Different Layers of Desire

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about different layers of desires. So we all have different wants. These can range from a desire for a delicious piece of cake, to a desire for living a meaningful life. Although there's nothing wrong inherently with desiring a delicious piece of cake.

I think in general, we could agree that there are different categories of desires. The desire for wanting a piece of cake is different than the desire for maybe pursuing a meaningful life. We're often swimming in what we could call our more superficial desires, which tend to be related to getting little dopamine hits throughout the day. One of my deeper insights through meditation is that when I allow myself to be present to those desires, especially the superficial ones, but I don't fuel them, they tend to soften and relax. I release my grip on them, at least temporary.

And what also seems to be true that I find really interesting is that when I soften my grip on the superficial desires, I become more attuned to my deeper desires. This can be as simple as pausing when you notice your mind reactively craving something, relaxing your body until the urge softens, waiting until you find more ease and then notice, are there any deeper desires for how you want to be in relationship to this moment. Take away, at least in my experience, desires that arise in stillness tend to be more aligned with your essence. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.