Hello, this is Sabrina Amina and I'm sharing the feelings pod with you. Thank
you so much for listening and tuning in. This week's episode is about generosity
and humility and the last time I did I think an episode about patience when I
did the episode about patience one of the questions was asking I was asking is
you know are you know personality like traits or these these kinds of
characteristics are they are they related to the realm of emotions and yes but I
think it's really interesting to think about how they're related so while
humility isn't necessarily an emotion it is a quality of being that brings up
emotion and the same goes with generosity it's a characteristic a
personality trait and so when I think about generosity when I think about
patience when I think about humility these are all characteristics I think
that we generally strive towards perhaps at least I do at least I'd like to think I
do most of the time so when I'm moving towards being more patient being more
generous having more humility this is an energy of expansion it increases the
amount of joy that I experience in my life so these qualities of being really are
ways that we can increase joy in our life so when I so when I talk about
patience when I talk about generosity when I talk about humility I suppose as
I'm speaking the realization that's coming to me is that as we cultivate
these kinds of ways of being our capacity for joy connection love expands
so why am I thinking specifically about generosity and humility this week well
because for over 200 days now Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza and
this witnessing these atrocities since October we're now in the month of May
almost June witnessing the unfathomable suffering of our brothers and sisters in
Gaza has prompted many of us certainly me to reflect on how am I living my life in
a way of what am I contributing essentially what do I have to offer in
the face of darkness in the face of intense grief and sadness and pain and
rage and frustration how do we resource ourselves and essentially it's by
returning to for me it's been returning to this idea of when I feel incredibly
helpless what is it that I have to offer what are the abundant gifts that
exist that are easily within my reach that I can offer another for the sake of
not only helping someone else but essentially in an effort to help another
ease their pain or suffering I am easing my own pain and suffering I am giving my
self a sense of release a sense of relief from this idea this major sigh up
that we're fed in a capitalist system that the individual is hopeless and
helpless and is only is and is limited in their capacity to create change in
their access to power and so I've been really asking myself and sitting with
myself and wondering what what what do I have to offer what can I do how can I
notice moments when I feel despair and not just be completely swallowed whole
by the depth of grief and one of the things that has helped me is you know
this desire to offer something this this quality of generosity is about really
giving with a sense of from from this place of abundance true generosity in
my in my view is really the ability to give without really expecting anything
in return in fact the experience of in the experience of giving you you give to
yourself giving giving to another is a gift to yourself and I'd even take that
to stuff further giving there nothing is lost when we offer our gifts in abundance
and generosity there's this idea again I'll tie it to capitalism that there
should be an exchange this this quid this quid pro quo this idea that I give you
something I should get back in return so the reason I'm linking humility to
generosity is because if you're giving from a place where you feel like you're
owed something in return there there's there's a lack of in integrity there I
would argue I would argue that in order to really truly give from a place of
abundance and care and from a generative place we have to let go of our
attachments to this idea that I need to know where this is going and like the
way a lot of people justify not giving charity for example is they'll make this
argument that like oh he's they're just gonna use it for XYZ or that's just
they're just like running a scam we're like with this kind of view this like
view of suspicion so like clearly generosity doesn't exist there like
there's an unwillingness to give and so we try to justify that or ease the guilt
of not wanting to give by saying there's something essentially wrong with the
act of giving so for example a really simple example that I see all the time
is folks who are folks who say oh you shouldn't give somebody who's begging
for money on the street you shouldn't give them money because you're really
not helping them or you know they're probably just gonna use it for whatever
like oh sex drugs rock and roll who the fuck no oh I think that was the first
time I dropped an F bomb on my podcast but here we are maybe not anyway I won't
let it take me off track generosity humility
yeah generosity and humility go hand-in-hand because when you give you
give from a place of love and abundance and non-attachment you give freely that
is really the spirit of generosity so why am I bringing this up and what does
this have to do with Gaza I think maybe that's quite clear I've like I share a
lot on my social media about lately about GoFundMe campaigns people
literally desperately trying to escape genocide trying to escape their
murderers and so you know I've had so many folks from Gaza reach out to me
asking me can you please share my campaign you know can you please help
raise awareness can you please like let people know I'm desperately trying to
get my family out and in fact when when someone has the courage to set aside
their ego to set aside their pride when some to set aside the fear of rejection
when someone has the courage with humility to ask for support to ask for
assistance to ask for help in fact that's a gift I see that as a gift
anytime someone asks me for help I see it as a gift not not any time I mean
sometimes I see it as a burden if I'm being quite honest not in this
particular scenario but sometimes someone in my day-to-day life will ask me
