The Four Goals Of Human Life - Talk & Journaling

Hello!

I am here to share some practices with you,

Some teachings that maybe are familiar,

You're maybe already familiar.

I know I've written about them in the past and I hope that they are helpful as we navigate this new year,

As we're perhaps navigating new chapters in our lives,

And as we revisit these concepts we can find new gems and new ways of seeing the beauty within us.

So these are teachings from the Vedas,

From the source of where yoga has come from,

Or the typical yoga that we know,

Like the yoga poses,

It comes from the same source.

And it's the four desires,

There's different ways that maybe you've seen them positioned out there,

The four desires is one of them,

The four goals of human life,

And as I'm kind of describing the shadow and the light forms of them,

Perhaps this can be an opportunity for you to journal and maybe pull out something to write with.

And you can revisit this practice however many times you need,

Maybe push pause as I go through each one,

So that you have a little bit more time to reflect or to write.

Okay,

I'm going to just give us a moment here,

Maybe you want to close your eyes and just take a big breath in through the nose and let it go out the mouth.

Whether you're starting to journal right now,

Or maybe you just needed that breath and you're just going to listen to the teachings today,

I hope that that breath just allowed you to arrive a little bit more here.

And so the first one,

The first desire,

The first goal of human life that we're going to talk about is dharma.

Dharma is often translated as purpose,

And the definition here I want to share is dharma is the desire to fully become who you were meant to be,

To thrive and fulfill your destiny.

And so when this is in balance,

Your purpose might feel aligned with the collective good,

There is a sense of reciprocity,

Of giving and receiving,

And for some of us,

This has nothing to do with our job.

So just keep that in mind that I know that we often hear a lot of messaging,

How you know,

Find your purpose,

Find your job,

Find your purpose,

Or make your job your purpose.

But for some of us,

That's just,

That's not what dharma is.

It's not meant to be.

The shadow side of this,

So when it's feeling out of balance,

Our dharma can feel egocentric,

And it's the purpose that focuses on,

This is my purpose,

I need to find my purpose,

Without really seeing the big picture or without seeing the gift of the collective of that receiving and giving.

And I would even suggest that the shadow side is also when we're too perhaps attached to our dharma,

Being our source of money or income,

And really wanting that to be connected.

And so as you're hearing that definition,

As you're hearing the light and the shadow,

Or in balance,

Out of balance,

Perhaps you can just reflect or write or hear the the subtle messages that sometimes come through through writing,

Or when you're taking a shower,

Or when you're just like not really fully thinking in that,

Like,

Trying to find the answer mind.

And so it could be something like,

What responsibilities in life feel most aligned with my original sense of essence?

And so this is the the way that my teacher has been helping me uncover of this.

So I hope that that the way that that's phrased also supports you.

Okay,

So our next here is artha.

Artha is our sense of security.

The definition is the desire for material needs like money,

Security,

And health to support living out our dharma.

And so in balance is our sense of home,

Is our belonging,

Our financial security,

Having a healthy relationship with your finances.

And for some of us,

This may be our day-to-day job.

This might be the job that gives us that financial security,

That provides that financial security in order for us to perhaps live out our dharma or live out other things.

And then the shadow side of this is perhaps becoming a workaholic and only seeing that side of needing a lot or more security through work,

Being overly focused on material goods that your relationship with finances may suffer to.

You know,

Perhaps ignoring finances or even it could even be like ignoring the reality of what your finances are.

As you're navigating the definitions,

The light and the shadow,

Perhaps a question to just reflect on or to listen or to hear again.

Yeah,

Could be,

Sorry for the long pause,

Could be what influences your sense of security or how does your relationship to resources influence your sense of security?

Yeah,

I think that one sounded better.

But just listen to that and feel into the light and the shadow.

The light being when our basic needs are met and we're feeling stable,

Our shadow may be greed,

Neglecting spirituality,

Or even relationships.

Okay,

Let's move on to kamma.

So kamma is pleasure.

The definition is the desire and longing for pleasure,

Sensuality and joy.

And so in balance,

It's finding pleasure in connections,

Friendships,

Savoring life's beauty and the shadow side.

I want to see if I have anything else for light.

It's happiness,

It's inspiration,

It's creativity.

And then the shadow side is overindulgence or underindulgence in pleasure and sensuality.

We might think we might have a better understanding of overindulgence,

Overdoing,

Overeating,

Over sensuality.

But under could also be a shadow side of kamma.

And this could look like monitoring,

Like sugar intake,

Even when there's no pressing health concerns.

This can also just look like art,

Like the I think,

Yeah,

Like I kind of said already,

But like overindulgence is like the sacks struts parting that that's definitely the the shadow side of overpleasure.

And so as you're you're reflecting and feeling into those Where in life could you amplify that that pleasure of finding connection,

Friendship,

Savoring life's beauty?

I think this one was actually the hardest one for me to really feel into for some reason.

So yeah,

I guess just be curious to see if anything comes up for you in any of the four.

And so then the last one we have here is moksha.

And moksha is freedom.

The definition is the longing to be free from worldly burdens,

Experiencing spirit and a state beyond the other desires.

And when in balance,

It's feeling free and alive.

This could be feeling free and alive when you're running on your regular run with your favorite salmon.

It can be skiing down a mountain.

It can be sitting in meditation and community what makes you feel free and alive.

And and when it's the shadow side,

When it's the struggling,

Sorry,

When it's the shadow side,

When it's the the out of balance,

That can be struggling to maintain kind of like these worldly responsibilities,

Financial responsibilities.

What is it in this in this material physical world that keeps us here and not too far up in the kind of spiritual world?

And it could look like maybe even not being consistent with paying bills,

Kind of forgetting when your bills need to be paid.

The question that I've been exploring or that has been supported through my teacher is,

How is it that you integrate spiritual growth into your day to day?

I think that's such a beautiful question and challenging,

Too.

So as as you're,

Again,

Listening,

Pausing,

Reflecting,

Coming back,

Think of these as just moments of of brainstorming of moments with yourself and and spend some time maybe this weekend,

Next weekend,

This month,

Next month,

Just giving them space without needing to be accurate for an answer or accurate of anything.

Just seeing what comes up when you hear of these four or listen,

Re-listen to the four four longings,

The four desires,

The four human goals of of life and and allow yourself to,

Yeah,

Just feel into them.

And perhaps as you're navigating,

Maybe like light bulb will go off and it'll it'll be clear what a goal,

A tangible goal is around these desires that might unravel from the questions or just from listening to the shadow and the light.

So I hope this was helpful.

I love coming back to the four desires.

It's always such a nice reminder,

A simple reminder of how to view the world.

Right.

There's so many resources out there.

There's so many ways to to think of of our trajectory into this lifetime.

And then we have tools like this that can help us just distill it into these four.

Yeah.

And I hope you enjoy these practices.

Talk soon.