Tag: Generous on Purpose

You don’t have to…

Published on by Kieran Johnson - The Generosity GuyLeave a comment

You don’t have to hate.

We all get to choose how we respond to other people. We all can respond with kindness, or generosity, or with grace. Alternatively, we can choose to respond with anger, bitterness and hate.

We weren’t born with hate in our hearts and minds. It is a learned behaviour and we can choose to unlearn it.

After the hateful Bondi attack in December 2025 when two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, Liberal MP Julian Leeser said on the ABC Daily Podcast, “What starts with hateful words doesn’t end with hateful words.” Whatever your thoughts on his politics, I think on this point we can all agree. If hateful words are your starting point, then it is very difficult to de-escalate from there. You really only leave yourself one way to go. It’s not a guarantee that hateful words will always turn to violence but you can be sure that it is a much longer journey from kindness to violence than from hateful words to violence.

Hate and violence are a choice. You don’t have to choose it.

If you have to say or do something, leave yourself somewhere to go. Err on the side of kindness. Start from generosity.

Generosity, On Purpose

Published on by Kieran Johnson - The Generosity GuyLeave a comment

“Choose generosity, knowing your actions can extend beyond yourself”. Neale Daniher – The Power of Choice

Maybe some people are just wired to be generous. They exude thoughtfulness, gratitude and generosity. It just seems to come naturally to them as they care for those around them and seem to be able to lessen the burdens of others simply by being in the same room.

I don’t think I’m one of those people…yet. I’m working on it, but it doesn’t exude from me, especially if you catch me before I’ve had my morning coffee, or if it’s too cold outside, or if my favourite sporting team recently lost (there is a specific set of conditions that need to be right…)

So, for the rest of us, I think the quote from Neale Daniher is an excellent place to start. He wrote “The Power of Choice” for his grandchildren, passing on what he had learned through life and his battle with Motor Neuron Disease, which he succumbed to in May 2026.

As a result, his quote carries a great deal of weight. Because before generosity exudes, it is chosen. It is an active choice, that sometimes may feel like it goes against the grain of what we might want, but the outcome of it, once chosen creates ramifications that ‘extend beyond yourself’. I think there is something in that, something that we all want. To make a difference to others in our world, be that our families, people in our community or those we will never meet. That is the power of generosity.

It doesn’t just happen. It needs to be chosen, on purpose, regardless of the coffee or the weather or the sporting result.