jess and the gang: Generous With My Words

Living life with the intention of being generous has been really fun for me. I get to plan out the various ways I will be generous. Sometimes those ways just fall into my lap and other times I carefully plan them out.

One thing I knew starting out the year is that it doesn't take money to be a generous person. One of the "free" ways to be generous is with my words. Everyone likes complements. Oftentimes all it takes is a few seconds to point out a good quality in someone. You saw a friend go above and beyond for another friend? Tell them so. You see someone working out and are seeing the results? Tell them! Everyone who is trying to make a change in their life would like the encouragement of someone seeing the difference.

Sometimes being generous with my words is a thought out thing. It's writing a card to someone telling them how much they mean to me. It's noticing great qualities in other's lives and being sure to point it out to them. Other times it is a spur of the moment thing. It is pointing out how well dressed a friend is. It is being sure to tell someone that their thoughtfulness didn't go unnoticed. It is complementing someone on a job well done.

Sometimes the execution of my generous words doesn't always go as planned. For instance, I ran into a friend's mom in the grocery store and told her she had a "banging body that anyone my age would be jealous of". Now, this is true and she is working out all the time since retiring, but still, it just wasn't the best execution. However, that being said, I would rather complement someone and have it go horribly wrong than to keep the complement to myself.

Being generous with my words is free. However, it is something that takes a conscious effort to do. I hope one day these positive words will just flow out of my mouth without thinking about it. But for today I am learning to make the conscious effort to make them come out. And that is a step in the right direction.