“Ask and you shall receive”. We’ve all heard that yes? No, it wasn’t from the movie The Secret, it was from the Holy Bible – one of Jesus’ more poignant teachings. But we have to be careful with this one.

Where or what is the motivator for those ‘things’ we ask for? The Buddha teaches us that it is our desire that gets us into trouble; that desire causes our suffering. That without desire we would have no suffering. Even if you want to ignore Buddha and ask anyway, how do you ask? There’s prayer, or meditation – can you just look up and say, “Hey God I want a new car” and “poof” you get a new car?

Well, obviously it doesn’t work like that. First off, your question was worded wrong. In this example you said, “I want …”. Well – asked like that, that is what you are going to get – WANT. What is wanting? Wanting is NOT having. So how do you get around this loophole? Well obviously use better words, but overall, don’t ignore the Buddhists, and drop the desire – drop the wanting. Change your desire into an intention.

By changing your desire to intention, you kill two birds with one stone. First you take a step in getting rid of suffering in your life (don’t count on getting rid of all of it however), and next you are taking a step in the direction of getting what it is you want. Intention is defined as – 1) an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result, 2) the end or object intended; purpose. When you look at the definition of desire you see the word “wish” quite often. Stop living wishfully, and give yourself some purpose.

Start by being grateful for what you have, and if you absolutely need more thank God for giving it to you. You know everything you desired in the first place is out there. Someone, somewhere has it right now – so make it your intention to have it too, and be grateful for it. Stop praying; “Please God I want a new car”, but pray rather; “Thank you God for the car – I’m so grateful to be able to get to work and care for my family”. Pray this, knowing beyond doubt that it is true, then start looking for the opportunities, because you know God rarely goes “poof”. No, God more often sends his answers in a much more indirect way. If you pray for patience, God does not grant you patience, s/he puts you in a place where you can learn patience.

Anyway – you get it – now do it.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard