Hi, I'm Andy and welcome to Radio Headspace and to Monday Morning.

So I don't know about you.

When I think back to school, there were lots of things that we learned.

Some of them, very helpful, very useful.

I refer to them often.

Most things.

Not so much.

But anyway, when I look back now and I think of the things that are coming onto the school

curriculum now, I see our own children learning in schools and generosity and kindness and

awareness and compassion, things that I really did to my heart, there's one in particular

in generosity that I've been thinking about as I've been discussing it with my son.

We've been talking about what it means to actually practice generosity and whether you

actually need any resources in particular to practice it or whether it's something that

we can do in our mind even when there aren't opportunities to actually physically be generous

in some way.

I was reminded of my time in the monastery where really that practice is encouraged in

just about every single part of the day.

In fact, I think it is every single part of the day.

And I was reminded in particular of mealtimes where we would sit down and I know it's quite

popular in some cultures and some nations they'll leave a spare seat at the table.

The idea being that if anybody should pass by a stranger should pass by the house, presumably

a custom from another time, but there would always be a seat.

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