What You Want
Image by NASA
Perhaps it’s because I’ve had years of experience teaching children and helping other adults at various points in their child-rearing process, or perhaps it’s because I am a mother myself. Whatever the reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about human development lately.
Actual footage of me incubating life.
About the nature of incubating life, and of nurturing it.
About the stories we’re told and the ones we tell ourselves in the process of moving through this plane of existence.
About the vital role of desires, and our entrained propensity for trying to quell or corral them.
Desire.
That word has become so loaded over the years, almost like it’s a curse word or some forbidden fruit. The truth is, it’s a natural part of life. At its barest definition, desire is a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen – to long or hope for something.
Merriam-Webster says desire is “a conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment; a longing or craving; something longed or hoped for.”
Our culture has endless opinions regarding all sorts of things, from what is considered “good” or “bad” to what constitutes “success” or “failure” and it can be easy to overlook or even vilify our own desires in an effort to fit into the popular milieu.
No shame in that. In fact, no shame at all over here in my corner of the internet. I’m all about shame-busting actually, but I digress.
It’s okay to want what we want.
More than okay, it’s vital that we embrace our desires. The ownership of desire is the first step in creating anything. Every single thing that exists today in the physical plane, began as a desire in someone’s psyche. And, if those people hadn’t owned their desires, hadn’t allowed themselves the freedom to want what they wanted, many of the things we now consider “normal” or “useful” even wouldn’t exist (including our families and homes).
Image by Devin Wright
I know I talk a lot about action in this journal, about taking steps toward getting things done. That’s because those steps are imperative for actualizing our dreams and goals. Action is where the magic happens in bringing anything into tangible form. But, before we can DO the doing, we must dream the dream. And before we can dream the dream, we must allow space for our desires, and celebrate them.
We get to want what we want.
I’d love to encourage you to play with this idea over the next days or weeks. To ask, “what do I want?” or “what would be awesome?” (or some variation of the theme that resonates with you), and see what comes up. Allow yourself to want whatever it is that you want without judgement and without wondering or worrying about the how of things.
Desire isn’t about how. Desire is about what.
So, what do you want? What do you really want? You. Not society, or your family, or your mentor, or what you think you “should” want, or do, or be, or have. Play in a space of anything goes. Play in a space of possibility. Drop the how and the shoulds for now and let what wants to come through with this inquiry come through.
Have fun with it.
Here’s to honest exploration. To laying down the shoulds and playing in the what-ifs. To opening the doors of possibility and embracing our own desires. To allowing ourselves to want what we want, whatever that may be.