. Someone showing generosity is happy to give time, money, food, or kindness to people in need. Generosity is a quality — like honesty and patience — that we all probably wish we had more of.

Generosityforlife.org points out generosity can be actualized through various forms of giving. Generous activities include: monetary donations, volunteering, political action, blood donation, estate giving, lending possessions, sustainability giving, [and] relational generosity.”

What are the characteristics that define a generous person? 

5 Qualities of Generous People

• Altruism. First and foremost, generous people are altruistic. ...
• Optimism. Generous people are idealists. ...
• Trust. Trust is a major quality amongst the most generous people. ...
• Energy. When you think of people being generous, energy is one of the first things that come to mind. ...
• Ability to lead.

The Ability to Lead

“The single most important attribute of leadership is generosity.” – Jack Welch

As a generous leader give of your time rather than just money, and seek out the opportunity to fuel the success of others. -johneads for learnloft.com

The other thing you should know, generosity is a year round thing, not just for the holidays. 

Generosity starts with our own generosity. Think about it. We cannot control the generosity of others. We have no control over what they do, but we can lead by example. 

I found this at restavekfreedom.org, generosity begets generosity, meaning that it is contagious and easily caught. Having generous friends and neighbors can rub off and inspire you to be more generous. Likewise, being a generous community member will impact not only those who receive, but increase the nature of generosity in your circles of influence.

It worked in all those radio fund drives I participated in. One call would lead to other calls, and at times, a cascade of calls. Those of us on the receiving end needed to make sure we showed our gratitude. And we were thankful for the first call and all the calls that followed. The acknowledgement of support, is as important as the act of giving.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

President Barack Obama

Things That Work / Diversity

 

Matheus Vianna

Reaching Our Full Potential

As I grow older I've grown to appreciate diversity and understand it's value. Most people in my age group seem to have gone the other way. It seems as we grow older we seek out the familiar and shun diversity. It is possible I'm wrong about this, but there is support for my supposition. In an article published by Psychology Today, "Why Are People Older More Conservative," Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic Ph.D. explains why people become more right-wing, authoritarian and rigid as they age. There are three factors:

Personality - intellectual curiosity tends to decline in old age

Judgement - Our ability to process information declines as we get older. "Older people are also more likely to make categorical judgments about events, things, or people. This often involves acting in more prejudiced ways – to pre-judge means to judge before really judging – because in older ages preserving old knowledge is more important than acquiring new knowledge.

Familiarity - Dealing with the familiar is so much easier than dealing with something new and seemingly unusual. 

Diversity generates change, and that's a good thing.

Greater Good Magazine says diversity makes us smarter. 

Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, diligent, and hard-working.

• Diversity provokes thinking.
• Diversity leads to change, for the better.
• Diversity creates growth.
• Diversity leads to a more inclusive society. People become valued for their ideas.
• Diversity leads to increased adaptability in a changing market.
• Diversity prompt us to work harder.

Diversity requires us to get out of our bubbles. We tend to reinforce our opnions by insulating ourselves with ourselves. If everybody around me thinks like me, there's no motivation for change, there's no motivation for progress.

"This is how diversity works: by promoting hard work and creativity; by encouraging the consideration of alternatives even before any interpersonal interaction takes place. The pain associated with diversity can be thought of as the pain of exercise. You have to push yourself to grow your muscles. The pain, as the old saw goes, produces the gain. In just the same way, we need diversity—in teams, organizations, and society as a whole—if we are to change, grow, and innovate." Greatergood.berkley.edu

Embrace the change. I'm convinced it is the only way forward.

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” – Maya Angelou

Going to Bed Hungry

 

Tucker Tangeman

It is getting worse

2022: a year of unprecedented hunger
As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. The number of those facing acute food insecurity has soared - from 135 million to 345 million - since 2019. A total of 49 million people in 49 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.

https://www.wfp.org › global-hung...

