5 Valuable Lessons My Grandma Taught Me On The Gift Of Giving

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

Selflessness Is A Super Power.

Growing up, I was an only child. My mom and dad were not in my life, so my sweet, 4 ft 11" Japanese grandma stepped up and took me in to her home.

As you can imagine, she spoiled the hell out of me. She cooked, cleaned and was basically became my mother. She is like a selfless super hero dedicated to making my life the best as possible. All I had to do as a kid was to play Pokemon, watch cartoons . She gave me time to sit back and enjoy being a kid and enjoying life.

She never said to this to me personally, but I believe her purpose in life was to serve others and to make others as happy as possible. She wore that purpose proudly like a badge of honor or a superhero cape.

She’s been through some crazy shit in her life. She’s survived through Japanese internment camps during WWII, she persevered through The Great Depression, her father left her as a child, her house burned down, her husband for over 50 years passed away. She never complains and she’s honestly the most selfless person.

There must be a correlation of why she’s the strongest person I know and why she’s so giving.

There is a saying “the greatest gift is to pass along knowledge so future generations can live a better life.” That’s what my grandma did for me. She led by example.

Through my grandma’s energy, I have dedicated myself to being as selfless as possible. These are the top 5 lessons that I have personally learned through practicing selflessness and service from my Grandma.

Grandma & I laughing at a joke during Christmas 2002

The top 5 lessons giving, selflessness and service is a super power

1. Giving Builds Self Esteem — Helping others tells you that you’re making a difference in this world. It gives you a sense of meaning and purpose. Once you find your purpose, you’ll know what you love to do and how you contribute to this world.
2. Giving To Others Makes You Happy — The act of giving activates the pleasure centers of your brain. If you’re ever having a storm of negative thoughts, take a deep breathe and think “How can I be of service to someone?” Sounds crazy but this simple act will instantly make you feel better.
3. Giving Connects Us / Builds A Community — Giving is contagious and can develop deep relationships. There is a saying, “People won’t remember what you said, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.” When we are selfless, we exude qualities like friendlyness and thoughtfulness and people are naturally drawn to us.
4. Giving Amplifies Gratitude — Giving gives you perspective and makes you appreciate ALL that you have. We may feel grateful for people in our lives, but forget to express it. Where we assume they already know how we feel. It could be something so simple. Say thank you to your co-worker for helping you with a project, or give a family member a call to give them a compliment. Focusing on our appreciation of others, reminds us how fortunate we are to be recipients of their generosity, support and love.
5. Giving Heals The Self — Giving is the surest route to inner peace and a meaningful life. Give a smile, tell the people you love how you feel, and forgive anyone who has brought you pain. You see, giving offers us permission to be human. To allow for our mistakes and imperfections. And even view them with appreciation, understanding it's a part of who we are.

BONUS TIP: If you’ve given to someone, and you’re upset you didn’t receive anything back, you’ve missed the point.

My challenge for you is to look around in your day to day life and find ways to be of service. It doesn’t have to be anything big.

Look at your community or city and think what’s one thing I can do to help my neighbors? Keep an open eye for opportunities that present themselves every single day. Think of a family member or friend. An act of service can be really small like writing a thank you card, listening to a friend’s problem, or giving a small amount of your time and energy.

My hope is I can pass along my grandma’s selfless super power energy through this screen and you can carry a piece of that energy with you throughout your day. Everybody wins when we give more, including yourself.