Knowing our “wants”

Hello friends,

With the amazingly successful, “Dr. Shefali in Surrey” event behind us I am in that absolute zen place where one feels so peaceful and humbled for how well everything fell into place.

(Here is a link if you would like to read more about this event.)

Through the process of organizing this event, I have truly come to understand and appreciate Paulo Coelho’s quote :

“And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” It truly felt like a series of amazing coincidences and wonderful people showed up around us to make this dream a reality.

The key word, as I understand, in this quote is “want”. One has to “want”. But the question arises, if Paulo Coelho is so correct, then why all our “wants” are not turned into reality. What holds back, every want we ever had, from being fulfilled?

The answer, my friends, isn’t very complicated. It’s actually quite simple. The “want” that Paulo refers to is a “want” that originates from our authentic self. It arises from the depths of our soul. It is our desire coming from a place of love, compassion, passion and authenticity. These are the wants that fulfill our purpose, connect us to our authentic selves and give our lives a meaning.

Learning to identify our wants:

Aren’t all our wants the same? What is the difference? A “want” is a “want” after all. Right? Wrong!!

There are wants that originate from our soul and then there are wants that come from our ego. The want from the soul, as I mentioned above, is a want that comes from a place of love, passion and authenticity. The want from our ego is a want that arises out of lack, comparison, greed and feeling of scarcity. Sometimes the want is the same but the origin can be different. Let me explain with the help of a few examples:

Want from the soul: A young woman wanting a beautiful home as she dreams of raising her family. She is so excited to be spending wonderful times with her loved ones in this home. She wants to create her own place of love and care for her family.

Want from the ego: A young woman wanting a beautiful home because her friend just bought a home and its so beautiful. She feels small, lesser than and essentially jealous of her friend and longs for a home that is better than her friend’s. She sees this home as a possession to make herself feel better about her own self.

Want from the soul: A young woman wanting to travel to exotic lands so she can experience what the universe has to offer. She wants to learn about different cultures, walk though historical places, try some amazing foods and learn different ways of being. She wants to experience life to its fullest. (She may post her photos but only to share her experiences.)

Want from the ego: A young woman wants to travel because it’s the modern trend. She wants to be able to tell her friends of her travels, post photos on social media and feel good that she has done more than others. In essence she wants a reason to feel superior to others.

You see in both cases the want is exactly the same but the place of its origin, the reason behind the want is so very different.

I am reminded of my own personal story on this note. My husband and I both love the process of creativity. Hence we love to dream, design and built a home to suit our family’s needs at any given stage. We are currently living in our fourth home (over the past 30 years). This process of creativity and building has brought so much joy and fulfillment into our lives. When we were in the process of building our current home an acquaintance of ours eluded to the fact that people (meaning us) keep on moving so they can have a bigger home than others.

Of course, I chose to stay quiet as that was her perception, tainted by her own point of view. As for us, this project satisfied our creatively and fulfilled the changing needs of our family. We now have a home that brings comfort to three different generations (and absolutely planned for four) and provides us with some amazing times with family and friends.

Similarly, when our small but soulful Saheli Foundation staying true to its mission of empowering young minds, set out to bring Dr. Shefali’s revolutionary message to our vibrant city it is no surprise that the whole universe conspired to help us achieve this big undertaking.

What truly fascinates me is the connection our thoughts and desires are able to establish with the universe when they come from a place of love, compassion, passion and authenticity of our own being. It is as if that divine power within us meets the divinity of the universe. It creates something so magical.

May we all learn to connect with “wants’ of our soul and experience this magic everyday.

With love,

Devinder 💖

Photo credit : Pixabay and Canva