As the holiday season winds down, it’s important to take time to reflect on the past year and make time to look forward to the New Year in order to determine how to create the next 12 months. This past December, during the swing of holiday season, Nueterra’s home office employees spent the month focusing on one of our core values – generosity.
Typically when we think of generosity or when we think of someone being generous, we usually do so in terms of financial generosity. For example, we recognize people as generous when they pick up the lunch tab or they donate money to a local charity. Certainly people are being generous when they do such things out of kindness and not out of a feeling of obligation. At the same time it is worth noting that our finances are just one of many resources where generosity can be applied.
At Nueterra, we strive to live and embody the value of generosity by being generous with our resources and time, which means being liberal in our giving and sharing. In fact, generosity can be an incredible vehicle for propelling our best intentions into existence in the world. We are proud to support philanthropic activities at the local, national and even global level. In addition to financial generosity or financial giving, the associates at our home office and external facilities are generous with their time through volunteering for these philanthropic activities.
Thankfully, generosity is not limited solely to financial giving and sharing. There are many other ways we can be generous such as by sharing our knowledge with others and by giving of ourselves. I believe one of the greatest gifts we can share with another person is the gift of providing our attention and presence. In our attention-deficit and attention-starved world this is no easy task. Attention is truly a scarce commodity in times like these. Whether we are at work or at home, in a meeting or at the dinner table, with friends or family or even coworkers, there are multiple opportunities to give our full attention and presence to those we are with at that moment.
I think Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, “The only true gift is a portion of yourself.” As 2013 unfolds, please don’t deny others the gift that only you can give them— you.
The question I would like to leave you with is: At work and at home, who is in most need of and would benefit the most from your full attention and presence and how can you make that a reality? And by when will you give it?