The Joy of Desire
This week, we dove into a week of Desire in The Next Chapter Book Club while exploring our path to joy with Martha Beck. Such a rich and complicated chapter, with so many components to dig through and question! Even after writing a quite lengthy blogpost about discovering one’s cup o’ tea earlier in the week, I’m finding that there’s so much more to sift through.
Chapter 3 in The Joy Diet was no stranger to me… it was quite like sitting down to tea with a beloved friend. This year, it has been my occupation to find my own voice, discover my own wishes, and allow myself to shed all of the preconceived notions of who or what I should be. It’s been an extensive journey that has brought me to a place of integrating so many things that I love into a cohesive and evolving dream. But after years of misguided attempts, it wasn’t until I was given permission by someone I hardly knew to pinpoint my own desires and get to know myself on a whole new level that I knew that this was even possible.
You see, I really thought before this year that I was in touch with what I truly wanted… I thought I had it all planned out, in succinct little chunks of my future. However, the truth is, in many ways, I was a little girl who danced to the music of other people’s approval, and thought that going with the flow meant moving with the always changing volume of what the world expected of me. I’ve always been a dabbler, trying a little of this and a little of that, not tuning into what I actually enjoyed as much as leaning on and savoring what I was good at or what produced the most obvious results. Little did I know that true desire has nothing to do with other people, and nothing to do with how good you are at something or how many kudos you get in the end. Desire doesn’t have anything to do with safety or comfort zones, familiarity or easiness.
For me, desire is the slight tickling sensation in my belly when I discover something that I resonate with… it’s the warmth that creeps into my chest when I surrender to something I love… it’s the knowing all is well even when the ground beneath my feet is trembling … it’s the moving to my own rhythm moment by moment… it’s the risk of pissing off my parents, aggravating my partner, and taking time away from my kids… it’s the taste of something so delicious that you can’t put it down… it’s the loving all of my imperfections… it’s the magic of paint splatters on my “good” clothes… it’s the gratitude I feel in my heart for all that I have and all that I long to have… it’s the learning to trust in my own wisdom… it’s the coziness of flannel sheets and hot chocolate and the energy brought on by long walks in the woods… it’s the nagging ache I feel in my hips when I allow my fear to be my compass and the excitement I feel when I take control of the steering wheel… it’s the unattached, gentle compassion I feel when the little girl in me peeks around the corner and tempts me with chocolate covered gummy bears… it’s the hope that even though I may not be able to change the world, stepping into my own shoes and living my joy is contagious and can make a huge impact… and it’s the exhilaration of spreading my wings and leaping into the great unknown.
I invite you to join me and my creative cohorts with this truly remarkable book! Do you dare to explore what tickles your fancy and sets your spirit free? What does desire look like to you?
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23 Comments »
Lovely card and all sound so familiar!
xo LW
Like you I’ve been discerning my *true desires* for some time now. For years I was pleasing others. It is fun to realize that we can have fun exploring our own interests and desires. Another wonderful sacred circle!
I love this — from a fellow dabbler!! This circle you’ve created is amazing “I wish” and “I will” … two things I need to start saying to myself more often!
Love your post and your circle
LOVE your dreamwheel!!! And I relished reading your luscious descriptions of what desire feels like for you. BEAUTIFUL!!!
A really enjoyable read and positive post. Thanks
I love the paragraph where you write, “For me, desire is…” I can almost feel the warmth of the flannel sheets and see the steam coming off the hot chocolate. Lovely, just lovely.
What a lovely, inspiring description of what desire means for you. Just reading it brings up equal desires in me!
Wow. you are awesome! I love the energy in this post I could not stop reading. You have the desire all wrapped up. And burning to be lit.
I am in awe of your description of desire and how you feel it in your body and how you live and follow it.. They are words of inspiration because this is new for me. I am sure desire whispers to me daily, I just never ever listened. I didn’t recognize it’s voice. I am thrilled to discover this. I am blessed to discover this book. It’s like being given permission to live and sent off with love, acceptance and support.
As Grammy said, there is such an amazing energy in your post. It is like I can see all your desires swirling all around in beauty. Your circle is absolutely lovely.
This is one of my favorite posts. I love your circles. Last week the word “unblocked” jumped out at me and the next night I had a dream where that word woke with me. I love this weeks- commitment to a cup of tea. I read your post on the day before with the cup of tea and wrote down the points you shared. I know I’ve done each of these before but it’s time again. Thanks for sharing.
What a beautiful post! Not to mention your gorgeous dreamwheel. I too am a dabbler.. Barbara Sher calls it a scanner, and that’s been a revelation unto itself. Wishing you more wondrous insights on the Joy Diet!
YUMMY!
& the comments on ‘dabbling’ remind me of a book I wanted to read – about it being OK not to choose ‘one path’ etc! Oh, yeah, me too!!
& I also love the dreamwheel – must go read your post on a cup of tea! & see other boards, . . .
Your sacred circle picture on desire is beautiful, and you write your desires so well, swirling around in my head like a song, so many things can inspire us and fuel our passion, thanks for the uplifting post
Your enthusiasm and embracing excitement in this post is truly contagious! Spectacular!
Your sacred circle vision card is inspiring! 
I love your description of desire. I ran into some troubles with this chapter; my spiritual beliefs clash with the concept of desire, or the definition of it anyway. It’s all good though because I explored as much as I wanted and left it at that. I find that reading your post about this chapter gives me some needed clarity in my feelings about it all and at least some of what I’m feeling about it stems from my age and likely being a bit older than my fellow journeyers. I just love your enthusiasm for the exploration too!
Hi there! What a beautiful post! I love hearing how you experience desire…so true! Desire truly comes in waves, doesn’t it? Which, I guess is appropriate; life’s not over yet!!
What a lovely vision card/circle. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about desire.
This post really resonated with me. I’ve been doing this work for three years now. I feel as if I’m finally making some progress. Now if life will just cooperate so I have time (guess I’m going to have to risk pissing off CMS on Thursday when I go to my son’s IEP meeting, for starters — I still need to write my own post, but no time!).
I hope you realize how special you are. You’re so talented and inspiring. In fact, I keep thinking that you should intimidate me, but you’re also approachable and empathic and just plain likable. You rock!
Oh this is a beautiful post Lisa. What fantastic insight into what & where desire IS and is IS NOT. Love the descriptions. I like that you notice where you feel desire in your body, and where you feel fear. I was trying to pay attention to that too. Thanks for sharing and for the encouragement on the comment you left me too.
Thanks for sharing your journey with desire this week. I love how you notice what your body is feeling, that is something I have been working on, waking up my body. I am really enjoying your round vision cards each week.
What a beautiful portrait of desire! I have a funny feeling she’s a very good friend of yours.