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:
When we make a wish for the sun, growth also requires the rain.
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 ]
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 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?
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
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 .
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.
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.
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.
desar things is something that is frequently experienced in each of us, some want the evil to feel envy or want to be equal to those who have success, others want positive things and loaded with great projects to have better level in the future, I think particularly You have to have the intention of wanting to take that first step to change things that go wrong and improve things that go well, in this case we will have a high performance with the things we want because we are helping them to be fulfilled, it is important to note that the luck comes and in many cases you have to create it yourself, my desires are many but the most important are: to be a better person every day and to fight to have a great family in the future and to be a good example for them, to help the most needy Sometimes they need help and many people do not give them, always have love for family and achieve a union so that happiness does not disappear and always have a goal to achieve each one of my or bjectives to emerge and have the life that I have in mind
Always interesting and very valuable your post, @tarazkp. I see myself reflected in your text. I am a clear example of people who have many desires and goals, but as you say: I don't concentrate on one and usually the energies are dispersed. This happens to me because most of the time I feel dissatisfied with what I get. Some people believe that the more you put in, the better, and apparently it's a mistake. Perhaps if I had a focus on just one thing I really wanted, getting it would give me a lot of happiness and fulfillment. In short: less desire and more focus on what you want. Thank you for sharing. A hug
My wishlist
1.Work hard and hard for self development
2.To Have a lot of skills in order to help others in every department.
4.want myself to be role model for others
5.Want to better physique to promote health
Thanks for sharing, what you wish for is what you will be working towards, I have many wishlist but let me just share the one in line with steemit, I wish I have more steem power so that I can be rewarding good contents, thanks for sharing @tarazkp
Thank you for yet another wisdom expressed in writing.
Success at anything required more than just a mere wishing, it takes effort to make things work.
When the wise want something they don't just sit and be wishing for it, they acts by asking for the price to pay in order to make their wishes their reality and they pay the price as soon as they find out.
I would rather work out my wish than just to be wishing for a change to take place.
You got a 59.82% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @tarazkp!
I think wishes by nature aren't enough. They tend to be unfocused and usually they aren't accompanied with a level of responsability to accomplish them. Goals are better, specially with a time associated, to drive us to our desired destination
When you talk about the importance of high quality wishes it makes me think about the energy and "power" we can have to attract things. And as if paying to much attention on the irrelevant aspects of life just kind of drain us and spread to thin the focus we have. I guess its like the title of your article, we are what we wish and if we wish for little silly things, well, that could easily be what we become.
Of course, no amount of wishing will make our dreams come true without the right actions taken. But that reminds about something I read once (I don't exactly remember from which philosophers) about how things come to exist, always involving two forces. For example a tree will exist both for the effort the seed makes to grow, but there's also the will power from the already grown tree wishing to exist, and pulling that little seed to grow too.
So we need both to try and make a change in our reality.
Not sure if my comment makes any sense at this point, but I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate a good and profound read, just to get me thinking about what really matters.
Your article is really amazing and I'm glad I got to read it :-)
Really nice piece mate. Hope your daughter is feeling better. We do give a lot of time, money and effort to wishing, wanting and so on. My dad took me to a shop once where he picked up something for himself. I said I wish I could have the radio controlled car I saw and his response was "wish in your one hand and spit in the other, now see in which hand you have the most"? Sounds harsh, but he gave me a list of chores to do, pid me for them and I saved enough for the toy.
More time on effort and less on the wishing well. Dreams are healthy only when they motivate the action.
Somehow (and we are not really certain how) we are all given super-natural personal power.
Stronger than any magic, we are somehow able to make things happen. We seem to be able at times, to make things and circumstances and people appear into our lives as we please. Sometimes this takes terrific effort, sometimes it seems things appear merely by wishing. The amount of effort may have to do with our personal belief that we have this ability, or just the sheer emotion that we build toward the desired thing at the time.
However, it happens, we know that it does. My mother used to warn me, “Be careful what you wish for, you may GET IT!” She knew that when I’d wished for something without deeper thought, it would likely be produced in the thoughtless manner I wished for it. Although this was drummed into me at an early stage in life, as I grew up, I forgot all about this until I had many different areas of my life to complain about! Years later, since rediscovering this and uncovering the power of mindful thinking, I now realize that the desire comes in some form OTHER than what we think we are wishing for.
In essence, we get what we “ask for”, but then we see the flaw in how, or what, we had asked for. The thing we asked for is not quite what we desired. So the warning implies, be careful how your wants are impressed, make sure it is a complete thought and not a half-thought. Think about details that might be important to the vision as a whole picture.
good post my friend
poor comment matey.