How To Know What You Want
What is it that you want? If you could have anything, what would it be? Lose those last 10 pounds, travel more, find a spouse, have your dream job, have a child, or be less stressed? Do you want more free time?
We have three areas we WANT things for: our body, mind, and soul. All our wants can be boiled down to these three elements, since they make up our being. Our BODY communicates what's going on externally to what's going on internally. The MIND communicates what's going on internally, to what's going on externally and the SOUL connects it all and helps us navigate it all. Whether or not you believe in God, most people have a sense that there's something bigger than us that speaks to our heart. Sometimes we can have everything we want and still feel off, that is when our soul needs to be nourished and God is waiting patiently for us to turn to him.
The Mind, Body, and Soul gives us information when it's working well and when it's not. We operate at our highest capacity when these three elements are in sync. When our body is healthy, we have more energy to do the things we want. When our mind is healthy, we have more creativity, patience and motivation. When our soul is healthy, we have more joy, purpose and confidence. Getting these three elements to healthy levels is an ongoing process!
To operate at your fullest, You must be aware of what your Mind, Body and Soul WANTS.
To start out, you must figure out WHERE you already are.
How does your body feel right now? Do you feel strong and healthy or delicate and tired?
How does your mind feel right now? Is your mind creative and clear, or cluttered with thoughts that paralyze you from taking action?
How does your soul feel right now? Do you feel aligned with WHO God made you? Do you feel like you are living out your purpose?
Tune into your energy levels, your mindset, and your overall view of life. Is it where you want it to be?
Sometimes we don't know exactly what we want, but we know some things we DON'T Want.
Nobody wants to feel tired, have cluttered thoughts and be unsure what their purpose is.
3 Strategies To Discern What You Want
The first strategy you can try when discovering WHAT you want, is to be clear on what you DON'T WANT.
For example: "I don't..."
want to be stressed all the time
want to always be wanting to lose the weight
want to be disorganized
want to work 60 hours a week
want to be insignificant
want to be lonely
want to have a cluttered mind (or house)
Sometimes looking at the flip side of things, will get your mind creative and spark some new thoughts!
The second way to figure out what you want, is to imagine that you have ONE day without any limits, responsibilities, pressures, or expectations. That ONE day is to be filled with only things that make you happy. You can make the day as long or as short as you want even- this is your DAY! You have limitless money that you don't have to pay back. What would you do? Who would you spend it with? What fun things would you try if you wouldn't fail, disappoint anyone or get hurt? How would it make you feel to have a day like that? Maybe even a life?
Allowing yourself to day dream about these things is healthy! God wants us to dream and explore the desires of our heart. Be aware if judgement starts to creep in though. Sometimes we don't dream because we can get sad about what we don't have. If you find yourself slipping into the swamps of sadness, take stock of what you already have and what you're thankful for.
The third way to find out WHAT you want is to get really honest with yourself and ask "Who am I envious of?" and "What do they have that I want?". Now, I know that envy is not a pleasant emotion, but we all experience it at different levels, cuz we're humans, so get curious about the envy. Envy is defined as desiring something that someone else has. It doesn't mean you want them to have less, you just want what they have. Allow yourself to think about the last time you felt that twinge of envy and reflect on what it was that you specifically wanted.
To WANT, is to be human. To push aside your own desires and aspirations isn't being heroic or a martyr. It's actually denying WHO God made you. I realize that many people are privileged to get what they want sooner AND easier than others, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't WANT things.
In Psalms, it tells us to seek God and he'll give us the desires of our heart. You were created on purpose and with a purpose to want things. That dream in your heart you've desired for a long time isn't there on accident. It was put there just for you to achieve in your own unique way, in your own unique time.
The Life Edit process is all about creating order in your life. The best way to do that is to remember the master of order, God. He wants you to know Who's You are, Who you are, WHAT you want and HOW you get it!