Week 14💡with Shankarji!

1/13/21

Notes by Saadhvi Mamidi

Q: At what point in our life are we satisfied? Can all of our desires be fulfilled?

Q: What is Vedanta?

A: The Science of Happiness, we must identify with happiness

Q: Where do our sorrows come from?

A: Our sorrows come from the inside. Things in our environment affect us, but it is with our doing that we feel sorrow.

Q: What is freedom?

• Freedom: not being attached to anything
• Letting go of things that bother you
• Literal meaning — constitutional rights, freedom from other people
• “To not do what you feel like doing is freedom.” — Swami Chinmayananda

Not letting desires dictate what we do is freedom

Choosing not to act on a specific desire is freedom

Q: Do we have free will in life or is everything destiny?

• Before engaging in an intentional action, we have a desire, which is shaped by our likes/dislikes
• The specific outcome of the action strengthens our likes/dislikes

• Our likes and dislikes are ingrained and built-in

We cannot train ourselves to like something we don’t and dislike something we like

Q: Where does free will lie? Do we even have free will?

• When we choose what desires to translate into actions, we’re practicing free will
• Free will lies between desires and actions

Q: What do we need for resolutions/to change our behavior?

• Discipline: our ability to do what we don’t want to do (we don’t need discipline to watch movies, for example)
• Discipline (expression of our free will) = freedom = happiness
• Discipline is usually associated with a negative connotation, but it’s necessary to achieve independent happiness

Q: What are some practices to build habits?

• Reduce whatever goal we have to one minute a day

For example, if you want to exercise every day, reduce that goal to running for one minute a day and then slowly progress.

Watch a video on this method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgwArOkUU0

Make your bed every day → starting the morning on the right note

Creating a chain effect — if you can’t control your room, how do you control everything else?

• Write down your progress

You can look back on this when you want to give up

• Plan our days (minute by minute)

Having some kind of structure means that we don’t have to constantly use willpower

Discipline Study: Two groups were given two plates of beets and cookies. One group was told to eat the beets and not eat the cookies. The other group was told to eat the cookies. Then, both groups were asked to complete a difficult puzzle. The group that ate the beets gave up 10 minutes before the other group. Self-restraint uses energy! Our resource is being depleted.

We have that belief that by adjusting our environment to avoid using willpower we’re showing weakness (ex: removing our phone from our workspace when doing homework), but in reality this shows strength

• Positive affirmations
• Have a consistent routine everyday

*The most important habit to practice: Go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday*