Do You Know What You Want?

    I had a recent telephone conversation with another wonderful friend (I have several  wonderful friends not living near me) and while we were talking we were reminded of a book that we both had read years ago.  It's titled, "The Rhythm of Life" written by Matthew Kelly.   I don't have it and I wish I did; I had borrowed it from her (now that I've remembered it I may have to buy it!). 

   

      There was a chapter dealing with "knowing what you want".  The author wanted his readers to make a physical list of "wants".  I actually made a list quite a few years ago and it was long; a page of my journal was filled, and most of my "wants" weren't material (there were a few; though, such as "travel" and "enough money").   **disclaimer here: I'm not talking about frivolous "wants", and it's always a good thing to feel it's a "want" that would be beneficial in your life (if you're a spiritual person, I'd make sure that your wants are in alignment with what God would want for you)

  As my friend and I were talking about the subject of "wants", we determined that sometimes we may not know what we actually do want.  The thought occurred to me, " if we don't know what we want, what things are we inviting into our lives that we don't want".   It's up to us to figure out what we want in our lives, and in my world I need to make it "real" by putting it on paper.  If you're not sure what you want, think of at least one thing you know you want in your life, and I think as your mind starts to "move", other things will come to mind as well.

    I also think that our "wants" may change during various stages of our lives as well.   There are some things I know that I will always want: good family relationships, peace, a comfortable home, etc....  When I was younger and raising 5 children I am sure that I would have included some "me" time on that list whereas; now, I have all the "me" time that I want (I probably have too much of that these days!).   I'm thinking it's time for a new list  (one more subject to tackle, but I really do enjoy it!). 

   So as we take time each day to read and ponder and to maybe even meditate, let's let the "wants" come to the surface of our minds (and grab a piece of paper and pen!).  There's the old saying, "be careful what you ask for, for you may get it."   I say, "be conscience of what you ask for and you will be thrilled when it comes into your life."