So to nourish the heart, it’s good to learn how to take some joy in the wealth that you’ve got, the goodness and good fortune you’ve got — and that you take joy in the goodness and good fortune of other people. That nourishes the heart. Remind yourself that happiness is a good thing.

"We tend to think the Buddha encouraged people to be frugal – and he did – but he didn’t encourage stinginess, the kind of miserly attitude where all you can think of doing with wealth is squirreling it away. He said that one of the benefits of wealth is that you get to enjoy it. He actually criticized people who don’t know how to enjoy their wealth. It’s because basically you feel bad about enjoying things, and if you feel bad about enjoying things yourself, then how are you going to feel good about other people enjoying things? How are you going to want to make other people have joy? The mind just shrivels up, the heart shrivels up, with an attitude like that.

So to nourish the heart, it’s good to learn how to take some joy in the wealth that you’ve got, the goodness and good fortune you’ve got — and that you take joy in the goodness and good fortune of other people. That nourishes the heart. Remind yourself that happiness is a good thing. After all, the practice of Dhamma is a practice for the sake of happiness. And although the ultimate happiness, nibbana, doesn’t depend on other people, the path is nourished by the goodwill for other people, by empathetic joy for other people. We can help one another along the path in this way.

So as you go through the brahmaviharas, take good note of empathetic joy. And as you go through the day and the monks give the anumodana, realize that they’re rejoicing in your goodness, reminding you that it’s a character trait that deserves rejoicing. This gives nourishment to your practice. And it’s one of the ways in which we can help one another along — instead of dragging one another down.

One of the things that keeps the devas up in the heavens is that they learn how to rejoice in the goodness of human beings. One of the things that keeps the Brahmas in the brahma worlds is that they’ve learned how to rejoice in the goodness of others. So here’s a way of lifting the state of your mind. And it’s all free. There are people around who are happy, so be happy for them. There are people around who are being good, so be happy for their goodness. It’s free energy. Take as much of that free energy as you want."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Anumodana"

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