It's in Your Hand

In my work as lecturer, facilitator and consultant I meet a lot of people that are fairly miserable in their jobs or their business.  At the heart of this blog there is the message that you cannot simply get by every day and settle for second best.  You are not doing anyone any favours by being kind of good, half-alive or okay.  The reality is if you are okay today you are probably going to be rather disappointed tomorrow.  ...The trend doesn't get any better.

Have you spent some time wondering about passion?  Have you been frustrated enough in whatever you do to identify something that you are willing to stand up for - a conviction?  Have you wondered about getting your dream job?  I have been asked these questions a number of times by young and old alike.  The answer is quite simple: It is in your hand.  Instead of seeking the answer in the big things beyond your reach, start with your own dream.  What can you see for yourself?  It can be a year from now or fifty years from now.  Heck!  It can be a week from now...

Got it?  Great!  Now ask yourself what do you have right now that you have not yet explored 100% in order to make a move towards what you see?  It could be a free course on Coursera or edX or the guidance of a mentor that is a phone call away.  Perhaps it is a book that you bought but have not read yet.  You will however find nothing if you believe there is nothing.  Once you have identified a course, a friend, a mentor or a place to volunteer - whatever - jump in with everything you got and fully utilise the opportunity that you have identified.  If it works out and it is what you should do, master it.  If it doesn't work out you have just learned about something in your life that you should probably stop doing and your dream has probably evolved and matured into something better.  Get back on the horse and try the next thing.

If you master that specific job, task, opportunity, etc. and you are not dead yet repeat the process whenever you find yourself frustrated and continue with the journey until you breathe your last breath.  Up until your expiry date you are still good to go and should let your curiosity evolve into a desire.  Let your desire evolve into a dream.  Let your dream fuel your motivation!

The point is that it is much more difficult to see any opportunity if you are looking too far ahead.  Take the dream and connect the dots all the way back to where you are now.  In this way you make a dream a reality and you use what is already there and perhaps easier to access.  I have used this approach over the last fifteen years and through it I have worked across various industries and careers, consulted and facilitated to start-ups and corporates, moved to a different city, moved back again and with every change gained greater insight into who I am and the dream that guides me.

Here is the down-side and why few people attempt this: fear of failure.  And now to put all of you at ease, yes, there is a fair chance that you could fail at some point, but you will be more alive than ever before.  It is only through failure that our dreams can take shape and become real.  In other words, if you have a dream but take no action in order to reach it, your dream in fact remains a fantasy.  If you do take action and risk failure you take a step towards your dream and the closer you are to your dream the clearer it becomes.  Experience is what successful people call their failure - on the path your dream leads you failure is your teacher.

Go from survive to alive!

2015 and the Best is Yet to Come!

This will be an incredible year!

How can I be sure?  Simple - I am alive and the opportunities ahead are simply staggering.  What do you see when you look at this year?  What are your hopes and dreams for yourself and the world around you?  How will you contribute and add value in 2015?

It doesn't matter where you are in the world, all of us have a simple choice:  Will you look for the best in everyone around you or will you only see the worst.  You will find what you look for.

Go from survive to alive!

Pleasure and Pain (part 2)

I finished my previous post with the promise of continuing the discussion on pleasure and pain as motivators.  I also indicated that I believe that it really is a significant force to reckon with.

I have now been applying it to some of my own habits for example lowering my intake of sugar (sweets, in coffee, etc.).  I am glad to report that it has been approximately 3 weeks and I have never before felt this good about changing a habit.  If I can do this, what's next?!

I need to tell you that I don't have a weight problem, but I want to keep it that way.  If I can look as good as my parents do today when I am their age, I have a worthy goal to attain.

Bottom line: this was my trial run and achieving this is my platform to start changing even greater things.  ...Just keep watching this space.

But back to the impact of utilising the pain and pleasure paradigm for good.  Every time I want to eat something sweet or add sugar to my coffee I simply ask myself: "Can I do without it just this once?".  The answer obviously is a simple YES!  In order to get to my yes I just imagine the joy I will feel to overcome just this once, just this instance and use that as my motivation.  Not only that, I also see that giving in is a slippery slope and before I know it I will be an old fat man that regretted my bad habits when I was younger.  I use both the vision of pleasure as well as the vision of pain to move me in the direction of improvement.

