Nourish Your Intentions With Mindfulness

Nourishment is something I think and talk about a lot. Obviously there's physical nourishment, which we get from food -- but to live full and satisfying lives we need other kinds of sustenance too. 

Lately I've been snacking on the book Silence, by Buddhist teacher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh. In the first chapter he talks about four kinds of "nutriments" (types of nourishment) that we get energy from every day.

That's what inspired this post. 

A smorgasbord of stimuli

In Silence, Thich Nhat Hanh describes a "smorgasbord of stimuli" that we're choosing from every day (knowingly or not) as we take in energy from the world around us.

The types of nourishment available on the smorgasbord are:

• physical food, 
• sense impressions (what we take in through our five senses),
• volition (what moves us to act), and 
• consciousness (individual and collective).

As I was reading, it occurred to me that all of these can vary from healthy sources of energy, to unhealthy.

Just like real, nourishing food versus junk food, any of these four kinds of nutriments can fill us with energy and vitality or they can leave us un-nourished, sluggish or jittery, and unwell.

Of the four, the one I want to talk about in this post is "volition."

Volition - "the force that moves us to act"

I would describe "volition" as being "the force that motivates or moves us to act."

In a dictionary, it means something like, "the act of exercising the will; the faculty or capability of conscious choice, decision, and intention."  

To do something "of one's own volition" is to do it by one's own choice.

Synonyms for volition (words with similar meanings) are choice and discretion.

Volition is like food in that it "feeds" your choices and actions

Of the nutriment of "volition," Thich Nhat Hanh says:

I would also add that most of the noise around us is designed to incite strong emotional reactions that keep us hooked, scrolling, clicking, gaping, and gossiping (gossiping is now called "sharing"). 

And as digital tech and AI become increasingly subtle and manipulative, all this noise is influencing us far below the level of our conscious awareness. (I asked my 14 year old son what he thought of this post; one of the things he said was, "Mum, don't list "advertising" as a source of volition. Most people believe they're not influenced by advertising.")

Thich Nhat Hanh goes on to say,

Allowing the noise outside of you to motivate you is like eating junk food

Here's what I took away: 

Volition (your decision making power or the force that motivates you to act) can come from inside you, based on your personal values and your authentic desires. This is real "nourishment" for your decisions and actions. 

Or it can come from the "noise" outside of you -- this can be more like "junk food.".  

Volition from outside sources that are not interested in your well-being fills you up with "calories" (spikes of cheap, short term energy).

But it doesn't provide the lasting "nutrients" (for example, a sense of meaning and satisfaction) that you would get from being guided by your own internal volition.

Which means that when we allow the noise around us to motivate our actions, we're starving ourselves.

What if you can't find your internal volition?

If you got in trouble a lot for following your internal volition as a child, it might now feel like you cant find it or even that don't have any. 

Here's where mindfulness comes in. According to Thich Nhat Hanh (in another of his books, Being Peace) mindfulness means simply "paying attention."

Pay attention, especially to your body.

Your body knows what's going on inside of you. 

When your whole body feels good, you can assume that you've managed to align yourself with your internal volition. 

When something in your body feels "off," or uncomfortable, you can assume you're out of alignment. 

It's a bit like food -- real, nourishing food makes your body feel good; junk food doesn't.