Reflections on Volition

Please explore and reflect on how and what your mind consumes. Please approach these questions with a fresh beginner’s mind, with great honesty and a spirit of inquiry and curiosity. Watch your mind during the day and note the presence of wholesome and unwholesome mind states. At the end of the day, spend a few moments reflecting on what you have observed, using the reflections below. Are wholesome or unwholesome mind states predominant? Are there recurrent patterns of afflictive mind states?

Looking Deeply at Volition in our Day-to-Day Lives

The nutriment of Volition invites us to look deeply at the underlying motivations and aspirations that direct the day-to-day activities in our lives. Whether conscious or unconscious, whatever we are moving toward is conditioning our mind. We ask ourselves:

• Where am I directing the energies of my mind?

• What is it that is motivating me to take the actions I take?

• What is it that I am desiring?

We all want to be happy in our lives, but if we are truly honest with ourselves we may find that the external things that we are motivated towards only provide temporary happiness, and are not capable of providing real and lasting satisfaction. Yet, we expend enormous amounts of energy pursuing them. We may also find that there are subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, motivations at play in our lives that are not aligned with our values. We ask ourselves:

• How much energy am I expending towards attaining external achievements? Money, career, relationships, education, getting my to-do list done?

• What are some of the subtle motivations behind my every day actions? Am I motivated towards looking good? Getting approval from others? Being liked? Pleasing others? 

• How much of my desiring is aimed towards feeling good? Towards pleasure? Entertainment? Distraction? Avoidance?

• Are my strivings ego-based? Wanting to get my way? Be right about? Be better than? Get more than? Get even with? Get back at?

• Am I often motivated by afflictive emotions such as craving, anger, fear, jealousy, ignorance, pride?

If we look deeply, we begin to uncover the underlying volitions that operate in our lives that are moving us forward and directing our actions in ways that we may not be aware of. We begin to recognize the suffering that some of these volitions cause to ourselves and to others. As we bring our mindfulness to these habits of mind, we recognizing that we no longer need to consume and perpetuate these unwholesome energies. 

Cultivating Wholesome Volition

The energies of volition, intention, aspiration, and desire can be consciously channeled in many wholesome and beneficial ways in our lives—ways that are directed inwardly and are an expression of our deeply held values Begin simply by asking yourself: How do I want to be in life?

• How do I want to be in life?

• How do I want to show up? Awake, mindful, energetic, calm?

• What kind of person do I want to be? Kind, compassionate, generous, patient, understanding?

• How do I want my mind to be?

• What are the big aspirations for my life that I can begin to practice right now? To cause no harm? To awaken? To be wise and compassionate? To be of benefit to others? To care for others and the planet?

Setting Intentions Daily

There are many positive and laudable goals in life, and yet the setting of aspirations and intentions is a different process. A goal is something that one desires to achieve sometime in the future and may largely depend on the coming together of external circumstances which we may have little or no control over. We do not need to wait for the unforeseeable future to experience the happiness and nurturing that setting healthy and wholesome intentions can bring. Our intentions can be expressed as ways of being that we are able to manifest right in the present moment. They can begin to nurture our happiness right now. Each morning take some time to ask yourself:

• What is my intention for today?

• What qualities and attitudes do I want to bring forth in my mind, in my speech and through my actions today?

In today’s world of individualism, materialism and over-achievement these teachings of the Buddha on the Third Nutriment of Volition have profound implications for our lives. Discernment of whether we are consuming wholesome or unwholesome volition is key to cultivating happiness and nourishing our well-being.