I therefore utilise my imagination in service of a higher standard for myself according to who I know I am.  This certainty propels me to make a choice that moves away from mediocre towards greatness.  From simply surviving towards being fully alive. 

Now it's your turn: Pick just one small habit that you feel you want to stop doing or one thing you want to start.  When faced with the choice of not executing your power of choice in regards to your habit that you want to quit or start simply use your imagination and condition yourself into seeing the pain of not choosing your preferred option and the pleasure of choosing the preferred option.  Give it at least ten days (step by step, instance by instance).  As soon as you reach the ten day mark simply keep going and aim for three weeks.

Once you've reached this point it is perhaps time to inspire everyone else by telling your friends, emailing me or even putting down a post on this blog if you really want to make a bigger impact.

I want to join you on a journey from survive to alive!

Pleasure and Pain

I like to think that I am rather sophisticated and educated and that the reason that I do things is of truly egalitarian motivation...  You know, one of those really 'higher level' individuals that have shed the burden of earthly toil.  I see myself as raising above the squabble of the lower passions and that I am motivated by higher purpose in all that I do.

Yeah right!  Who am I kidding?  On my continual journey from survive to alive I pick up books of new authors on a regular basis.  Some of the stuff I read is really not that useful or I feel that it is nonsense, but I continue to search.  One of the authors that I have been avoiding for many years is Tony Robbins.  Rah, rah, rah!... That is pretty much what I thought of him - a flamboyant charlatan posing as a one-size-fits-all self-help guru.

Yet, I pride myself of being one of those 'higher level' individuals, so let me not judge.  With this thought in mind I picked up Awakening the Giant Within, a book Tony Robbins wrote before the turn of the millennium and before  the world drastically changed.  So perhaps it is all out-dated...

With positive expectation, none-the-less, I started reading and in those first few pages I read something I have possibly considered before.  I mean, c'mon man!  I continuously ask myself: WHAT MOTIVATES US?!  I have a masters degree, completed various business and leadership courses and I have not been able to truly identify the driving force behind our decisions.  And what do I find here in the pages of this book?  ...Our decisions are emotionally driven in order to avoid pain or experience pleasure.  Could it really be that we shape our pain and pleasure paradigm through our experience and accordingly realign our actions in order to either avoid pain or experience pleasure?

With confounded intrigue and curiosity I read on and applied the theory, with reflection, to myself.  Have I been caught in a trap of pain/pleasure confusion that leads to excuses and inaction?  Yes!  Indeed I have experienced some traumatic events, lived through pain and rejection and have allowed that to shape my pain/pleasure paradigm.  I am telling myself, before it will actually happen, that certain activities will lead to pain.  I then complete this wonderful cycle by reinforcing it with mental pictures of how I am going to suffer, but it has not even happened yet!

Anybody out there feel the same?

The question is how is this keeping me from going from being alive?  In my next post I will continue this discussion...

The Dogs That Bark

Have you ever walked down the road in your neighbourhood, especially as a child, and pass a neighbour's house when all of a sudden, GRRRGH!  ...a dog starts growling and barking at you from behind the fence?

I can remember the feeling that came over me:  I felt insecure, afraid and vulnerable.  I experienced anger because how could this animal do this to me - how could my confidence and self-sufficiency be destroyed in such a brief moment?

As I grew older I learned that the barking dog is really not that scary.  I could easily recognise the true level of danger and that, in fact, I am the boss in the situation.  Fear, along with the dog, flees with its tail between its legs in that moment of authority.  I can recognise my capacity to overcome the situation because I know who I am and that I have nothing to fear.

I still have the same emotional reaction in certain circumstances today.  Recently I attended an event where I was one of the younger participants playing a leadership role.  After an evening where I made a valued contribution I was, ever so politely, reminded by an older participant that perhaps I need some more experience before I actually attempt to participate in the way that I have.  WOOF!

Really?!

In an instant I wanted to react and cower because of my perceived inexperience pointed out to me.  ...Perceived; perception; reality.  What was the reality in the situation?  The reality was that even though I did not have the grey hair or funny glasses perched on my nose I was more than sufficiently qualified to contribute.  DOWN BOY!

I can therefore choose to respond, not react: I know who I am and I know how I got here.  As I grow I will have even more to contribute - I know where I am going.  I am not punching above my weight.  It is about stepping up and recognising my own potential.  It is about giving, authenticity and strength.  It is about living.

