In every moment, we have the chance to feel fully into our present moment, or choose the next thought which our mind has thrown at us to keep us distracted. At what point do you, the consciousness, get in front of the mind-thought chatter that occupies your head minute by minute? Is there an access or an opening? At what point do we choose our thoughts?

The will is your ability, or a measure of your ability, to direct your thoughts. The will to do things not because they make sense (everyone’s rationale is different), but because you ‘will’ yourself to think the thought.

This is the fundamental reason behind why we do rituals. In rituals, even if we’re reading it out of a book, we’ve designed the thought pattern that we’re choosing to engage in. Every moment you’re in ritual is a moment you are unplugged from the collective consciousness/ego trap that has your mind running in a million directions.

The best time to meditate is when you have so many things going on, you don’t know where to start. That’s when you know you’ve fallen so deep into your ego/thought trap that it’ll take a huge crane to lift you back out. And who’s got time for that?

When you make time, despite the pressures of the world eroding your time for self-care, creative expression, fun connecting with community, and meditation you have done high magic! Creating your life because you say so, doing things because you say so is your will at work.

Succumbing to the pressures of the world with no compromise for your values of health, wealth and ecstatic joy (or whatever your values are) means you are just sitting like a passenger waiting for life to go by. A compromise looks like making sure you still have time before the end of your day for meditation, even if you miss your time to sit in the morning. Using your will means making tough choices that are oftentimes not socially popular in order to fill your life with the experiences that enliven YOU rather than please OTHERS.

This is your life. Will to live it!