Is Candy Crush a Spiritual Practice?!

For pretty much the entire month of June I went down a wormhole of Candy Crush. It got to the point that I saw exploding multi-colored Sno-Caps when I closed my eyes to go to sleep.

I kept trying to justify the time I spent curled up with the iPad by finding some deeper meaning that I could relay in a blog post. I mean, there are a couple of cool things to be learned—that sometimes working on some area that feels totally unrelated to the area you want to target will get you the precise results you want. (Or, in Candy Crush terms, if you want to clear the jelly, you’ve got to clear some non-jelly spaces too.) That there’s always another chance. That you can always ask for help. But really, it was too much of a stretch to assign spiritual meaning to Candy Crush.

Except for this: Beauty, synchronicity, and even success happen when you honor your desires. (Click to Tweet!)

Even if the desire doesn’t seem to be in any way related to growth or beauty or success. Even if the desire is playing ridiculous amounts of Candy Crush.

Desire is a mighty powerful creature. One of the oldest and most sacred yogic texts, The Upanishads, says “You are what your deep driving desire is.” The things that call to you, that you want to the point of longing, come from a higher place. They are divine. And I believe that when you follow your desires you are working in tandem with Spirit, Life, the universe, God, whatever name floats your boat.

So, by indulging in Candy Crush, I was engaging in a desire to have more time than I needed. (I wrote about this desire more here and here.) To be able to be someone who could have something as frivolous as a Candy Crush obsession.

I mean, no, you can’t just drop your whole life and responsibilities and do whatever odd things you’re craving 24/7. But you absolutely can allow yourself to devote some time to what’s calling to you. Because when you do, you are giving yourself the opportunity to feel a way that you want to be feeling.

And the more time you can spend feeling the way you want to feel, the more Life will send you opportunities that perpetuate that feeling.

For me, in the last few weeks since I satisfied my urge to gorge on Candy Crush, I have:

• Been invited by friends to go out on their boat—something else I’ve really been wanting!
• Had an honest conversation with a writing client that resulted in them sending me a multiple four-figure check on top of the amount we had agreed I would be paid—and money is also definitely something I’ve been wanting more of.
• Made a big shift in how I experience time. I am pretty much no longer rushing around like a crazy person (I wrote about that here).  That feels so different, and soooo good. And, I’ve gotten so much done.

Your desires will naturally rise and fall and morph into something else. I broke the Candy Crush obsession while we were on Block Island, I’m happy to say, because I noticed it had gone past the point of feeling like a decadent treat and was veering in to the territory of keeping me from doing other things that I really wanted to do, like have grown-up time with my husband after the kids went to bed and getting enough sleep. So long as you pay attention to how fulfilled your desire makes you feel, you’ll know when it’s time to shift into a new phase.

We’ve got six weeks of summer left. This is definitely the season of having more time at your disposal to indulge in some things you’ve long wanted to do. What sincere longing do you want to fulfill? And how will you do it? What’s calling your name even if you aren’t sure why? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Here’s to doing what you want!