I challenge you to recognise the opportunities that life gives you today to choose living and not surviving.  Take authority in the moment and lead.  They are hidden and it takes practice to recognise them and use them.  They come in many different shapes and sizes, people and circumstances.  It is when someone in the office makes another remark about your work; it is that family member that breaks you down; it is when you are ignored or bullied.  The dogs keep barking, don't run away. Recognise your strength and do what is right today.

Awareness Economics

A few times on this blog I have written about the importance of knowing yourself.  Sometimes I feel like I have even been a bit of a stuck record.  

The last few weeks I have however been picking up books, reading highlights from my professional networks and talking with people who have all indicated the same thing: the biggest change that is happening is that we will have to develop the relationship with ourselves if we want to change the world.

This, in other words, is indeed a delicious paradox.  It is juicy and rich in substance: Stop trying to change the world, change yourself if you want to change the world.  ...It is hard enough anyway!

In my previous post I clarified the purpose of the blog and also clarified the two core terms of survive and alive.  I therefore see this blog as a place where the new challenge of the 21st century economic environment, i.e. how much you pay for the food in your grocery store, how expensive your house is and how to take of yourself when you retire or provide for your children in the future, is directly connected with the internal life that we lead.  It becomes economics based on how aware I am.

From personal experience I can attest to the challenges of deep inner change that results in peace.  I believe it is only from this place of peace where the correct desires can be cultivated which results in the kind of behaviour that impacts our economic choices on a global level.

This is hard!  It is hard because of noise.  It is the clacking of keyboards, tweeting, liking, chirping, snapping cacophony that is designed to make us buy, buy, buy that keeps us from facing our fears.  Stop rushing, running speeding and fleeing.  Start sitting, focusing, re-centring and realigning to what is really important.  Do you know what is really important to you?

Do you survive or are you alive?

Do You Leap?

Many years ago we used to hike to a place called Chrystal pools.  It was a beautiful winding path up a valley near the coast not too far from where I grew up.  At the pool there was a spot where, those who dared would climb up and then leap of the 10 meter high rocky platform into the icy mountain pool.  A few times I would reach the top, quickly get a footing and then leap...  Heart in mouth and wind in my hair I would then plunge into the icy depths feeling invigorated and invincible.

Many times I also saw other people get to the top and start to hesitate - 10 minutes, 15, half an hour, an hour... Some people would eventually turn back and perhaps others would eventually take the leap feeling somewhat diminished as they did not do it as quickly or with as much flair as others.  I believe life is much the same.  Do you leap?

I challenge myself everyday (as far as possible) to keep on leaping.  I now also understand that leaping means discomfort - the discomfort is where the growth lies.  I challenge myself to keep asking if this is the best I can be?  I try and do the difficult things first and get it out of the way so that I can focus more energy on creating.  It is the boldness that shapes the next move; it is the game that becomes important; not winning as much.  It is about doing a quick check to see if it is OK and then jump into the great unknown.

Take the painting above (by Jackson Pollock) - when I look at it I see a history of leaping.  How can I use colour differently? - leap.  What is real? - leap.  Perhaps what I can do is as good, or better, than what is out there - leap.  What if what is acceptable is limiting? - Leap

As you perhaps know much of my time (when I am not listening to a good tune and typing this blog) is taken up by lecturing undergraduate students in the field of business.  As I sit here tonight I am reflecting on a day that I think will be the start of a significant next chapter in my life:  The greatest tragedy that I am currently encountering working with students is the realisation of how they have been robbed of the opportunity to think and learn for themselves.  For at least 12 years they have been told when to wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, take a break and go home.  In this also lies the greatest opportunity.  The opportunity to work with students to help them reshape their future based on a deeper understanding of what learning actually is.  Learning is not in books (although they help) but in the world filled with opportunities to make mistakes.  In other words, opportunities to gain experience.

For about 12 years of schooling they have been programmed to wait to be told what to do, what is important, what to learn and what the correct answer is.  I understand that to get on in this world you need to be able to understand and apply 1+1=2, but much of our knowledge has to be questioned.  The 'correct' answer is as helpful in a changed and continuously changing world as a inflatable submarine.

