Watch a lotto game, where little balls bounce into holes, generally numbered from 1 to 80.

Try not to desire a ball to land in  particular holes.

I noticed that when I watched a video lotto game at a local cafe that I would desire for the ball to land in a particular hole.

This was very interesting to me. It was hard not to wish for the ball to perform in a certain way.

Eventually I remembered the example Suzuki Roshi gives in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind concerning a classical ink brush painting exercise used in Japan. The painter is to put down a TOTALLY RANDOM pattern of dots. Suzuki Roshi said this is more difficult than one might think.

A mathematician on public radio said recently that it is almost impossible for his students to fake a random pattern of coin tosses. A random patter can include --

heads heads heads heads heads heads heads

students don't  think that looks good. They throw in a tails or two --

heads heads heads heads tails heads tails

These examples show me what I am working with when I try to free myself from wishful thinking. I might even think sometimes that I am free of wishful thinking, however . . .