One thing I’ve realized during this Year of Generosity is that it is much easier to feel and be generous when you stay connected to gratitude.
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for awhile, you may remember that my Year of Gratitude in 2022 left me feeling rich, and I found myself spontaneously handing out holiday gifts to friends and clients.
When you remind yourself of all you have, it’s easier to give things away. Listing all the good things in your life also helps you feel calmer and lets your nervous system rest, which makes it easier to give time, energy, and attention to the things that matter to you.
My Rest and Resist Project was inspired by this duality of gratitude and generosity: Allow yourself to rest and recharge in all the good in your life, then give what you can to make the world a better place.
The Rest and Resist Project is a space for 20 women+ and mothers to receive 90 minutes with me, between December 1, 2024 and January 31st, 2025 to recognize their exhaustion, to rethink rest, and to reclaim their humanity, even when the world tries to tell them that they are unworthy.
These sessions create an opportunity for me to deepen relationships with people in my community (like you!), to learn more about what you need, and to reciprocate the gifts I have received from philosophy by paying it forward.
Weekly Gifts
This year I’m working on my theme of Generosity by giving at least one gift every week of the year, and to chronicle and reflect on them here.
Week 43, Oct 21-27: I bought some thank you gifts for clients. I really do feel such gratitude that I get to do this work, and I want my clients to know how much I appreciate them.
Week 44, Oct 28- Nov 3: I hosted Halloween for my nine-year-old’s friends, inviting some of them over to our house for chili before heading out for trick-or-treating, and then inviting more, who we collected along the way, inside again to get out of the rain. I will admit that it was a lot of eight- and nine-year-olds who were high on a lot of sugar. I realized that hosting all of them may not be my ideal form of generosity…
Week 45, Nov 4 -10: I hosted a Grief Ritual at my house for friends and neighbors, following the outcome of the election. I agree with psychologist Francis Weller who says that grief is soul activism. The world needs us to fully feel our grief, to face it, for it is only then that we can do the hard work that is needed of us. When we do this grieving together, it heals us all.
Week 46, Nov 11-17: I held a bonus last session of my group coaching program for moms called The Mother Pack. Coaching these women, who have shown up so fully and vulnerably, has been such a joy, and I wanted to offer them a thank you.
Week 47, Nov 18-24: I contributed a little bit of money to a going-away gift for a friend leaving town. It is just a reminder that even 5 bucks goes a long way when it is combined with others for an unexpected little present.
Danielle LaSusa Ph.D. is a Philosophical Coach, helping new moms grapple with what it means to make a person. She is the creator of The Meaning of Motherhood course, which explores the changes in identity, meaning, and wisdom that come with motherhood. To join her mailing list, subscribe here.
© Copyright Danielle LaSusa PhD, LCC, 2021. All rights reserved.
