The Two-Step System: Gratitude & Generosity

For a lot of people, the goal in life is to be rich. We celebrate wealth in this society so much that we’ll keep track of where celebrities go on vacation… and that’s just one weird example. One of the reasons it doesn’t make sense to me is that when you ask most people, they would say that the rich people they know never seem happy.

I would add one key factor. Of the rich people I know, not all seem to be grateful for what they have - they only want more. If they’re not grateful, they won’t be generous. And those who are not generous are not happy.

Generosity, it turns out, does not stem from abundance. Neither does gratitude. Plenty of people have abundance, yet exude neither gratitude nor generosity. At Good Stewards, we believe the solution is simple.

First, you need to appreciate what you have. Yes, you can still be focused on building - but you need to be grateful for what you’ve built. After all, what’s the point of having it if you don’t let yourself feel the gratitude for it?

Author Ann Voskamp said “Being joyful isn't what makes you grateful. Being grateful is what makes you joyful.” See, we often think having stuff will make us happy, but it’s not that simple. Here’s the jedi mind trick for those of us tired of waiting to strike gold before we can be happy: Being thankful for what we have makes us happy.

Then, generosity stems from that gratitude.