There are an immense number of quotes by many renowned authors, which I won't quote here, that help us understand that ultimately we learn by experimentation.  Go and have a look at these talks by Daniel Pink and Tom Wujec to understand the value of risking, exploration, fun... LEAPING!  Ultimately we are in a new world and new economy

We live in a society that tells us that we need insurance for our house, car, health, life, cat, dog...  We are not taught that you need to get into life, take leaps, experience the thrill of the cold water and even if you leap and it is not graceful, leap again.  I need to confront my fears because that is where true learning lies.  It is not in working harder and working the system with more intent.  This is not acceptable any more.  If I want to to truly live I need to step up, step out, and LEAP!  I ask again, do you leap?

4 Months as the Crow Flies

And when I blinked the year was 4 months old (and counting).  It has been a while since my last post... I have been thinking; restoring; reflecting and reviewing.  I have been thinking of fears and desires, passion and purpose, complexity and transcendence.  If there is one lesson that I have learned over the last year it has been patience.  I now see my haste and propensity to haste much clearer in the light of  the tension between desire and fear.  In other words, in the past I used to attack the present in order to get to the future because I was afraid of missing the opportunity to prove that I am competent and useful.  The reality is  that I am competent and useful; here; today.

I know that repetitive work frustrates me... A lot!  I know that I  can't hide in the corner world of ideas.  Music, ideas and dancing energise me.  Too much of my day does not incorporate creativity - I need more; I think we all do.  I believe this is the key to being more and being more to others.
It seems like it has been a mad dash in the last four months to where I am now.  A good dash however because it has been at home.  Our life is richer because of family, friends and nature.  The improvement in quality of life is invaluable.

After years in Johannesburg we have been living in Stellenbosch for the last 9 months and working as a lecturer for the last 4.  It has been an awesome time so far and I know that it has been a time of restoration.  It will probably continue on the same path for a while but I am tilling the soil.  I am removing the old thinking that was embedded during the past 7 years.  I am throwing off all the old labels and returning my competent roots.  I am removing what is not important an focusing on who I am (yip, that old theme again).

It is literally easier said than done, but I am doing it.  It is a constant journey going from survive to alive.  I fight negativity, look for meaning, acknowledge that I am part of a great tapestry and that I have a part to play.  My part is the one that helps people, and specifically people in business, realise why business is important, why they are doing business, how this adds value an finally how they run their business, or do business, because of this.  I translate my competence into their competence.

What a Year!

I don't know about you but 2012 was truly a significant year!  Even though my mind wants to tell me that I need to lose faith in many things I cannot deny that my heart says something completely different.  So I guess this is where you expect me to tell you that I went with my heart... Not exactly.

Even though I have continued on my journey I am definitely changed after a year of constant challenge, great disappointments and ultimately massive life breakthroughs.  After a number of years in the business world I have come to the great insight that it is primarily not for me.  I'm not saying that I am not interested in it but I am in fact not suppose to be active in the business world on a permanent basis.  I have great passion for it, love to study it and help people reflect on it and their role in it but I am not interested in becoming a, how did Nicholas Nassim Taleb say: "corporate slave with "work ethics" (whenever I hear work ethics I interpret inefficient mediocrity)".

I'll gladly earn less but live meaningfully at a slower, more reflective pace.  After going through a period in the last year of ultimate reduction of identity I can say that it was not easy or pleasant but truly necessary.

I am now experiencing synthesis and do not entertain the tyranny of the or.  I am not following my heart or my head but instead follow them both.  I can now see how an unrealistic view of myself had me trapped and how a deeper understanding of myself is based on dynamics rather than homeostasis.  In other words, I am constantly changing and the product of the complex relationships that I am part of.  There is perhaps less in my control and less that I have to achieve.  I am rather inclined to proceed intuitively but use my mind to understand what I have done and how my intuition operates.  Perhaps it is a little like what the Oracle tells Neo in The Matrix Reloaded: "...you didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it."  I believe we actually make many choices that is actually subconscious and by coming to understand our choices we could perhaps help to influence the subconscious in the future.

I am looking forward to 2013 where I know that I will make choices that are intuitive and then reflect on them cognitively afterward.  I know that this is my pattern and rather than be someone I am not I can now embrace this pattern as my own and find and give joy through the use of my gifts.  This journey ultimately leads to the annihilation of my fears through the fulfillment of my greatest desires but it has been a difficult journey to get to the place of self-knowledge that is a source of peace.

