You are what you wish

in #philosophy6 years ago

We all make wishes. We wish for a better job, more money, a bigger house, a flatter stomach, better weather, health, a beautiful partner, safety, world peace, equality, an end to suffering and the list goes on and on and on. A wish is wanting a shift from the current position to another; struggle to wealth, sickness to health, sad to happy. How many wishes have we made up until this point? How many birthday candles extinguished, falling stars dreamed upon and eyelashes gently blown off fingertips?

Have we really thought this process through?

 

Perhaps our wishes are being granted, but the process is random and limited. Rather than asking which we would prefer, the genie picks a wish out of a hat and the chance of any one wish being selected is relative to the number of wishes it contains. If we have 1000 wishes in there, what are the chances of a worthy selection?

Is the hat full of high quality wishes we really desire or is it diluted by frivolous, meaningless wishes that were made in a moment of weakness. Maybe at a time when circumstances existed that were not to our liking or didn't meet our expectations. Like a cold and rainy day on a beach holiday - 'I wish it was warmer'. There may be an opportunity cost component to wishing that we have been neglecting, as each wish may lower the chances of an alternative being granted.

Imagine someone that you consider successful. What wishes have got them there? I wish I had this skill, I wish to meet this person, I wish this deal goes through, I wish for a bit of luck, I wish for... Imagine that their actual success was determined by a focused wishing practice where each wish aimed them down a particular path. This meant that all of the wishes in the hat were consciously invested so that any particular wish chosen for granting was definitely one that furthered their journey. Sounds ludicrous right?

Everyone realises that for the most part, success in anything does not depend on wishing. It depends on ideas, development and action. It takes patience, control, direction, knowledge, movement, training, practice, failure, learning, discomfort and numerous other skills. It takes work. And, luck.

Most of our wishes are directed at things that either we cannot change, such as the weather - or another person. Things we are impatient to get or for which we are unwilling to invest energy, such as our fitness level or financial security, also claim a number of wishes. If we prioritise our wishlist by sorting it into categories and doing a little research on each we may better understand what is going on.

Perhaps headings like: what we can affect, what is valueless to our big picture, and what we feel we have no power over would be suitable sub-categories. Once listed, the things we can affect, we attempt to do. The useless we drop. And, the things we can't affect, we accept and then possibly find value in them as they are, use them to our advantage.

I will assume that most, if not all wishes, are inherently selfish by nature. We wish for power, prestige, respect, attractiveness, material items and social status. We wish that others will move so that we don't have to. We wish for our side to win and our position improved. We wish to succeed in all we do. We wish for the world to be different, less volatile, less risky and more peaceful.

In uncertain economic times, the desire for stability increases. Wishing for company success, government saviours, changes in culture or institution is probably not an effective use of our time. Neither is denial, distraction or ignorance to these areas. To move from one position to another with a certain amount of accuracy, intention is required. 'I intend to...'

But as we know 'the smallest deed is better than the greatest intention'. The smallest deed meaning: action. Not just any action though, action with a conscious intention to move in a specific direction. It doesn't mean that we are forever tied to this path and without it we have failed, just that it is a directed movement away from a starting point. Once moving, options increase and as knowledge deepens and widens, the course can be adjusted. If we are looking for cultural, country or global movement, it takes the concerted effort of many hands working together with each hand knowing it has a certain responsibility to uphold as an individual.

This is obviously a little tongue in cheek but consider two things:

  1. When we make a wish for the sun, growth also requires the rain.

  2. Be careful what you wish for, as you might just get what you ordered.

My current wishlist? I wish for the strength to accept the responsibility of my experience, the power to help those I can, the ability to challenge my understanding and the courage to know and be myself. And just in case none of my wishes ever get granted, I will work hard to improve myself each day so that I may continually bring some value to this world.

What do you wish for and what are you willing to do for it?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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Your post is really deep. You're right, I didnt' have thought on that before. Most of my wishes are superficial. Now, after reading this, I thought for a while and I decided my new wishlist:
I wish to be wise enough to treat and cure my patients once I graduate, I wish to have courage and strenght to move into a new country in a few years after my graduation and I wish (even if I can't control this) that my country (Venezuela) could get better in the future with a new good government to make me come back here again.

Good luck with it all :)

Its like that quote I really like from Antoine de Saint Exupéry "a goal without a plan is just a wish"... You can wish many things but your wish can be completely empty unless you can do something proactive about it. I believe there's strong power in the things we say. Our words can be very strong as much as visualizing the things we want, but the real power is always in our actions.. I tend to wish many things but at the same time I like planning my way there. We should keep wishing since magic lays within us, but remember, the true power to make it a reality is in you as well... It was a wonderful and inspiring article. Thanks for sharing!!

Well planned actions can still fail but, at least there is some personal agency in the process which means, one can at least say they tried.

@tarazkp I think the title of this should be 'You are what you work towards' not what you wish

are you saying that all of this wishing doesn't help? ;)

Lol well let's just say I haven't seen a single thing fulfilled in my life by mere wishing; maybe I pissed off the wish granting fairies or something...lol

I like to think of wishes and wishful thinking separately. Wishful thinking is when you think of something but choose to do nothing for it, irrespective of the fact that it might be achievable or not.

While for me wishes are things I desire and then choose to move towards them with deliberation, however slowly it might be. Although my wishes might not be of grand nature or even great but the hold a true and deep meaning for me ................... its difficult to share them.

I can say this much though - I am walking towards them.

Perhaps the wishes that drive action are more 'optimistic planning' :)

Shit! I couldn't phrase it accurately in my comment but you totally nailed it!
:D

I keep finding out with every post that you are very good at this. The writing. On any particular subject. That's first on my wishlist and I am working hard to earn it. Mine keeps changing so adjustments are necessary as I am gifted with a dramatic path of life. Wishes keep on changing but currently, my wishes are a bit ridiculous and demanding but I am quite determined too.

It is okay to change as long as actions and expectations are adjusted also.

I once wished that my feet wouldn't stink when I came home from work. That stupid wish could have screwed me out of being a millionaire. Of course, I wished for that too. Doesn't everyone?

Hi Taraz. Whilst I was reading this piece talking about wishing for this and wishing for that I was saying to myself get off your arse. Go and do it and make it a reality. Most of us can make them come true. It is about knowing your capabilities and doing them well. A bit of luck would help but they are possible. All you need is the right mindset and belief in your abilities.

Aiming high and hitting low is better than wishing and hitting nothing.

it always seems hard to organize, meaning to find those to move forward that have collaboration in your ideas, especially when they are non-conforming

definitely true. the more unique the idea, the fewer the supporters.

To me wishing is like complaining in the fact that , it doesn't do any good . (No value in it )

Example:
I wish my Son would finish Law School . Its killing me financially . But the reward will outweigh the costs.
Wishing will not help in any way . But doing some adapting and improvising will ease the stress and affordability . 2 semesters left you can't just wish them away or any of life's hurdles .

2 semesters left you can't just wish them away or any of life's hurdles .

So close.

Yep, wishing has got me nothing in life so far.

the best part is I get paid back in Steem . talk about a long term plan . Theirs mine , well , part of it and why its so important to power up now instead of waiting . having a foundation to build on in the future . That should be what everyone is doing . building their foundation !

So is a high quality wish the same as a high quality post? The less shit you generate the more upvote chances you get?

lol, perhaps it is. although, people can buy vote for their shit wishes too.

It's okay my vote is worth nada. I just like clicking that arrow.