how to figure out what do i want to do, when i have energy i don't know how to canablise it don't know what to do, like when i amsitting i have nothi9ng to don't konw what do i want to do it's like i don't have clarity to know what i want
Alan Watts says that a lot of our struggle comes from not knowing what we want and from feeling that we are “missing something,” which keeps us in struggle 1. He also says that people often spend energy chasing abstract goals, but “we do not know what we want because we are only dimly aware of anything wantable” 8. In that sense, the problem is not just lack of energy, but lack of clarity about desire itself 8.
Watts suggests that one way through is to stop forcing the question as if you must already have a clear answer. He says to “do not try to do anything about this” and “do not make any effort,” but instead simply be aware of what is going on in your mind 10. He also says you can begin by finding out that “there is actually nothing else to do” and that if you must go on wobbling, “wobble with all your might” 6. So the point is not to manufacture certainty first, but to become fully present with your present state and energy 610.
He also frames action differently: if you act “like you dance, or like you sing, or play music,” you are not acting to reach some future place where everything will be all right 4. If you think action is only valuable when it leads somewhere else, you get caught in a “rat race” 4. Watts says you are “already there,” and action becomes possible when you realize that 4.
So, in Watts’s terms, you might not need to figure out your “one true thing” immediately. Instead, you can:
- notice the feeling of wanting without forcing an answer 10
- stop assuming you must find some future perfect goal 46
- use your energy in a present action, even if it begins small or uncertain 35
If you want, I can help you turn that into a very simple “what do I do today?” exercise based on Watts’s way of thinking 410.
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