The Happiness Podcast 32 - Turning Desire Into Preferences
Dec 2, 2019
A reflection on desire as life energy and the risk of suppressing it. A discussion about understanding desires rather than renouncing them. How seeing desires' true worth can shift them into gentle preferences. Thoughts on keeping preferences without letting any one determine your happiness. A meditation on wakefulness and reducing illusion-driven unhappiness.
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Transform Desire By Understanding It
- Do not suppress desire; treat desire as vital energy rather than trying to kill it.
- Understand desires and their objects instead of renouncing them, so they transform from compulsions into manageable preferences.
Preferences Preserve Happiness
- Converting desire into a preference frees you from dependency and preserves energy for life.
- When you hold many preferences but don't let any determine your happiness, you move toward wakefulness.
Baby Boy Second Choice Example
- Anthony de Mello illustrates the idea with a wry example about baby gender preference: being happy because a baby boy was the second choice.
- The example shows how acceptance of outcomes reduces attachment and maintains cheerfulness.