Has there ever been a moment in your life when you didn’t want more than you already had? I suspect not. We all appear to be of limitless desire. But what happens when you cave into desire? You desire ten more things, no?! This is why rich people are, in fact, unhappy too. And this is just one of the ways in which we cause our own suffering. Think about it.
Everything of value that had happened in your life you didn’t see it coming anyway! You never expect the greatest things in life that happen; good things simply unfold. If you understand this- if you accept it and embrace it and let go of your desires- you will see that the universe is unfolding as it should. And your issues can melt away as you are bigger than that; your true Self is beyond all that.
Desires lead to expectation and expectation leads to disappointment. You can read a great review about a movie and then go to the see it at the cinema, only to leave feeling disappointed. By contrast, how many times have you found yourself glued to the telly at home enjoying some rubbish movie no one has ever heard of?
But how to drop desire? You cannot simply flick a switch and turn off your thought process. And there is no point fighting your thoughts – you won’t win!
The solution is a regular yoga and meditation practice. Yoga teaches us to ignore the end result, and to apply the same calm state of mind to any situation. Yoga also teaches us to fix our vision and intention when performing postures – depriving the eyes of information and forcing us to turn our senses inwards. Meditation allows us to watch our thoughts when we close our eyes and to look for the gaps in our thoughts and find a place of silence – free of all desires. In yogic philiosophy we call this state of mind samatvam yoganuchyate.