So, no new-years resolutions or new initiatives.  No new targets or projects.  Only life to the full!

Try Stuff

For those of you who don't know I am fairly young.  I turned 31 earlier this month.  I have however been privileged to live on 3 continents, an island, 3 countries, have witnessed snow, tropical storms, lava, amazing wildlife, bodyboarded in different oceans, snowboarded on a mountain, worked in vineyards, built a house, waitered, catered, consulted, coached, facilitated, studied, got married, and had a kid.
Maybe I am just restless and perhaps I could have been way more financially successful by now if I denied my heart and curiosity, stuck with tradition and tried one thing.  In reality I see myself as experienced (experience is what successful people call their failures) and would not want to change a thing about my past.  Point is that I love trying stuff.  I know my personality is prone to this but I have really gotten in to it over the years.
I am always very sad to see people hide behind what is safe and never take a risk to try new stuff.  How else can you truly discover your passion and purpose?  I do believe it should come together in work that answers your need for love, money, and meaning but opening up the opportunities is essential.

Even now as I stand on the edge of something new and amazing (moving back to Stellenbosch in a few days) I look forward to transforming my memories into hope and in this way use my past to help create my future.  Ultimately this is at the heart of our spiritual experience - looking back and making sense of what has happened so that we can be more in the future.  It is at the heart of purpose and destiny; purpose and destiny that we choose.  Choose to learn.  Choose to live.  Choose to be transformed and shed the shackles of self-centered ambition generated by our fear and ego.  Who am I, where have I come from and where am I going?  What do I live for?

Making the Change Connection

In my previous post I spoke about looking inside myself for real change.  I would like to take it a step further and link it to the actions we take, the work we do, the decisions we make.  Have a look at this clip and take a few moments to think about the link between your internal world and the external world that you encounter.  How does your behaviour (thoughts, actions and emotions) interact with the world out there?  When we have a great idea and can apply it in our own lives  it does not necessarily mean that it will flow to the world out there.

I don't want to contradict myself  in terms of where your focus lies when it comes to change - change begins inside.  Many times we are unhappy about our circumstances and we love to blame the rest of the world for our pain.  In reality we create our own pain.  Once I have however seen the error of my ways and can start to change my behaviour I want to start thinking about how it touches the lives of others.  As you will see in the clip there are three ingredients to change:  First you have to have an idea, then connect with other people and finally take some action.

What I have come to realise is that when changing something outside of myself has beome bigger than changing myself I have lost perspective.  The most important guideline here is not to take myself too seriously.  Being motivated by some misdirected sense of duty and therefor doing things because "I have to" is really not what I am aiming at here.  In line with the values (freedom, creativity and simplicity) that I identified I frequently check that I am not striving to be accepted but rather let action flow from a full and whole heart.  At the heart of the change process there is the reality that if I am not focusing on being changed I cannot expect others to change.

So I challenge you: Have you been changing inside lately?  Have you considered how you interact with the world around you?  How are your actions (or lack thereof) having an impact on the world around you?
I think this is very difficult and the answer probably changes every now and again.  I think there are some core things (values, principles and beliefs) that remain and define who you are but the how changes.  The more you are aware of your core the easier it is to tackle the how.

I want to connect with more people that have a calm determination regarding their place in this world.  I can't change this world but I would like to be with people who are changing themselves, improving their worlds and simply spreading that vibe. How about you?

The Change Conundrum

You really think you can change stuff?  No, I mean really?  All those wonderful attempts that, you make to be the wonderful, amazing person that actually wins the Nobel peace prize - what is it for?  I think we think too much of what we can actually change and completely miss the point of what needs to change.

Deep rooted change lies within yourself.  The first thing that needs to change is the way I see the world.  Once this has taken root I can change the way I approach the world.  If there is one thing that I have been learning in the last while it is that my power, ideas, creativity, etc. is not as much as I think it is.  Where I truly shine is where no-one sees me.  It is the deep work of the soul.  It is the work that gets done when no-one is looking and that I don't get rewarded or recognised for in the traditional public spheres.

I know however I have done this work and that I am successful when my wife looks me in the eye and can say that after a tough time together she loves me even more than before.  I know I have done the work when I hold my little boy and I am not in a rush to get anything else done but just hold him and be in his space.