for something and annoyance will come up because the thing that's being asked of
me is not something that I want to give so in in the case of my Palestinian
brothers and sisters I can't give enough no matter what I do no matter what I say
no matter what I share no matter how much I donate I have this sense that I am I
have to do more you know it's this which I have to check sometimes because we in
order to give generously we have to be able to be fully resourced we have to
be able to give from a place of abundance like and so the step of giving
generously with humility is I'm not owed anything the gift and it sounds
cliche it sounds tripe and it's it's said time and time again but it truly the
gift is in the giving the gift is in recognizing wow I am in a state of
abundance I am in a state of having something that I can offer to someone
that can really impact their lives in a meaningful way and what a gift it is
that that I'm in a position to give but at the same time I'm I'm receiving and in
Islam we view charity as a kind of spiritual protection it's this energetic
exchange that you know all of the you know we have a myriad of ways that
abundance exists in our lives you know simply by if you can think of something
as simple as the air we breathe there is it infinitely abundant supply of air
that I breathe into my lungs of life giving oxygen that in every moment I
breathe into my lungs
how can I use this breath to create more abundance in my life
we are at home on this abundant earth that holds us and carries us and feeds
us and nourishes us and nurtures us in so many ways
I have the wealth of my health I have the wealth of my community my family I
have the wealth of love in my life this abundant source of love that comes from
within me and from without me from within and from without
and yes I also have access to material abundance
I have a home I have access to food I'm food secure my family is food secure I
have access to medical services mental health services education this is where
my power lies this is how I'm able to show up in the world and make a
difference
and from this place like it's easy to cultivate a spirit of generosity because
it is humbling it is humbling to sit down and really mindfully be aware of
the richness of our lives
it is a gift to be able to give generously from a place of humility
from a place of I give with love I give with generosity and I trust that what I
give is going to the right place I'm not owed an explanation I'm not owed any
receipts and I've noticed like I've noticed this like kind of individuals
reaching out on on social media and asking me for a donation or asking me to
share a campaign and you know it's exhausting to like go through the mental
gymnastics of oh is this legit is this person running a scam is this person
like that's like a scarcity mindset I choose to trust and be and of course like
there's discernment but for the most part I would like to be a person who can
offer from a place of generosity humility abundance care love
and if something doesn't feel right if something feels off then that feeling of
wanting to give it contracts and I listen to that I listen to where can I give but
I also listen to is this where I want to give
thanks for listening I hope you've enjoyed the episode and I hope it's
giving you something new to think about in terms of generosity and humility and
abundance and gratitude and hope in times of despair
if you liked this episode please share it pass it along to somebody who you feel
would also enjoy it you can also leave a review I am always delighted to hear
from you and get your feedback if you'd like to connect with me more I'm on
Instagram underscore Sabrina Amina underscore
let's get into our practice for today find a comfortable seat we're gonna just
do some mindful breathing for a couple of minutes find an easeful position allow
the eyes to close and tune into the breath notice the inhale through your
nose notice the belly fill and exhale allow yourself to really slow yourself
down slow the body down with your breath with each breath move more slowly and
more intentionally notice the flow of breath in your nose
notice the expansion of your belly and as you breathe out notice the belly
contract notice the feel of your breath as it leaves your body take a deep breath
in and let it go take a deep breath in and let it go
allow the body to be light imagine the head is floating towards the clouds and
the shoulders gently melt down the back allow the jaw to relax allow all
expression in your face to just melt away continuing to breathe deeply in and
breathe out noticing the shoulders noticing the chest and the heart space
place the hands gently over the heart and feel your heart breathe as you
continue to breathe in and breathe out
notice the belly take a deep breath in and breathe out notice the hips and the
sit bones notice the support beneath you take a deep breath in and let it go
notice your thighs
your knees breathe in and breathe out
continue to bring your awareness to your shins notice your calves notice your
ankles breathe in and breathe out
notice any kind of sensation in your feet notice the tops of your feet notice
your heels notice the arches of your feet notice the very bottom of your feet
notice your tent toes
tuning into a bit of gratitude for the feet that ground us the feet that move
us through this life the feet that help us balance take a deep breath in and
exhale bringing the attention back to the heart space cultivating a sense of
love expansion gratitude take a deep breath in and let it go
and as we close the practice you can slowly come back to the room allow the
eyes to flutter open looking at the space around you as if it's the very
first time you've been here noticing with this quality of wonder and
curiosity love and excitement what do you notice in this moment that you haven't
noticed before and I invite you to set the intention to move through your day
with this quality of presence notice the moments throughout your day when you can
take a full deep breath and look around you with new eyes thank you so much for
practicing with me I'm so grateful to be connected with you have a wonderful day