Origin of Action

• reflex (instinct)
• muscle memory (training)
• thoughts

Thoughts

Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny. --― Lao Tzu

The yogis understood one of the sources of action is thoughts, but our society focuses more on the actions themselves: productivity, output, metrics, ... We focus on grades, instead of making sure the student understands it. We don't focus on health, but focus on the appearance of health.

The yogis call motivation a concentrated mind, or one-pointed mind. We should focus on strengthening the muscle of the mind. If you want to achieve anything, one needs to train their mind through concentration, or dharang.

Three fundamental movements of the mind:

• direct the mind to something
• let go of something that you don't want to direct to
• hold something in the mind

Where do thoughts come from?

sensory organs (indriyas)

right environment, cultivates the right environment (sensory impressions)

samskaras

attaching emotions to a sensory impressions

transcendental (true genius)

flash of inspiration or creativity, cultivated by practicing meditation or creative processes

Pratyahara

The more our attention is fracture, the more diluted it becomes. So, the more we distribute our attention through our senses, the weaker each of those things become.

Directing more attention to one sensory organ, makes the attention rise exponentially. Pratyahara is the practice of withdrawing from our sense organs, which is a key step in focusing the mind.