(Epistemic Status: Almost certainly written on by smarter and/or more articulate people than myself; helpful insight, pragmatic.)
A few weeks ago, I had an interesting experience where I noticed that I had a strong desire to do something but lacked sufficient resources to execute it. I thought a little harder and I noticed I did have sufficient resources but I had already mentally earmarked them. Once I realized this, I examined my priorities and desires, realized I wanted to keep the resources earmarked to the things they were allocated to and felt the desire to accelerate the project fade. I also felt a sort of peace at having resolved the internal tension.
The concept of prioritization is far from new or original. Generally, people have things they want to do more than other things and in situations of limited resources, will allocate resources to the things they want to do more. The concept of revealing your preferences with how you actually use your resources, as opposed to your words, is also not new. What felt new to me is the sensation of peace and ability to defuse the pain of desire by going through this process. Statements like “I want” and “I wish” cause a simulation of the experience of loss, at least for me. I notice I am missing something and that I would rather not be missing that something. Sometimes this drive is very helpful and directs my cognition towards gaining the desire. Other times, it leads to a feeling of powerlessness or worse, to bad decisions because the want/wish is too powerful. The concept of noticing the desire and interrogating my priorities feels like an antidote to that helpless feeling.
Overall, I think this is a good tool in the vein of figuring out what you really want and also discarding bad attachment feelings that you cannot act on.
Discussion: This is a relatively short essay for a simple concept. How often do you notice that you want something or want to do something? How often does that desire lead you to unhappy places? How often do you realize that you are allocating resources to the future mentally to maintain stability? At higher levels of security and resources (or possibly access to “emergency resources”), does it become easier or hard to dispel a desire that would be costly to act on?
