Welcome to Week 3!
We’ve spent two weeks diving into what we want to do and be and feel in the year ahead. Last week was about clarifying the goals and intentions that are most important to you.
This week, we’re exploring how we can bring those goals to fruition!
And the first thing we’re going to do, after all that work, is… release our attachment to the outcomes!
WHAT?!
It sounds so counterintuitive, right? You set a goal, you get a clear destination in mind, and then you work your butt off to arrive at that precise location at the precise time you indicated.
As you’ve probably discovered by this point in your life, it doesn’t quite work that way.
Though setting goals is incredibly beneficial for us (see last week’s lessons for all the data), they can sometimes have drawbacks. For example, have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to get a taxi during the rain? You might think it’s because of the bad weather and high demand… but it’s actually because THERE ARE FEWER TAXIS ON THE ROAD IN THE RAIN.
Why? Most taxi drivers work to meet a daily quota; once it’s met, they’re done for the day, whether they’ve worked 5 hours or 8. On a rainy day, they hit that quota (a.k.a. goal) earlier, and many decide to be done and clock out. The goal is reached, so they literally hit the breaks, despite the fact that they could have much greater potential earnings (though certainly, getting done with work early can also be a great benefit – it’s all about opportunity costs, right?)
Sometimes, we continue working toward a goal even when our reasons for pursuing the goal no longer hold. Sometimes we don’t realize that as we grow and shift and change (every day!), so may our intentions. So when we set these goals and intentions, it’s helpful to release some of our attachment to them.
Some gurus advise that we simply add to the end of our intention “… or something better.” This leaves us open to the other possibilities and roads that may appear as we work toward our intended outcomes.
How do we know when a new direction or destination is called for? This is also where our mindfulness practice comes in. Listen to your body throughout your day. When are you joyful? When are you sluggish? How does an action make you feel? What does your gut tell you?
And, as stated in the first week’s lessons, ultimately our destination should really be about the journey itself. This is the advice given to the warrior Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna implores him, “Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.”
This is the essence of karma yoga, of doing work for the sake of work, and not for some external benefit. When we work without attachment, it doesn’t mean that we don’t care what happens; it means we aren’t attached to it. We haven’t pinned our current or future happiness on the full execution of our plan.
As described in Yoga Journal, karma yoga:
“is usually translated as ‘the yoga of action’—that is, using the ordinary actions of your life as a means of ‘waking up.’ Essentially, everything you do—from household chores, like washing the dishes, to ‘important’ duties, like your job—becomes a way of nourishing the universe that nourishes you.”
We dream, we hope, and then we get to work.