At yoga this evening, the teacher asked us to sit opposite someone else and tell them what we want from life, if we so wished. I really dislike these "bonding" exercises that the teacher throws at us towards the end of the class every few weeks. Today's exercise was as awkward as I had expected. I was sat opposite to young girls who seemed to have a pretty good idea of what they wanted, even though it sounded really vague to my cynical ears. I mumbled something about wanting to be at peace with myself and went back to cringing. But, the question itself is quite an interesting one.
It came up frequently during my counselling sessions, and I quickly realized that figuring out what one really wants is no mean feat. Because to get to that answer, one has to penetrate the haze of what one thinks one should want. And that is extremely difficult if not impossible because we are social beings with wants and desires that are conditioned by our social milieu. The best we can hope for is figuring out what we need, what is likely to serve us at a particular point in life and what is likely to harm us. And that is slightly easier as we have past experiences to guide us.
It came up frequently during my counselling sessions, and I quickly realized that figuring out what one really wants is no mean feat. Because to get to that answer, one has to penetrate the haze of what one thinks one should want. And that is extremely difficult if not impossible because we are social beings with wants and desires that are conditioned by our social milieu. The best we can hope for is figuring out what we need, what is likely to serve us at a particular point in life and what is likely to harm us. And that is slightly easier as we have past experiences to guide us.
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