Wishes
Wishes. All actions begin at this level. All wishes can be filtered down to two primary wishes, that are like flip-sides of the same coin: The wish to be happy. The wish to be free from suffering. At heart level, therefore we are all the same. Every moment of every day we are motivated by the desire to fulfill these two wishes. Each of us goes about trying to attain happiness by following a myriad of wishes of infinite variety. We therefore spend effort and time (and money!) on different activities, and have the habits unique to each of us. The strength of a wish determines the amount of effort we make to bringing it to fulfilment. The way our days play out, is a map showing us which wishes were strongest in each moment, because the wishes we follow determine how we spend our time. So at the end of the day, are we happy? Are the wishes we are following, in our behavioural choices working to fulfill the primary wishes? One can ask: Do I feel comfortable in my skin? Is my mind at peace? Do I smile more than I frown? Have I comforted tension or merely distracted myself from it? Do I feel content, confident, happy? We deserve to answer yes to these questions. This requires reflection so we can connect the dots between our choices and the results that bear fruit. If we answer no, we deserve to learn new methods. Wishes are in the mind. We use our minds to learn about everything, but rarely do we take the time to learn about the mind itself. In my yoga classes we take time in stillness to reflect and notice and discern. This self-study practice in yoga is called #Svadhyaya. We don’t know how long we have to live, so we don’t want to waste energy and time on behaviours that simply don’t work to bring us happiness. We also deserve to develop beneficial mental habits (and the physical habits they motivate) that enable us to comfort the aspects of being human that can feel difficult. It is through this introspective process that we can start acting less on unconscious habits that we invariably picked up long ago, and begin to really feel in control of our choices and therefore the qualities of our lives. Xo #WishpathYoga #Hypnotherapy #StressReduction