“The antidote to grasping and clinging is generosity.
There is an emptiness behind every undefined desire. A need that can’t be envisioned as fulfilled can never find satisfaction and will search and attach to anything, repeatedly. It will never be met.
This is the nature of a hungry ghost: always wanting for something but never having enough, searching ceaselessly.
There is a way to discern hungry desires from true dreams. Before attaching to or pursuing anything, visualize it as already being in your life and the role it will play in bringing you joy and ease. If you can’t, it is not for you. Without this ability to experience gratitude in advance, the possessing will always be hollow.
The same can be applied to anything already in your possession. Consider not only if it fills you with gratitude – but can you you envision it filling another with more joy and gratitude?
Would it increase global gratitude in someone else’s hands? If so, you are being called to move it along in that direction.
When you see you are called to increase gratitude on a grand scale, not just personally, then generosity becomes a fulfilling practice. Every act of giving is a success in this endeavor to increase global gratitude.
Gratitude based only on what you have personally will ultimately feel empty and foster more wanting. Only generosity allows you to connect with and enjoy the gratitude felt by all.”