I was having a coffee a couple of weeks back with my friends Simon and Evette. The coffee was great but the waitress was terrible. Even though the place was pretty quiet we couldn’t get her attention to order, she then forgot our order and had to come back. And the order was just three coffees. She just wasn’t present.

I was mildly irritated by the whole thing until Evette said something that really struck me, and has been rattling around my brain ever since. She said I wonder if she got some bad news before coming into work today.

What a beautiful, generous thought. In my world she was a crappy waitress, in Evette’s world she was a great waitress having a bad day. We’ll never actually know which is true, but Evette’s world seems a much better place to hang out.

My wife Trish has a beautiful affirmation along these lines – she says that everyone is doing their best according to their current state of consciousness.

So I’ve decided I’m going to look for the more generous interpretation of events, and I’d rather make the mistake of erring on the side of generosity rather than on the side of stinginess.

Love to hear your thoughts – what’s your experience of erring on the side of generosity? You can leave your thoughts below.