My meditation class is exploring the six Paramitas, or perfections, the path of the Bodhisattva (one who vows to liberate all beings from suffering). It is simpler than it sounds. In truth, it is the path to happiness, and any one of us can follow it. In the months to come I will write posts about each of the Paramitas and explain how we can make use of them in our lives.

The first Paramita is Generosity. In class we’ve talked about where generosity comes from, what it feels like, and what impedes it. Turns out, we all know a lot about it. We know what generosity feels like – it feels lovely. There is a warm, open quality to giving freely, whether we give time, attention, material goods, emotional support, recognition or anything else. Every one of us has something to give. Nobody is so poor as to have nothing to offer. We have our wisdom, or experience, our love. We have advice to give, the gift of space to offer, the possibility of connection.

Sometimes when we feel lacking, are stressed out or in scarcity mode, we forget all this. We forget that it feels nice to practice generosity, that generosity can actually be the antidote to our fear and resistance to sharing.

I made a cake one day, from scratch, because I was really craving cake. That cake really tasted good, just like I’d imagined. Maybe even better. But a whole cake is a lot of cake to have sitting around. I told a friend I would give her some cake. Then I heard another friend had broken her arm. Yet another friend was considering whether to undertake a third round of treatment for cancer.

I sliced up the cake and wrapped pieces for each friend, and we went to their houses and dropped it off. I didn’t call in advance, I didn’t stay and chat, just made my offering and left. Everyone was delighted with surprise cake. I doubt any of them were as delighted as I was. I couldn’t believe how much fun I had delivering that cake. I thought of it as “reverse trick or treat.” No cake by itself in my house will bring the kind of joy that sharing it brought. Eating it was good- sharing it was even better.

It’s the sharing, not the cake.

We don’t all have cake ready to deliver, not everyone eats cake, even. But we all have something we might habitually hold on to that we could offer up instead. Sylvia Boorstein, in her book on the Paramitas (Pay Attention, for Goodness’ Sake), writes about the freedom of not-needing. When we share what we have, or give it away entirely, we experience a liberation from grasping and attachment, which are the roots of suffering. Such a simple thing, something we are all capable of, and yet we hold back. Why?

Our class concluded that we get scared, we get lazy, or we don’t think we have anything of value to share. The fear that stops us is usually a fear of not having enough, or a fear that if we give we will not have it when we need it. Present moment practice helps with this. Look around, notice your surroundings. Do you have what you need right now? What do you have more than enough of? What might you give away? What could you share with someone else that would make them happy, that would meet a need they have?

We are usually pretty safe in the present moment. Our fears tend to be about the future, or the past, neither of which exist. When we acknowledge our present moment situation, we usually find that we have something to offer. We could have a freedom from need that can be relied on to benefit others, and we will be safe.

I give a dollar to the first person that asks each day. My commitment, however, is to give something more than money. I ask the person’s name, and introduce myself and shake hands if possible. It’s easy to give a buck. It is more meaningful to give respect, recognition, and human regard.

Our class took Sylvia Boorstein’s advice and looked for five opportunities a day to be generous, for a full week. (Warning – it’s a hard habit to break, once you set the intention!) Many of us noted that we already practice a fair amount of generosity on a regular basis. We also noted that we need to include generosity towards ourselves in this practice. This means cutting ourselves some slack, relaxing with who we are, dropping the critical self-talk. With others, it often means just being a little kinder, going a little bit out of our way, offering something we might have wanted to keep, giving the bigger slice of cake, making a cup of tea, doing chores without being asked, paying full attention when someone is talking rather than half attention and half thinking of other things.

Generosity is simple, and opportunities to practice it abound. Consciously adding the practice of generosity enriches our lives and the lives of others, and brings more joy and peace into the world. There is something deeply relaxing about trusting that we have more than enough, noticing that we have no needs in this moment, offering our gifts and abilities to others without hesitation.

Will you take the five-acts-of-generosity-a-day practice challenge? Tell us what you discovered in the process, please.