“Desire, burning desire is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary,” Joseph Wirthlin.  I want to caveat this understanding that desire is a tricky thing because it can quickly lead to obsession or fixation on a specific result.  That isn’t to say that WILL happen, but it is to say we need to direct and choose our focus thoughtfully. Without desire, we lack motivation to make changes or do anything else.  We lack a direction or a drive to where we want to be.  We lack clarity on what to do next.  Desire is a fire we need to contain and direct—never extinguish, but guide and direct like a controlled burn.  We fan the flames where they need to be otherwise we burn what creates life, the life we are looking for. So often we look at fire as destruction and discount the life-giving properties it can have.  Yes, it scorches and burns and eliminates and consumes what is in its path, but in its wake, it leaves the Earth prepared for new growth.  It clears the way by removing the old to make way for the new.  Sometimes that slow burn is all we need to create something new.

Desire makes us believe that there is something else possible.  It tells us that what we currently have is paving the way for something more, something different.  Desire is the spark inside of us that inspires us to action to create.  We are highly adaptable creatures and we are gifted with incredible ingenuity to create what we envision.  When we sit on that, we waste time that could have been devoted to creating it. We are meant to recognize what needs to burn in order to create space for new growth.  We don’t have to set out to create an extraordinary world or alter the entire course of history—we need to change our own world and alter our own path and in doing so, we will find ourselves and show others how to do the same. 

Don’t let anyone put out that flame.  Surround ourselves with people who encourage healthy development and practices and who we can co-create with.  We need to work with people who allow it to build and develop and help us to harness it.  If we suppress the flame all we do is burn ourselves and we fear that which can open the door to an entirely new life for us.  Don’t pretend the desire doesn’t exist.  It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s something that drives us—it isn’t for anyone else to determine what is right or good for us.  If it feels good, if it’s something we think we can create with, then that is what we need to do.  The only way to change is to allow change to happen and if we want to make a change in our lives, we need to know which parts of the old version of ourselves we need to let go.  Flame is a death, but also a rebirth, for out of the ash, new life is born much like the Phoenix.  Let the life we are meant to have flourish and awaken.