What Do You Want? It’s a Feeling - Grasshopper

We all want something. What we may not realize is that we're not really after the something; we're after the feeling.

More to the point, it's a sensation within us that we're after. There is an old questioning technique that goes something like this:

 

"What do you want?"

"'I want a new job."

"What will that get you?"

"More money."

"What will that get you?"

"More buying power."

"What will that get you?"

"More things."

"What will that get you?"

"More opportunities to play."

"What will that get you?"

"More enjoyment."

 

The person ultimately wanted the sensations that go along with enjoyment, not necessarily a new job.

 

Whether our desire is a person, place or thing, we have convinced ourselves that the only way to get the sensations we want is through our specific aspiration. Your desire may never develop (specific job, specific relationship, specific home) but that doesn't prevent you from having the sensations that you're really after.

 

The "all or nothing" approach usually winds up getting you nothing and it has you put on blinders, not seeing the other "somethings" that would give you the same sensations.

 

We block getting what we ultimately want by limiting our options. There is more than one way to get to heaven, but if you don't recognize that, you condemn yourself to a living hell. What you concretely want may always be out of your reach but if you don't reach in and plumb for the sensations, what you really want may never come either.

 

When you remain laser locked on a target for too long, you miss all the other nearby options that are there to explore - options that can get you what you really want - specific sensations.

 

I often cite the person who is drowning and tosses away the life preserver you throw them because it's not the color they want. That's a person who is locked in on a specific goal, and will drown in his or her own sorrows.

When you go for the sensation instead of the goal, you expand your options and have a much better chance of feeding your soul.

 

All the best,

John