The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something — usually ourselves. When we feel unhappy, when we feel inadequate, we get stingy; we hold on tight. Generosity is an activity that loosens us up. By offering whatever we can — a dollar, a flower, a word of encouragement — we are training in letting go.

Pema Chödron

from the book The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

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Further quotes from the book The Places That Scare You:

• Life preferences
• The root of happiness
• Awakening our unlimited potential
• Dissolving our self-importance
• Dissolving our fear
• At least until you die
• The first mark of existence
• Being in the middle of nowhere
• A flexible identity
• Our Shared Humanity
• Idiot Compassion
• Cultivating equanimity
• Compassion takes courage
• Abiding in openness
• Doing all with one intention
• Threefold purity
• Stay!
• Forgive into freshness
• Our true nature and condition