23May10 | Way to win at any game is be free of it

This is an interesting perspective I wanted to share for some time now, which is: Needing nothing attracts everything.

It is one of the biggest paradoxes that exist. And it’s somehow non-intuitive, because we just want what we want, but thing is, in order to acquire anything you have to put yourself in a state where you are detached from the outcome. You have to be willing to let go of anything at any time.

The reason why detachment is the way to receive everything you want, is because when you are not attached to the past, nor to the future, you’re fully present in the now. What we have to internalize is that the present moment is all there is. Your future is literally being created now, which means that all possibilities exist in this exact moment. So when you shift focus off the moment, you are not doing your desires any good.

“It's dark because you're trying too hard" said Susila. "Dark because you want it to be light. You've got to learn to do everything lightly. Think lightly, act lightly, feel lightly. Yes, feel lightly, even though you're feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.' I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig. Lightly, lightly—it was the best advice ever given me. Well, now I'm going to say the same thing to you, Lakshmi… Lightly, my darling, lightly. Even when it comes to dying. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. No rhetoric, no tremolos, no self-conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Goethe or Little Nell. And, of course, no theology, no metaphysics. Just the fact of dying and the fact of the Clear Light. So throw away all your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That's why you must walk so lightly. Lightly, my darling. On tiptoes; and no luggage, not even a sponge bag. Completely unencumbered.” – Aldous Huxley, Island

One of the best pieces I’ve read on the subject.

I found out that when we make things rigid we often interfere with what we want, and when we don’t seem to realize that, we won’t stop doing it, and it will lead to more damage.

I learned that the best things that come to happen are things that are not so much accounted for, things that are pure outcomes of when we were fully present, living & navigating life as freely as possible, and as we should.

Time and again I would find the same piece of advice in multiple places, stating that you shouldn't really try so hard to acquire or impress. In fact you shouldn't try hard at anything except for work. Improving yourself is the context it's permissible for you to try hard at. But not at attaining material, status, money or relationships.

There’s always this lesson that is being propagated in the context of “learning how to negotiate”, it states that, during negotiating, if you’re not willing to leave the table & cancel the deal at any moment, you aren’t really negotiating.

Ever wondered why people are at their weakest when they want things so quickly? It’s because these are the moments we are our most vulnerable selves. When you want things so quickly, you are easier to get manipulated. Sales people know it, business people know it, a classic behavioral psychology tactic that is being played behind the scenes in many contexts.

There's a saying that money is attracted to motion. And if you come to think of it, big money does not ever come as a product of deliberately chasing it. It only comes when you’re so focused in the moment that money is really just a byproduct. And ironically it’s a byproduct that just can’t happen any other way. If you're moving, you'll attract money. But if you're trying so hard, money has a way of repelling. Same with everything in life. Strange & real.

He who wants nothing is equal with he who has everything