Gift Rapt

Practicing generosity not only makes you feel good but connects you with the essence of who you really are.

By Sally Kempton

Imagine Good Things

When it comes to inward giving, you have no limits. In India, there is a meditation practice called mental offering, in which you create lavish gifts and offer them to God. You can do the same for a friend. If there is something you know that someone would love to have—a brand-new house or a wonderful career opportunity—imagine it happening for them. You can make offerings to the environment: Imagine the oceans healthy and teeming with fish, imagine verdant trees springing up in dying forests or food growing in drought-stricken fields.

As you imagine these changes that are desired by others (as well as yourself), you'll notice that the practice cultivates feelings of love and generosity in your emotional body. And, who knows? It might also help create an atmosphere in which these things come to pass.

Offer Blessings

A subtler version of this is the practice of offering blessings or prayers for another's welfare. During meditation, or for a few minutes every day, sit and bring to mind the people in your life. Then mentally touch each one with your awareness and ask that they be blessed. If there is something you know they need, ask that they receive it. Or simply ask for their well-being.

This is a practice you can do many times a day, or whenever someone you know comes to mind. It is especially powerful and transformative when you do it with so-called enemies, or people you dislike or of whom you disapprove.

Again, as you make this mental offering, also observe your own state. Notice whether reluctance or smugness arises. If so, don't judge yourself; simply see whether you can hold these feelings in awareness. Often, the very awareness of them will allow them to change. When you notice a feeling of tightness or fear coming up around your giving, imagine your fear or contraction surrounded by space. See if you can let the tightness of the contraction or fear dissolve into it.

Sally Kempton, also known as Durgananda, is an author, a meditation teacher, and the founder of the Dharana Institute. For more information, visit www.sallykempton.com.

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