What I Really Really Want Is What I Really Really Desire

As you continue to determine your intentions for this new year, it’s helpful to distinguish between your wants and your desires. Your wants are mostly all of your cravings for more material things: a bigger house, fancier car, new clothes, the latest iPhone and other gadgets.

They’re the kind of things people often put on their Vision Boards – –
hoping to manifest a more abundant life of stuff. Although there’s a whole industry telling us we’ll be happier having this “prosperous” life, studies show that these things only account for 10-15% of our happiness in life.  And once we get these material things, our sense of happiness quickly goes away and we want more.

True happiness and well-being come from creating a meaningful life in accordance with our life purpose. These are the desires of our heart and soul – – our deepest longings to live a life that matters. How sad it is that people spend most of their life energy chasing after what brings false happiness and have little time to reflect and act on what brings the greatest joy.

Claire Zammit, from the Feminine Power movement, teaches a simple exercise to clarify your wants from your desires.
I invite you to take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.
On the left side, list all of your wants.
On the right side, list all of your desires.
It may look something like this:

Wants                        Desires

a new car                   World peace
a new couch              Shelter for the homeless
clothes                       Help for children with autism
iPad                           Save the bees
skiis                           Gov’t action for climate change
jewellery                     Food for starving children
Now take some time to reflect on the differences you feel between the two columns. I find that my wants stir up a sense of greed – – a feeling of insatiable cravings for more.
Whereas my desires feel true to a deeper, more fulfilling sense of a greater being inside of me – – my True Self, my authentic Self, my God-Self.

Find some quiet time to listen for your heart’s deepest desires.
Sometimes it comes when you wake up at 3 AM and your heart cries out:
“Why doesn’t somebody do something to help the children who are starving?” – –
and you know – –  that SOMEBODY is YOU!

This is God’s dream of you – –
This is your calling to a greater purpose of sacred action that will bring you life’s greatest joy.

And remember – –
when God puts a dream in your heart,
God will give you the means to live it out.

Get ready to soar!