Adapted from LESS:

Generosity is an antidote to fear. When you practice generosity toward yourself and others, fear loosens its group. Generosity in this case means gratitude and acceptance for who we are and what is. After all, it takes less energy to relax and release than it does to clench and hold on, or to attempt to control or manipulate others or the environment. The result is greater accomplishment with less effort.

The fact that everything has been given to us is so obvious that it can be difficult to fathom. Our hands and eyes, our body and mind — all gifts! The air we breathe, the water we drink, the stars in the sky — gifts. If we can really let this feeling of awe envelop us, it shifts nearly everything that we can so easily take for granted about our work, our relationships, and our lives.

It’s often difficult for us to meet our challenges and problems with generosity, and to express gratitude for painful experiences, large or small. To give just a simple example, when I encounter a long, slow line at the grocery story, I often think of one of my favorite quotes by calligrapher Kazuaki Tanahashi: “If you learn to enjoy waiting, you don’t have to wait to enjoy.” You can practice generosity with everything in daily life — and doing so can help you cope with traffic delays, cancelled flights, and coffee spills on your clean shirt, as well as those major emotional and physical challenges that strike unexpectedly.

Even more difficult to fathom, not only do we receive the gifts of life and beauty from the world, but we give these gifts! We are not separate from our body and mind, from the air and water, and from the stars. In a mysterious, practical, and essentially unknowable way, we are involved in creating everything. Every breath, every thought, and every action we take is both a gift and an act of generosity.

Practicing generosity in our daily lives, in our work, and in our relationships is not easy or simple. Giving that is self-centered or self-serving is merely another form of fear. But giving our full caring and attention to someone, without expecting anything in return, is an act of generosity. Real generosity requires that we open our hearts and allow ourselves to be curious and vulnerable and accepting. Gratitude says yes to all facets of life, even the difficult ones, which also leaves us open to experiencing more joy. The generosity of acceptance feels like doing less, but it brings us more.