The Power of Generosity

Sometimes generosity looks like a tiny painted house.

Whilst on holiday, after a day at the beach, we wandered into a little pottery shop.

I chose a few things and went to pay. Except the electricity was sketchy. The card machine wouldn’t work. We tried an online payment. Once. Twice. At one moment, I found myself walking down the road with the owner, phone held hopefully in the air, searching for enough signal to make the payment go through.

Eventually, we gave up. Cash it was.

As I was getting ready to leave, the woman apologised again for all the inconvenience.

And then she reached over and picked up a tiny hand-painted ceramic house.

White walls. Blue roof. Quintessentially Santorini.

Exactly the kind of little thing I would pick up, smile at, really rather like…

and then put back.

She held it out to me.

“For you.”

I did what many of us do when someone gives us something unexpectedly.

Oh no, you don’t need to…

But she insisted.

And somehow, this tiny house immediately became more precious to me than the things I had actually chosen to buy.

I’ve been wondering why.

Perhaps because generosity is not always about giving someone what they need.

Sometimes it’s giving them something you know they’ll love – but wouldn’t give themselves.

There is something beautiful about that kind of giving.

It says:

I noticed you.

I noticed what made you smile.

I noticed what your eyes lingered on.

I noticed something that might bring you joy.

And rather than waiting for a reason, I gave it to you.

We can be remarkably good at denying ourselves small pleasures.

I don’t need it.

It’s a bit frivolous.

I’ll put it back.

And sometimes we need another person to interrupt our practicality with generosity.

Not because we need rescuing.

Not because something is missing.

Simply because delight is worth giving too.

Perhaps that’s what stayed with me about this tiny Santorini house.

The payment problems were forgotten almost immediately.

The generosity wasn’t.

A transaction became a connection.

And a little ceramic house became a reminder:

Generosity doesn’t have to be grand to be powerful.

Sometimes it is simply noticing what would bring someone joy, especially something they would never quite give themselves, and saying: “For you.”

I invite you to take a moment to reflect

1. What small act of generosity have you never forgotten?
2. Who do you know well enough to notice what would bring them unexpected joy?
3. What could you give — not because they need it, but simply because you know they’d love it?

I’m Sarah Cretegny, an Accredited Transitions Coach. I help individuals, groups and teams navigate real-life transitions without losing themselves.

I’m particularly effective when time is limited and the stakes are high. I draw on evidence-based coaching approaches, strengths expertise and my lived experience of leadership, family life and international living.

I’m passionate about partnering with people to coach their wild — because the world needs more radically authentic leaders, now more than ever.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, I coach virtually around the world.

Find my links: https://linktr.ee/discover.your.wild