Seriously, do we really think that building that company or building, making great profit, saving the world or bring great illumination is going to do anything if we have not made those changes inside ourselves?  There really is nothing new under the sun but it is very interesting how easily we forget the lessons history has taught us.  It is as if every generation wants to go and find out for themselves.  Every generation wants to go and scratch that itch for itself but then never stops scratching.  Peace and contentment are fleeting ideas of some other esoteric religious sect, not something close to our hearts or even in it.

The problem is not out there I realise.  It is in here with me.

The Gifts of Pain

In my previous post I spoke about the challenges that I am going through in terms of physical pain.  I would like to follow-up with the gifts of pain.  In the last year and a half I have been brought to my knees, literally and figuratively, and even though I would never want to go through this again I believe that we are given the opportunity to claim who we really are when we are in pain or go through periods of suffering.

Through the tears, anger and deep disappointment I have to look myself in the eye and see a man that has to be brave due to circumstances.  I now realise that being brave is actually not something that I want to do.  My idea of the hero that is so brave has blown away with the wind.  Being brave means that you have to dig in where it hurts; it means you have to do stuff you really don't want to do, again and again and again until your energy is depleted and you feel like crawling into a little ball and die.

It is here though that I have the choice to get up again through the pain, tears and pills and just focus on the next ten minutes or hour.  Ignore the fear of having to this for an indeterminate time.  What I am saying is that the character that is being built, the faith that is being developed and the relationships that are being strengthened is invaluable.  They are gifts of pain.

I don't want to be sore.  I don't want to be weak.  I do however have to face myself, let my ego be trimmed and my will be shaped so that I can be here and have peace with who I am no matter what I do or how I look.  All that is not necessary is being challenged and removed.  It is another gift that is accompanied by pain.

Today I fight to smile.  Today I look for the beautiful.  Today I cry.  Today I recognise the opportunity to live.  Today I welcome peace and joy.  Today I welcome the gifts of pain.

A Bit of Silence and A Lot of Reflection

I haven't posted anything in the last two weeks or so.  Since the beginning of the year I have been very consistent and did not miss a week.  Over the last few weeks however I have gone into my shell and have been quite silent.  In the silence I have been reflecting a lot, looking at how things 'hang together' and hence I now write this post as a result of it.

Have you ever gone into times when it seems like the world is disconnected from your reality?  A time when other people speak a language you don't understand; it even seems like their lips are moving but what they are saying is completely senseless or even in some cases completely void of any sound.  I have just gone through about three weeks of that.  During these three weeks I have also been rather emotional.  I am not normally very emotional.  In fact, I am quite left brain and can control my emotions masterly.  It has not been like that over the last few weeks.  Now something has to really shift in order for me to embrace deep underlying emotions the way I have.

A number of things have in fact flowed together to bring about this waterfall of reflection, transformation and emotion.  The big thing that I don't normally talk about is my physical condition.  As I have an auto-immune condition where my immune system gets bored and then attacks the healthy tendons where they connect to the joints.  This causes severe pain, stiffness and fatigue.  Some mornings I don't even feel like getting out of bed - literally!  I sit on the side of the bed breathe deeply and attempt to get onto my feet, ankles and knees that simply fold away under me when I get up.  It sometimes takes a few tries before I get moving.  The mornings are difficult but fortunately it gets a bit better later in the afternoon.  The catch is that I have a limb length discrepancy - big words for saying that my right leg is 7mm shorter than my left.  Add a bit of inflammation to the problem and voila my hip rotates out of position every now and then.  In order to combat this I have to do my stretches and core exercises religiously.  All of this takes quite a bit of time and energy.

I am also six months into a new job and through all of the change and adaptation I have come to see where my real value lies.  Accordingly I am taking up my studies with great vigour.  Perhaps my original plans of using this blog as a source of income and creating more freedom in this way will still happen later on.  The reality is that I have learned that the values that I identified earlier; freedom, creativity and simplicity are as relevant now as ever before.  The difference is how it is applied.  Freedom of thought, ideas and reasoning; creativity of life in every regard - in the house, relationships, work and artistic expression and finally simplicity which is reflected in focus and reduction - use what I need and recognise the difference between need and want.

As I navigate this part of my journey I long for the deeper parts of what I am created for and know that it will take a combination of steady action, trust and patience in order to bring about a sense of wholeness that has eluded me for far too long.

Where are you on your journey?  What are you learning?  How are you moving from survive to alive?