Material Desire

So, we're sitting there getting our Headspace, when all of a sudden that image of, I don't know, something we saw a few days back, something we've been wanting for a long time, pops into the mind. And all of a sudden it generates a bit of excitement as we either dream about getting it, or we plan how we're gonna get it, how we're gonna afford it. That one thing that is gonna finally make us happy and change our life forever. Strange thing is that we know we've experienced this feeling before in our lifetime. We have seen something we really like, and we think, "Yeah, if I can just get that, it's really just, that's gonna do it." And yet we know it gives us some temporary kind of pleasure. And, of course, there's nothing wrong with buying things that give us temporary pleasure. But at the same time, it's helpful to recognize that it's not ever gonna bring us any lasting sense of happiness, no matter what it is. And, funnily enough, as soon as we acknowledge that, as soon as we see that clearly, a lot of our material desire just kind of, it just dissipates. It fades away. And we find ourselves, rather than spending a lot of time daydreaming, thinking about those things that we want in life, instead, we're just present a bit more. Not so caught up in the mind. Again, it doesn't mean kind of giving up those nice things in life. Of course, we can, we can have them, we can buy them and, you know, but it's just how much mental energy we give to it. And I think often it's when we can't have it, or when we can't afford it, that somehow the mind seems a little less willing to let go of it. So, when we can, it's, you know, it's okay. But, when we can't, there's a sense of frustration perhaps. It might even be a feeling of injustice, kind of why can that person afford it and I can't. And again, we get caught up in a whole conversation in the mind. But, when we're sitting there and this thought arises, we treat it in the same way as any other thought. It's just a thought. It doesn't have any kind of validity, as there's nothing tangible about that thought. It is simply a thought. And we have the opportunity in that moment to see it clearly as just that, just a thought. To acknowledge it, to let it go. Outside of the session itself, it is, I think, genuinely useful every now and again, just to reflect, to look back over time at the things that you have been so excited about at one point or another, which end up either in the bin, in the trashcan, or kind of in the bottom of a bag going to the charity shop. Or, whatever it might be, we tend to, in the moment,...