‘the readiness is all’ – Hamlet
Being prepared to do something is a crucial aspect of taking action. Willingness represents the ease with which you commit to doing something specific. When Hamlet declares that ‘the readiness is all, he displays perfect willingness to accept his tragic death, even though he has spent the play stalling for time. This is an excellent representation of overcoming problems with willingness, albeit a dramatic example.
Often, when we face hardship and adversity, the problem with willingness can dissipate with fear. Arguably, the best solution to this is to have a strong moral grounding behind our idea of acting. Willingness and passion are essential to understanding why we act, but many have little regard for how the two concepts can go together in terms of action or inaction.
In Psychology
The term ‘volition’ is used to describe willingness, the process of making up the mind and deciding to do something. Psychology has many times depict the varying states of readiness experienced within any human action. Overall, the cognitive process of volition is still being debated; most frequently, the debate regarding discretion seeks to distinguish whether it is the same thing as motivation or not.
Why we Need Willingness
Willingness provides the freedom to take certain risks; it allows us to calculate, and above all, will enable us to take action. Whether considered synonymous or not, willingness and motivation must go hand in hand for us to take effective action in our lives. Often, we lack that ‘oomph’ that creates proper, effective action within ourselves. It takes practice to provide ourselves with the ability to take action, especially when things are hard or reason not to want to do something. But we must recognise through our rational understanding of morality whether something is worth having willingness to do or not.
Acting According to Volition
Willingness is, in a way, defined by what we want to do, and that is based on what serves us and our beliefs. When we act according to our will, we align with our principles and ideas and put them into action. Therefore, we can consider our actions the byproduct of our beliefs, done according to willingness. This means that to act with willingness, we must first understand our allegiances and why we are willing to work because of them. Without an idea of morality, we cannot decide upon our volition to act.
Guided Meditation
To perfect clarity of thought and establish our study path when it comes to morality, we can use guided meditation. The process of guided meditation allows us to think deeply about our motivations, what roots our beliefs and sense of character, and why we sometimes feel limited in terms of willingness to act. Our ability to work willingly relies on a combination of motivation and assurance, and we can establish through both regular practice of guided meditation.