When you make a wish...

Reaching the perceived end of one human year, some of us are excited to set goals and resolutions for the next. Here are 3 reminders for our Catdom ˓˓ก₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎ค˒˒ :

 1 ✦ Each step is the end in itself.

Bringing biology into spirituality: Dopamine controls our perception of time. Whatever we perceive the final reward is, dopamine will be released at the end mark. So if we make our reward further away, we are extending the time bin in which we can experience pleasure.

For example, dopamine is normally released during the enjoyment of challenges. But because we think of the ice-cream post-exercise as the reward, we never experience joy while we are lifting bells. The worse is to think of having 'awesome abs' as the reward because we are pushing our pleasure circuit even further away to an indefinite maybe.

2 ✦ Only if you wish them exclusively.

"If you wish to be rich [at depth], you will be rich; If you wish to be learned, you will be learned; If you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must and really wish these things and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time 100 other incompatible things just as strongly."

"You can be an artist without visual images, a reader without eyes, a mass of erudition with a bad elementary memory. In almost any subject, your passion for the subject will save you."

(William James)

3 ✦ Remember what is in your power.

We must wish for things that we actually have control over. We cannot wish for someone to love us (that is not consensual and respectful of their free will), but we can wish to love that someone with peace and kindness. Wish for the humility to surrender to life's intelligence, discovering what it is teaching us, and not demanding it to go our ways. Wish for bravery, clarity, patience, and compassion. These are true wishes of a heart of humanity.

Each step is the end in itself only if you wish them exclusively and remember what is in your power.

Enjoy.