Wishes

[katiemouse]

One of the classes I taught this year would frequently stop for a minute and make a wish at 11:11. You might wonder why a teacher would permit this and I have a multitude of explanations and excuses but the bottom line of my reason for allowing a minute out of class every few weeks is that I believe wishing is productive. I think it is healthy and

Comments

[triath]

I wish for the best possible outcome to situations that I'm not sure what I want to happen. Or sometimes I wish for love.

[katiemouse]

Your comment made me realize something: Sometimes, there is a fine line between wishing and praying for me.

[triath]

I count it as wishing when it's prompted by seeing a falling star, or blowing an eyelash or birthday candles or a dandelion head. And usually my wishes are a little more on the silly side.

But yeah.

[katiemouse]

It is strange to me that no one has said "grand things" because growing up I would always wish for (or pray for) peace, world happiness, cures for diseases, etc.
I am not sure when that stopped, but I am a little sad it did.I think I stopped believing I could change anything significant.

[dragonmudd]

To clarify, my response falls under "I don't think to wish".

[katiemouse]

I'm glad to know you don't think I am childish...at least not in a bad way. :)

[amoken]

That's not entirely true; I was encouraged to make wishes as a child and did so at my mother's insistence, but I never found it compelling. The last time I remember wishing was when I was 8: I wished my parents would divorce, and they just kept being idiots, so I decided wishing sucked. I thought about the situation for a while, and then flat out asked my mom why they didn't get a divorce, making sure to note that they shouldn't try to make things work just for my sake. The divorce was final when I was 10. I decided taking action was better than wishing, even when I wasn't in full control of the situation.

However, I figuratively wish all the time. I wish that certain friends didn't have so much trouble with their romantic relationships, that sort of thing. But it's a figure of speech to describe a vague desire, as opposed to the act we call wishing.

[katiemouse]

I agree that taking action is better than wishing. I guess I have found that the silly superstitious times when I am supposed to wish help me realize what action I could be taking. Thank you for commenting!

[amoken]

Oh yeah, I don't mean to imply that it wouldn't be helpful anyone. A lot of people do better with any sort of allocated focus time, like praying before bed or meditating in the morning or wishing at 11:11. I'm just not those people. :)

[2gouda4u]

I think when something's more under my control, I tend to hope for it (e.g., "I hope I get the promotion I applied for"), whereas things that are out of my control I wish for. I realize this is largely a semantics thing, and I'm probably weird for differentiating. Also, though I chose a fairly selfless answer to your poll, I also wish for selfish things :-) Like, "I wish my skin wasn't stupid".

[katiemouse]

I think there is a difference between hoping and wishing but I don't know if I could pinpoint what it is. I think you and I view them oppositely from one another. Hope uses faith for me. I would hope Ichiro would hit a home run because I have faith in his ability. I would hope my uncle is okay after after surgery due to my faith in his doctors or maybe a higher power.
Now I want to watch "My best Friend's Wedding" to further study this phenomenon of "wishing and hoping." :)