Grasping

Today I did the homework assignment I gave the sangha last week - to choose a time when you are wanting something and to not give in to the grasping, rather to contemplate the feeling of wanting.

We were in Marshall's. DD needed some socks. (Good god! Where do they go?) I grabbed a pair of workout pants and top. A few minutes later, I took them out of the cart and returned them, but when I pulled them out of the cart, I noticed they matched so nicely! I felt a growing urge to throw them back into the cart, but fought against it.

It seems silly, I know. But I learned something. I learned that the feeling of desire to acquire something disappears rather quickly. Before I left the store, I had forgotten about the clothes. At home, I didn't sit and brood over how much I wanted those clothes. It was a good reminder to sit through the process of renunciation, especially with the process of acquisition. I will go so far as to say that most of us, me included, give in to these impulse urges to purchase, when if we try to sit them out, we find they are fleeting moments of desire.

Now, Starbucks' hot chocolates. That's another type of desire that doesn't disintegrate. It lingers until I give in. I'll revisit this thought later - need to consider ways to tackle that desiring process.