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Hello, this is Sabrina Amina and I'm sharing the feelings pod with you. Thank

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you so much for listening and tuning in. This week's episode is about generosity

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and humility and the last time I did I think an episode about patience when I

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did the episode about patience one of the questions was asking I was asking is

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you know are you know personality like traits or these these kinds of

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characteristics are they are they related to the realm of emotions and yes but I

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think it's really interesting to think about how they're related so while

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humility isn't necessarily an emotion it is a quality of being that brings up

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emotion and the same goes with generosity it's a characteristic a

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personality trait and so when I think about generosity when I think about

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patience when I think about humility these are all characteristics I think

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that we generally strive towards perhaps at least I do at least I'd like to think I

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do most of the time so when I'm moving towards being more patient being more

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generous having more humility this is an energy of expansion it increases the

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amount of joy that I experience in my life so these qualities of being really are

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ways that we can increase joy in our life so when I so when I talk about

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patience when I talk about generosity when I talk about humility I suppose as

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I'm speaking the realization that's coming to me is that as we cultivate

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these kinds of ways of being our capacity for joy connection love expands

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so why am I thinking specifically about generosity and humility this week well

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because for over 200 days now Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza and

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this witnessing these atrocities since October we're now in the month of May

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almost June witnessing the unfathomable suffering of our brothers and sisters in

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Gaza has prompted many of us certainly me to reflect on how am I living my life in

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a way of what am I contributing essentially what do I have to offer in

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the face of darkness in the face of intense grief and sadness and pain and

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rage and frustration how do we resource ourselves and essentially it's by

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returning to for me it's been returning to this idea of when I feel incredibly

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helpless what is it that I have to offer what are the abundant gifts that

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exist that are easily within my reach that I can offer another for the sake of

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not only helping someone else but essentially in an effort to help another

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ease their pain or suffering I am easing my own pain and suffering I am giving my

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self a sense of release a sense of relief from this idea this major sigh up

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that we're fed in a capitalist system that the individual is hopeless and

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helpless and is only is and is limited in their capacity to create change in

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their access to power and so I've been really asking myself and sitting with

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myself and wondering what what what do I have to offer what can I do how can I

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notice moments when I feel despair and not just be completely swallowed whole

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by the depth of grief and one of the things that has helped me is you know

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this desire to offer something this this quality of generosity is about really

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giving with a sense of from from this place of abundance true generosity in

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my in my view is really the ability to give without really expecting anything

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in return in fact the experience of in the experience of giving you you give to

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yourself giving giving to another is a gift to yourself and I'd even take that

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to stuff further giving there nothing is lost when we offer our gifts in abundance

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and generosity there's this idea again I'll tie it to capitalism that there

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should be an exchange this this quid this quid pro quo this idea that I give you

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something I should get back in return so the reason I'm linking humility to

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generosity is because if you're giving from a place where you feel like you're

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owed something in return there there's there's a lack of in integrity there I

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would argue I would argue that in order to really truly give from a place of

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abundance and care and from a generative place we have to let go of our

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attachments to this idea that I need to know where this is going and like the

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way a lot of people justify not giving charity for example is they'll make this

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argument that like oh he's they're just gonna use it for XYZ or that's just

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they're just like running a scam we're like with this kind of view this like

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view of suspicion so like clearly generosity doesn't exist there like

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there's an unwillingness to give and so we try to justify that or ease the guilt

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of not wanting to give by saying there's something essentially wrong with the

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act of giving so for example a really simple example that I see all the time

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is folks who are folks who say oh you shouldn't give somebody who's begging

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for money on the street you shouldn't give them money because you're really

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not helping them or you know they're probably just gonna use it for whatever

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like oh sex drugs rock and roll who the fuck no oh I think that was the first

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time I dropped an F bomb on my podcast but here we are maybe not anyway I won't

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let it take me off track generosity humility

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yeah generosity and humility go hand-in-hand because when you give you

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give from a place of love and abundance and non-attachment you give freely that

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is really the spirit of generosity so why am I bringing this up and what does

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this have to do with Gaza I think maybe that's quite clear I've like I share a

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lot on my social media about lately about GoFundMe campaigns people

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literally desperately trying to escape genocide trying to escape their

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murderers and so you know I've had so many folks from Gaza reach out to me

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asking me can you please share my campaign you know can you please help

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raise awareness can you please like let people know I'm desperately trying to

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get my family out and in fact when when someone has the courage to set aside

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their ego to set aside their pride when some to set aside the fear of rejection

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when someone has the courage with humility to ask for support to ask for

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assistance to ask for help in fact that's a gift I see that as a gift

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anytime someone asks me for help I see it as a gift not not any time I mean

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sometimes I see it as a burden if I'm being quite honest not in this

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particular scenario but sometimes someone in my day-to-day life will ask me

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for something and annoyance will come up because the thing that's being asked of

