Wishing

When we are children we instinctively know how to wish with our whole body, heart and soul. As adults, we use more sophisticated terms for the word “wish”. We talk about aspiration, following our passion, priorities, aim. Around this time of year we speak about New Year’s resolutions.

A question that comes up often from my students is “How do I do this thing that I want to do? How do I make sure that I do this practice? How do I make this change in my life or attain this desire?” The reason it becomes a question at all is because we look in our analytical mind, our intellectual center for the answers that reside in the gut, in the area of will. Wishing is directing the will toward a particular aim. We can learn to wish consciously. Conscious wishing is a practice. It is the practice of clearly understanding and pursuing an aim.
How do we become more courageous, how do we make our relationships more harmonious, how do we achieve excellence in our pursuits?
We need to utilize that elemental quality that resides in the pit of our stomach and consiously and deeply wish. In short, I am saying we need to wish for something consciously and strongly when we want it. This is true in very small, simple things like getting up in the morning to sit and in the profound issues of our lives. There is no tricky, analytical method to circumvent the development of will. It is done by wishing, by willing it so.
In the end, I believe that wishes are trails and it is enough to cultivate our spirit and walk these trails. This is the path of a true warrior and the trail is called “the way”.
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos