from The Art of Happiness
by His Holiness The Dalai Lama

p193:

Settling comfortably into his chair one morning, the Dalai Lama explained the value of leading a balanced life.

"The practice of Dharma, real spiritual practice, is in some sense like a voltage stabilizer. The function of the stabilizer is to prevent irregular power surges and instead give you a stable and constant sense of power."

"I think you need to understand the source or basis of extreme behavior. Take for example the pursuit of material goods--shelter, furniture, clothing, and so on. On one hand, poverty can be seen as a sort of extreme and we have every right to strive to overcome this and assure our physical comfort. On the other hand, too much luxury, pursuing excessive wealth is another extreme. Our ultimate aim in seeking more wealth is a sense of satisfaction, of happiness. But the very basis of seeking more is a feeling of not having enough, a feeling of discontentment. That feeling of discontentment, of wanting more and more and more, doesn't arise from the inherent desirability of the objects we are seeking but rather from our own mental state."

"So, I think that by deliberately broadening our outlook we can often overcome the kind of extreme thinking that leads to such negative consequences."

With this thought, the Dalai Lama slipped his rosary around his wrist, patted my hand amiably, and rose to end the discussion.