It is more blessed to give than to receive – Jesus
As the year comes to an end, this is usually the period where most people are filled with thanksgiving for another year almost coming to an end.
I am originally from Igbo-Ukwu – a town in Eastern Nigeria and while growing up, we looked forward to going back home to spend the Christmas and New Year Holidays. My siblings and I always looked forward to this time of the year. It was always a time of merriment and spending quality time with extended family members who also came home for different parts of the world. This time was characterized by visiting uncles and aunties who lived in the villages, my parents’ friends and taking part in various celebratory activities.
One annual activity that stood out for me was visiting the old people and the poor to give them gifts. My mother would have bought fabric, bags of rice, cartons of tomato puree, salt and other food staples. It was the children’s job to measure the rice into bags and divide other staples into packs. Each pack would contain some food staples and some fabric. Almost every day, we would visit and give those gifts to these less privileged people. It was always such a delight to see the recipients’ eyes light up, and some with tears of joy. Most of these people had no living relatives or very were poor.
This tradition stayed with me for a very long time, and will frequently send money when I lived outside Nigeria for my mum to buy gifts and give to those people on my behalf. Sadly, this annual practice stopped because somehow I forgot about it because of the busyness of life – again the important but not urgent activities.
Most scholars (religious, academicians, scientists,) all agree about the many benefits of giving. Some of which include:
Giving makes us happy – A 2008 study by Harvard Business School found that giving money to someone else lifted participants’ happiness more that spending it on themselves (despite participants’ prediction that spending on themselves would make them happier). A Happiness expert & a professor of psychology saw similar results when she asked people to perform five acts of kindness each week for six weeks.
Giving is good for our health. A wide range of research has linked different forms of generosity to better health, even among the sick and elderly. Researchers suggest that one reason giving may improve physical health and longevity is that it helps decrease stress, which is associated with a variety of health problems. In a 2006 study by two researchers in Johns Hopkins University and University of Tennessee, people who provided social support to others had lower blood pressure than participants who didn’t, suggesting a direct physiological benefit to those who give of themselves.
Giving evokes gratitude. Whether you’re on the giving or receiving end of a gift, that gift can elicit feelings of gratitude—it can be a way of expressing gratitude or instilling gratitude in the recipient. And research has found that gratitude is integral to happiness, health, and social bonds.
Giving is contagious. When we give, we don’t only help the immediate recipient of our gift. We also spur a ripple effect of generosity through our community. Another research showed that when one person behaves generously, it inspires observers to behave generously later, toward different people.
Some excuses for not giving regularly include “I don’t have enough money for myself, let alone give”, or “I do not have the time” or “I don’t even think about it.” However giving is not just about giving money, it is about giving of yourself – which include your time, your resources..whatever you have to be.
As the year wraps up, I encourage you to give something of yourself to someone less fortunate than you.
It is indeed more blessed to give than to receive!
What do you plan to give as a result of reading this article?
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