How to Develop a Spirit of Charity
Whether it's a requirement of your religious faith or just a decision you're making as part of a personal process of growth, developing a spirit of charity in yourself is not only a rewarding pursuit, it's a great way to start giving something back to your fellow human beings. Developing charitable feelings is best achieved by thinking critically about your own mental and emotional habits while learning to have empathy for other people.
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Instructions
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Learn to be grateful for what you have. Remind yourself on a regular basis of all the things in your life that make you happy and that you're thankful for. Consider keeping a daily diary to help you focus on thinking about things in this way. This will not only help you avoid envy and resentment towards others for what they have, it will help you feel that your life is blessed and be more willing to help bring blessings and good fortune to others.
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Contemplate humility and what it means to you. Think about your talents, achievements, and the personal qualities that you feel are most valuable. Next, think about what it means to be grateful for these qualities (even if you know you've worked hard for them) and the responsibility to others that should come with them. Check yourself on a regular basis to avoid thinking of yourself as "better" than others because of these traits; instead, enjoy them and set them aside without worrying about how you stack up in comparison to others.
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Read teachings and life stories about people you want to emulate. Consider some spiritual and historical figures whom you consider to be great examples of people with charitable spirits and study them. Try to remember their teachings well enough to hold your own behavior as an example for comparison. Imagine what it must have felt like to live the lives they did, make the decisions they did, and face the same challenges. See if you can imagine yourself making the same choices in those positions.
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Consider what it means to have a sense of personal responsibility for the welfare of others. Think of times in your life when you've had to deal with difficulty and pain, including any current struggles, and think about the sort of help you most wish you could get from others. Commit yourself to providing this level of help for others.
Open yourself to feeling compassion for others. Remind yourself on a regular basis to imagine yourself in someone else's shoes. Try to do this as often as possible with the goal of ridding yourself of all resentment by imagining the circumstances and difficulties of other people and how those factors influence their behavior.
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