Consolation

How often do you indulge yourself with consolations, rather than actually be/do/have what you really want?

Consolations come in many different forms. Perhaps the successes of our children console us for our own unrealised ambitions? Perhaps that bottle of red, and the pay packet that supports it, consoles us for the lack of meaning in our work? Perhaps our nice house consoles us for the husband or wife who comes with (provides) it?

Many consolations are benign. An exotic holiday or a thrilling movie gives us a touch of excitement that our secure life may lack. Others perpetuate the circumstances for which they offer illusory comfort: chocolate, for example, or adultery.

The pursuit of consolation distracts us from pursuit of our genuine desires. Consolations even distract us from working out just what it is we really desire. We allow our desires to be dictated by the many voices of materialism which whisper, "Go on: don't you deserve a nice dinner/car/house/holiday/outfit?" Wanting what is presented so desirably, which others find desirable too, is simpler and less confronting than working out what exactly has caused that sudden soul-itch. Even - especially - if our inner voice suggests that our true desires exist off the map we are navigating our life by.

The things we truly need may not be easy to 'get', but they may not be impossible either. We owe it to ourselves to look, to consider, to act in our own interests, to seek that we may find. Along the way there is room for a little consolation, but not if it costs us the prize.

This is post 5 of 43 posts.

What do you REALLY want?

What's your real heart's desire? What do you want more than anything? Want so much, that mere wishing and waiting aren't enough? Want so much, you're prepared to work for it. Want so much you're prepared to risk maybe NOT getting it?

A lot of what we think we want, we really only want if it's (relatively) safe and easy to get. We'd quite like to be rich, but not if it means mortgaging our house, working long hours, putting our reputations on the line, getting outside our comfort zone, etc.

Sometimes what we really want is a quiet life, and we might be afraid to admit that to our post-modern, inner-urban, right-thinking, chardy-swilling social circles. Sometimes we really want to be an artist, a recluse, a beachcomber, a lawyer, a nurse, a plumber, a gardener, a strawberry farmer.

Sometimes we chase a dream, when we could chase an ambition. Sometimes we chase an idea. Sometimes we give up too soon on a possibility. Sometimes we don't know the difference. Sometimes we'd rather not know.

What's your heart's desire? If you're not sure, what are you going to do to today to try and find out?

This is post 54 of 100 posts.