Desire: a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome

I met one of my heroes recently. Surrounded by thousands of people, Danielle LaPorte and I held hands, locked eyes and shared a moment.

She is all about desire these days, and for the recent past. She wrote a book (that’s really a multi-media course) about it.

Danielle teaches how desires born of the heart are more instructional and valuable than those calculated intellectually, and how acknowledging our resonance points leads to a life that not only looks good, but feels good too.

I wanted to thank her for being so unabashed – straight-talking, stuff-owning, room-filling, rule-breaking, sexiest woman EVER – when I needed to understand that sexuality, spirituality and success can play very nicely together.

I wanted to thank her for opening my eyes to a business model that includes feelings right alongside spreadsheets. Where writing, speaking and teaching (my desire trifecta) can be revolutionary acts.

But I stood silent and just beamed – love, gratitude, glee. She mouthed the words thank you slowly and soundlessly. It was immense.

Satisfaction is a big deal for me. (I wrote a post about it.) I consider satisfaction the fruit born by the seeds of desire.  This particular state of being holds the key to a life that I want to wake up each day to live.

In most of my spiritual training (Buddhism, Yoga, mystic Judeo-Christianity) desire is a big, fat, no-no. It’s the root of all evil, the cause of our suffering and the thread connecting the 7 deadly sins. It’s to be banished to the darkest dungeon of shame, never to be seen (or felt) again.

I fell for it for too long. Desire gets you in trouble – food, sex, money, sparkly things, being some of its insidious lures – and so I became a good desire-less girl.

I nearly bored myself to death, not to mention creating so much internal conflict to make myself sick. There may be justness in that path, but not for me. Not anymore.

I was finally able to shake off the cultural and societal ethic that if it’s to be of value, it must be very, very hard and sufficiently painful. That pleasure is not a barometer of being on the right path, only an indicator of our own vileness.

Bullshit, I say!

True desire is what brings me to the stage and the page, that creates opportunities for me to see the world, that sends the perfect clients to my inbox, that shines the light on the path that will bring me deepest satisfaction. It makes me a better lover, mother, seeker and teacher. It DOES NOT cause me to abuse my body or my bank account in any way, or make choices based on low blood sugar. That is something altogether different, and it’s worth it to understand the difference for yourself.

Longing, yearning, desire…

Pleasure, satisfaction, delight…

Breath.

How will YOU connect the pieces?