A global food crisis | World Food Programme

What Causes Hunger?

Inequity.
Poverty.
Conflict.
Climate Change.
Disasters & Emergencies.

How much does it cost to end world hunger?

How much money could help end world hunger? Oxfam says current estimates suggest that as of this year, we need wealthy donor governments to invest around $37 billion every year until 2030 to tackle both extreme and chronic hunger.

Concern Worldwide US came up with nine world hunger solutions to get us to 2030.

1. Embrace Climate Smart Agriculture
2. Respond to the Refugee Crisis
3. Advocate for Gender Equality
4. Reduce Food Waste
5. Invest is Disaster Risk Reduction
6. Support Hygiene and Sanitation
7. Control Infestations and Crop Infections
8. Enhance Crops with Biofortification
9. Improving Food Storage Systems


Mahatma Gandhi, on feeding the hungry
“There's enough on this planet for everyone's needs but not for everyone's greed.” “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” What is this? “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”

Things That Work / Belonging

 

Jon Tyson

Belonging Is Important

Being a part of something was so important to my development. It's a natural desire. The people I identified with provided opportunities for growth, learning, societal skills, and reinforcement. And, this is coming from an introvert. I don't need a lot of external stimulus for motivation, but going it alone was never a healthy alternative. I still seek out social interaction as I did then. 

Remember "I Am Rock" by Simon and Garfunkel? The defiance of the loner? 

I have my books

And my poetry to protect me

I am shielded in my armor

Hiding in my room safe within my womb

I touch no one and no one touches me

I am a rock I am an island

And then, reflectively, as the song ends.

And a rock feels no pain

And an island never cries

The Mayo Clinic put it this way:

The social ties that accompany a sense of belonging are a protective factor helping manage stress and other behavioral issues. When we feel we have support and are not alone, we are more resilient, often coping more effectively with difficult times in our lives.Dec 8, 2021 mayoclinic

My Question Life came up with five reasons why belonging is important. 

 1. Improved Physical Health 

Countless studies have proven that belonging can decrease blood pressure, enhance bodily performance, and increase odds of recovery from surgery or disease.

2. Reduced Stress

Maintaining secure connections cues positive hormones in our bodies, helping us to feel better.

3. Increased Life Expectancy

A sense of belonging actually improves our physical health; it also reduces our stress – two important factors in living a long, healthy life. For all the ailments, sicknesses, and recoveries we’re going to face, the support and care for others will quite literally inspire us to get better faster.

4. Higher Self-Esteem

Having a strong sense of belonging allows us to feel like we matter to others.

5. Decreased Anxiety and Depression

It’s no surprise that, with all the physical benefits of relationships, there would be mental benefits, as well.

So I remember when we were driving

Driving in your car
Speed so fast, it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I-I had a feeling that I belonged
I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone -Tracy Chapman

It got me to thinking, what if management was required to encouraged belonging? It happens, I've felt it. Those jobs were the most rewarding. I felt valued. What I thought mattered. If more of this was done, there would be more value to all our lives, and we would value those around us...And less #quietquitting.

Don't Give Up

 I found this quite by mistake. I was searching for answers on why people give. As with most of us, I've given up and regretted it later. The saving grace, I've learned from my mistakes.

A primary reason for quiting?  Not realizing how gifted we really are. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Never Give Up on Your Goals

• It's Been Done Before. Whatever your goal may be, you've surely seen plenty of examples of others achieving it. ...
• It's Not a Race. ...
• Setbacks Are Lessons. ...
• You're Tougher Than You Think. ...
• Failure Does Not Exist.

Aug 19, 2022

https://firsthand.co › career-readiness

5 Reasons Why You Should Never Give Up on Your Goals - Firsthand

So...why do most people give? It's because they were asked. 

Disrupted

Piotr Cichosz

Disruptive technology isn't always sustainable.

