Thursday, July 5, 2012

Three Wishes

three wishesThree Wishes


There are many tales, jokes, and stories that revolve around the concept of being granted three wishes. After rattling this idea around in my head for a week, I came up with the following ideas of my own.

I’ll start with three interesting experiences in my day yesterday. The first insight occurred during my yoga class in the morning. We were in the middle of a one-minute hold in revolved chair pose. For those of you who don’t do yoga, this is where you sit down like you’re going to relax in a chair, only the seat is nowhere to be found. 


Add on to that, a little twist to one side to ring out all of the toxins from your internal organs. Sounds like fun, I know, and I voluntarily put myself in such a position. In the middle of the heat that radiated from my legs, I smiled. This position reminded me that life is full of challenging experiences, ones we don’t like and want to escape immediately. But, often, they are the times that teach us the most. So, I thought, I’d wish that the opportunities to learn—challenging or otherwise, continue to flow into our experience. And, as an adjust to that same wish, I’d want to have the perception to learn the appropriate lessons in these times to move forward with more clarity and understanding about myself and life.

But, as soon as that wish entered my mind, I realized it’s already true. Each of us are offered new opportunities each moment and have a choice to block the learning experience or embrace personal growth, even if it’s uncomfortable.  

Later that day, after I had just finished having lunch with a friend, a young, homeless girl approached us in the parking lot. She looked about my age, with kind eyes that struck an energetic chord in my heart. I didn’t have extra cash on hand, but I had split my burrito in half before eating my meal (saving the rest for my husband), so I offered it to her. My spirit instantly wished that every human could live a happy and fulfilled life. More than that, I’d want everyone to have their basic needs met, like food, shelter, and clothing.

Again, the thought of wishing better for the world is just a perspective. What if we all held the perspective that the world is perfectly in balance right now? With the power of our choice, we have the capacity to share with others. We also have the capacity to shift our viewpoint. Instead of looking at that girl as needy, I could see her clean clothes, her nice hairstyle, and kind eyes as just another example of perfect flow around me. And, when we choose to see abundance in ourselves and our environment, our experiences in life automatically shift.

That afternoon, thoughts about my uncertain future crept into my mind. Like many I’ve talked to over the years, there is a desire to understand our future and purpose in life. We often want to make good decisions now so that we can follow our path and make the most out of our time on Earth. In that moment of doubt about the next step to take, I wished that I had an understanding of the broader picture of my life. I wanted to have control of the outcomes from my actions. But, mostly, I wished that my actions had meaning and that they resulted in deep contentment and joy in my life.

But this, too, is really possible now. It’s not a dream or wish. We can tap into the present moment, into a broader perspective for our lives, when we stop, listen, and understand that any decision now can match the joy we seek. The future is plastic, and when we accept that anything is possible in the future, we can make choices each day with hope and confidence, knowing that we can take charge and make a life that we want.

As a result of my experiences, I’ve concluded that “wishes” are a natural aspect of our thinking. Those ideas of wanting a better world are a natural and innate aspect of our evolving selves. And, those wishes indicate that we desire change.

But instead of sending out a wish into the world, what if we viewed those thoughts as opportunities to choose something different? What if we made a choice in those times to step back into our power, our capability, and our wisdom that is already within us? What if we fully acknowledged our ability to create a new path for our future starting now?

If that were the case, there would really be no wishing involved. We would simply continue to generate thoughts about ourselves and the world, and recognize that in each and every moment we can make a new choice. It’s not a dream, but a reality, that we are more powerful than we could possibly imagine and we can channel that power at any point to live the most incredible, creative, and joyful human experience on Earth. And, I think that’s more than any granted wish could generously offer in my life.

-Kym Coco
Founder of Solution-Oriented Therapy

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