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me is not something that I want to give so in in the case of my Palestinian

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brothers and sisters I can't give enough no matter what I do no matter what I say

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no matter what I share no matter how much I donate I have this sense that I am I

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have to do more you know it's this which I have to check sometimes because we in

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order to give generously we have to be able to be fully resourced we have to

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be able to give from a place of abundance like and so the step of giving

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generously with humility is I'm not owed anything the gift and it sounds

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cliche it sounds tripe and it's it's said time and time again but it truly the

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gift is in the giving the gift is in recognizing wow I am in a state of

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abundance I am in a state of having something that I can offer to someone

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that can really impact their lives in a meaningful way and what a gift it is

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that that I'm in a position to give but at the same time I'm I'm receiving and in

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Islam we view charity as a kind of spiritual protection it's this energetic

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exchange that you know all of the you know we have a myriad of ways that

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abundance exists in our lives you know simply by if you can think of something

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as simple as the air we breathe there is it infinitely abundant supply of air

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that I breathe into my lungs of life giving oxygen that in every moment I

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breathe into my lungs

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how can I use this breath to create more abundance in my life

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we are at home on this abundant earth that holds us and carries us and feeds

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us and nourishes us and nurtures us in so many ways

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I have the wealth of my health I have the wealth of my community my family I

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have the wealth of love in my life this abundant source of love that comes from

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within me and from without me from within and from without

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and yes I also have access to material abundance

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I have a home I have access to food I'm food secure my family is food secure I

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have access to medical services mental health services education this is where

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my power lies this is how I'm able to show up in the world and make a

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difference

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and from this place like it's easy to cultivate a spirit of generosity because

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it is humbling it is humbling to sit down and really mindfully be aware of

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the richness of our lives

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it is a gift to be able to give generously from a place of humility

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from a place of I give with love I give with generosity and I trust that what I

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give is going to the right place I'm not owed an explanation I'm not owed any

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receipts and I've noticed like I've noticed this like kind of individuals

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reaching out on on social media and asking me for a donation or asking me to

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share a campaign and you know it's exhausting to like go through the mental

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gymnastics of oh is this legit is this person running a scam is this person

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like that's like a scarcity mindset I choose to trust and be and of course like

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there's discernment but for the most part I would like to be a person who can

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offer from a place of generosity humility abundance care love

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and if something doesn't feel right if something feels off then that feeling of

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wanting to give it contracts and I listen to that I listen to where can I give but

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I also listen to is this where I want to give

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thanks for listening I hope you've enjoyed the episode and I hope it's

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giving you something new to think about in terms of generosity and humility and

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abundance and gratitude and hope in times of despair

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if you liked this episode please share it pass it along to somebody who you feel

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would also enjoy it you can also leave a review I am always delighted to hear

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from you and get your feedback if you'd like to connect with me more I'm on

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Instagram underscore Sabrina Amina underscore

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let's get into our practice for today find a comfortable seat we're gonna just

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do some mindful breathing for a couple of minutes find an easeful position allow

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the eyes to close and tune into the breath notice the inhale through your

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nose notice the belly fill and exhale allow yourself to really slow yourself

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down slow the body down with your breath with each breath move more slowly and

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more intentionally notice the flow of breath in your nose

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notice the expansion of your belly and as you breathe out notice the belly

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contract notice the feel of your breath as it leaves your body take a deep breath

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in and let it go take a deep breath in and let it go

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allow the body to be light imagine the head is floating towards the clouds and

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the shoulders gently melt down the back allow the jaw to relax allow all

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expression in your face to just melt away continuing to breathe deeply in and

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breathe out noticing the shoulders noticing the chest and the heart space

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place the hands gently over the heart and feel your heart breathe as you

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continue to breathe in and breathe out

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notice the belly take a deep breath in and breathe out notice the hips and the

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sit bones notice the support beneath you take a deep breath in and let it go

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notice your thighs

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your knees breathe in and breathe out

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continue to bring your awareness to your shins notice your calves notice your

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ankles breathe in and breathe out

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notice any kind of sensation in your feet notice the tops of your feet notice

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your heels notice the arches of your feet notice the very bottom of your feet

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notice your tent toes

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tuning into a bit of gratitude for the feet that ground us the feet that move

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us through this life the feet that help us balance take a deep breath in and

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exhale bringing the attention back to the heart space cultivating a sense of

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love expansion gratitude take a deep breath in and let it go

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and as we close the practice you can slowly come back to the room allow the

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eyes to flutter open looking at the space around you as if it's the very

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first time you've been here noticing with this quality of wonder and

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curiosity love and excitement what do you notice in this moment that you haven't

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noticed before and I invite you to set the intention to move through your day

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with this quality of presence notice the moments throughout your day when you can

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take a full deep breath and look around you with new eyes thank you so much for

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practicing with me I'm so grateful to be connected with you have a wonderful day