Take, for example, Alexa. Amazon sells its device at cost and with more than 10,000 employees working on the project, it is bleeding cash. Amazon's devices and services unit, which oversees Alexa, had an annual operating loss of $5 billion in recent years, according to a report earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal.

Innovators have failed before, and it may be too soon to deem Alexa a failure, but yearly losses in the billions sure seems like a lot to overcome. But, they are not alone, Siri and Google Assistant are having problems. The idea behind Alexa was that people would buy products suggested by Alexa through Amazon.  Popular Science reports that didn't work out. They go on to say,  A rake of privacy scandals certainly didn’t help and, despite Alexa getting roughly a billion user interactions per week in 2018, they were mostly simple requests to play music or deliver a weather report. Not exactly the kind of asks that can easily be monetized. That year, it lost almost $5 billion.

The problem, Alexa is a stand alone speaker. Siri and Google come standard on smart devices. And the result; Alexa is the third most popular voice assistant. It's hard to compete that way. Amazon announced 10,000 layoffs. Forbes says, The cuts will primarily focus on money-draining units, such as Amazon voice-assistant Alexa and ebook-reader Kindle.

So, what happens when the disruptor gets disrupted by an economic reality? Other innovations and  innovators take over. The market is littered with innovative failures. Here are four from Under 30 CEO.

With the exception of Windows Vista, I'm not sure I remember any of these.

• Facebook Phone
• Navdy
• Windows Vista
• Nike+ Fuel Band

In my world, broadcasting, there's been several innovations cast aside on the media highway.

• AM Stereo
• Quad FM
• HD Radio
• Beta Max 
• 3D TV
• Digital Audio Tape (R-DAT)

Then again, maybe the next big thing wasn't really measuring up to expectations. 

Did you buy any of these? I did. I bought a Beta Max.

Things That Work / Thank You

 

Two Simple Words

Saying thank you is simple really. In my youth It was part of the magic words, please, thank you, and I added you're welcome. For me it was an acknowledgement I received the message.

Being thankful is shown to make us more positive, more resilient and improve our relationships too. People who regularly take time to notice and note the things they're thankful for, experience more positive emotions, sleep better, and express more compassion and kindness toward others.  20, 2021 cleanspace.com

Newsela.com points out, saying thank you goes beyond beyond being polite. Recent research in social psychology suggests that saying "thank you" goes beyond good manners. It also serves to build and maintain social relationships. Prakash Joshi Pax points out in an article published in Medium in 2020 it's an attitude of gratitude. 

He's come up with 5 Reasons Why Saying ‘Thank You’ Is So Important for Everyone.  

#1: It is the simplest form of expressing gratitude.

Saying thank you is the simplest form of expressing gratitude and the attitude of gratitude is what keeps us happy. Being grateful for what you have in life, even the smallest things bring more abundance and happiness in your life.

#2: People feel appreciated and loved.

Thanking others never makes you inferior. In fact, it shows a great sign of respect for another person, for his time and presence in your life. When you say ‘thank you’, people develop a feeling that they have done something to help you. This gives them inner happiness.

#3: Making others feel good brings good back to you in unpredictable ways.

When you make someone feel important and appreciated, you brighten up their days in the smallest of ways. And they are more likely to pass on that feeling to someone else. When you say than you, it also makes people more willing to do something for you again in the future.

#4: Saying thank you makes you happier and healthier.

Studies have confirmed that the simple act of saying ‘thank you’ can lead you to a happier life. When you express your thankfulness to others, it not only makes others feel great but also makes you feel great. It provides peace of mind and inner happiness.

#5: You bring abundance in your life.

When you say ‘thank you’, you attract that person or even other things. Think, for example, do your friends come around when you say thank you for their presence and every little effort or when you condemn and criticize them.

For the Ungrateful

For those of us who are ungrateful, the consequences could take on biblical proportions.

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace. The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice. Proverbs 18: 1-24

Then, there's always karma. 

Thanks for reading this