The Will region is how we turn our wishes into reality. The Wish region is seeking a different state of being. The Will region takes the wish and decides what we can do to reach it. Possibilities for actions may come from the regions above Will, but the decisions are made by Will.

The Will region is how we focus on actions. For example, I may have a few extra pounds. So my wish is to be the right weight. I’m hoping for a new way of being.

The Will region deals with what to do. The wish could be met at least two ways. I could lose weight or I could grow taller. The Mind region figures out that growing taller is probably not a likely option. The Will region decides to work on losing weight. With more help from the other regions, Will sees that I will lose weight by exercising more and eating only to satisfy my physical hunger.

The Wish region needs to get this right, too. It must learn that physical hunger requires food. Eating as a substitute for other needs, such as love, needs to be handled by finding ways to get more love. If Wish and Will do their jobs in a healthy way, our needs will be met more accurately.

The Will region does more than control our actions. It is also the part of us that gives life force to a group when the group wants to accomplish something. There are two ways this can happen. One person’s will can dominate the group or the whole group can combine the life force from their Wills. I believe sharing all the life force is usually the more effective option. Let’s look at both cases to see their advantages and disadvantages.

When one person dominates the others, the person is very likely to meet resistance. Very few people like to be dominated. Those that do are probably not well aware of their Wish region. If someone is powerful enough to dominate a group, good things in the group may be lost. Others in the group will not share their feelings or thoughts if they conflict with the leader. Most of the energy goes toward doing what the leader wants. Negative energy is suppressed, but comes out as resistance anyway. It may be all right for one person to take over a group when everyone agrees about the wish, but the group can’t decide on the actions.

When the whole group combines the life force from everyone’s Will, other life force is brought into play. All the Heart regions can add their cooperative connection between people. All the Mind regions can add possible solutions. The downside is when the Wills do not form a solid set of actions. We’ve all seen committees where there is a lot of talk, but nothing gets done. Either the wishes are not clear or the Wills are not working together. If the Wills can’t join together, there is no advantage to sharing them. If all the soul regions in the group work together well, the group has the most possible resources to work with.

A related situation is when one person sets out to dominate someone else. This is bad for both people if the dominating person is trying to cause harm. The Inca’s use the term “hoocha” for bad stuff that gets created when harm happens. Dominating someone else to cause harm makes a lot of hoocha.

The power from this region does not have to be negative. That only happens when what we are willing is harmful. In health care situations Will can be positive. Energy from the Will region of the healthcare provider gives the patient enough will to get better. It is also used by parents to teach children how to use their own Will. Children who don’t know the abilities of their Wills are lost in lives they can’t control.

It’s worthwhile to look at what other traditions say about this region. Many consider Will to be the center of our power. I think they are considering power in the sense of a person forcing something to happen. In that sense this is where the power is expressed.

Chinese Qigong thinks that this region takes sexual energy and converts it into chi. That chi is used by the rest of the body. Martial artists think this is the center for making strong techniques. Sorcerers say the greatest power comes from the belly. It is used when the sorcerer changes reality. All of these are talking about using power gathered by the Energy region.

In our Western languages we also recognize the importance of the related area of the body when we want to do something difficult. Here are some examples: It takes guts to do the hard stuff. “No guts, no glory.” We talk about people as not having a “stomach for it” if they are afraid to do a difficult task. We get butterflies in our stomach when we are afraid. And it takes a strong stomach to watch unpleasant things without getting upset or feeling ill.

We need to feel a fire in our belly before we are ready to work on something that is difficult. This is another example of how important this region is in getting things done. Note also that this is the only region that is considered a good place for a fire.

There are few things more dangerous or powerful than a parent whose children are being threatened. For example, there are many stories of mothers who lift cars to save their children. Of course, when they try to do it again after the danger is past, there is no way they can lift the car. I suggest this is the fire in the Will region powering the Heart’s superpowers. We’ll talk about those in the Heart region discussion.

Another aspect of this region is the concept of a gut reaction. Most people like to believe that they think through decisions with their Minds. That’s being rational. Research shows that we often make decisions in non-rational (emotional) ways. Then we use our Minds to find what appear to be rational reasons for our decisions.

Life Force Processing

The information processed by the Will region is pretty basic. It usually comes in the form of orders like “Do this!” or “Follow me!” The commands have a verb with an object. Similarly our Will region reacts to commands from the Wills of other people. We remember the command and how successful it was, but not the details of what happened.

Our Will can be directed at ourselves. Sometimes I am not successful in getting myself to do what I tell myself to do. I usually have problems when Will is not in sync with Wish.

The energy handled by the Will can be large. One place we find it is in martial arts. So let’s use an example from there. It is possible to stop an attacker by looking at him. I have done it, at least in practice.

If we expand this idea to a battlefield situation, we can look at the power a leader has in controlling the actions of his warriors. The Scotsman William Wallace (Braveheart) led his fighters against the British army. With his Will he convinced his men to stand against the charge of the British cavalry. Of course, they had a plan, but good plans notoriously get forgotten when there isn’t enough will to carry them through.

The Will is there to use the energy we pull in with the Energy region for making our wishes happen. It uses information from the Heart, Mind, and Spirit regions to decide on the best actions.

Lessons

The lesson for the Will region looks at how our Will affects us and others.

One Minute Exercise

For this exercise we’ll look at how you use your Will region in three situations. Will acts to bring about wishes. So you need to pick a wish to think about when you are doing this exercise. It’s best to pick one of the basic wishes: safety, food, water, sleep, or sex. The directions use sleep, but you can choose a different wish. Here’s how you can do a quick check on your Will. You have about 20 seconds for each part.

• Remember a time when you needed to work on a big project or get ready for a test the next day. You were really sleepy, too. It doesn’t matter which choice you made. If you chose to sleep, did worrying keep you awake? If you chose to work or study, did sleepiness keep you from finishing what you needed to do? Write down how well you carried out your choice.
• Remember a time when a friend wished to do something with you, but you were really sleepy. Describe how you and your friend sorted out your conflicting wishes. How did your Will protect your basic wish?
• Remember a time when you wished to sleep but your boss expected you to keep working. Did you find a way to get enough sleep? How?

To stay alive, you need to fulfill your basic wishes. Your Will needs to protect them from internal and external forces. Your answers to these questions will give you an idea of how well your Will works for your basic wishes.

You can try this exercise again with a different basic wish or a non-basic wish that you can’t seem to accomplish. Compare the results of the basic wish and the non-basic wish. If they are at all similar, you probably want to use the basic wish to practice making your Will stronger. That way your Heart and Mind will raise fewer objections to cause confusion.