Monday

Wealth of Generosity

by Shastri Matthew Lyon

Generosity is directly related to a feeling of abundance and confidence in our lives. On an inner level, in meditation practice, we rest the mind in the ground of basic goodness, the primordial confidence in our heart, our true nature. We can notice that when fear arises, this feeling of wholeness and abundance is restricted.

In a fearful state of mind in daily life, miserliness and stinginess become prominent. We miss the fact that natural care for one’s resources is different from an obsession with thrift, which fixates our minds on limitation and a feeling of insufficiency. With mindfulness, we can notice this process as it arises.

We can also discover that a generous state of mind opens the creative channels from which resources are attracted. Like a magnet whose force is not shielded or contained, we can allow auspicious events to come to us as a natural process. In this state, abundance comes not from willpower, but from the liberation of our natural qualities. Our nature shines in an open way, like a light unshielded by a shade. Exertion and accomplishment become a natural expression of the flow of events, because we are in a state of open communication with our world. Not struggling with situations based on fearful expectations, our path is to enrich all situations, and therefore the world enriches us as a result. Living in this way, a feeling of wealth is an inner experience which does not depend upon external circumstances.

Practicing mindfulness, we sharpen our attention to the richness of details, precisely seeing the movements of the mind, and the qualities of our actions.

Adding awareness, we feel our connection to the world, and we see situations clearly, synchronizing our actions with insight and skill.

Joining mindfulness and awareness together with generosity, we can achieve success, while simultaneously providing benefit for others. We manifest abundance as an expression of inner and outer wealth combined.

Generosity becomes the force which joins material success together with spiritual integrity and happiness.