Look at that! I’m following through on something I said I’d do (write about desire). Yay me!
(for some reason the browser keeps giving me a little pop-op telling me I’ve been logged out from another location and asking me if I want to log in again. ignoring it isn’t working, but I’m going to keep trying to anyway!)
On with the show! Oh wait, first… if you didn’t see the extra post on Friday night please go check it out, and then go check out “The Girl Most Likely To.” Do it. For me. Please?
Now, on with the show!
What do you think/see/hear when you read the word desire?
I’ll give you a minute to stop picturing “showtime after dark” imagery in your head… go on, it’s fine. This is a safe place.
Okay, now that those images have passed, what comes next? What is desire?
(this is where I pretend that we’re having an actual conversation)
Right.
Absolutely.
Desire is wanting. What are some other words we could use to describe desire?
Longing? Good. Craving? Sure. Let’s look at all three of those words: wanting, longing, and craving. Are those things that we’re “supposed” to do? (really, this would work SO much better if we were in the room together right now. let me try and switch gears…)
I don’t know if the same is true for you, but I get the sense that wanting, longing, and craving aren’t very attractive behaviors or states of being… I don’t get the feeling that I am supposed to want. I mean, I am supposed to be patient and supposed to be grateful and gracious, and supposed to be satisfied right?
WRONG.
I mean, yes… right. There is some truth to all of that, but what makes it just as mind boggling as anything else when you really stop to think about it is that desire is both a requirement for and the source of all resistance to growth. argh! (am i right? argh! with me.)
I’d like to try and reframe desire so that it is no longer a dirty word (in the second context, you can still make it as dirty as you want when talking about sex) but I’m not sure I have enough time to do that before I have to go pick up spiderman from my mom’s.
So, here’s where we are… I can tell you in exactly three steps (only three? yes. only three) how to get anything:
- desire it
- know you deserve it
- stop caring if you ever get it
my new “creative” space |
The weekend essentially closed with a visit to a local meditation group. I sat with the group in a 45 minute meditation (just silence… woah–I’ll tell you more about that on Wednesday), through an hour long discussion about resistance–not a coincidence!, and a final 15 minutes of meditation again) and it was lovely…
- going to plays
- telling people about things I think are beautiful
- reading books
- going to the movies
- eating a cupcake for lunch
- falling asleep on the couch watching tv
- meditating (sneak peek of wednesday’s post–meditating may be radiating the light back inward… think about it)
- talking to friends
- art projects
- …
Thanks for sticking around while I try and figure this out. I’m grateful for your presence.
Now, leave me a comment or two (please).
Questions for today:
- What are some of the things you do (or stop doing) to “let go”?
- What does self love look like to you?