Practice Makes It Real

Throughout all my work, I advocate that you begin to practice new ideas. Take any idea that you want to be true, say it enough times, and it has a way of becoming true for you. I do this all the time now as I seek to create new ideas of who I am and what my future looks like.

Yet one idea kept coming back to me as I practiced. One idea kept popping up to say hello. One idea dogged me until I finally sat down to ask it why it was perseverating in my experience. That one idea? I want more from life.

One idea dogged me until I finally sat down to ask it why it was perseverating in my experience. That one idea? I want more from life.

Wanting more is not my typical way to approach life. I have a decade’s long gratitude practice and a way of taking life as it is, and thriving. In fact, I pride myself on my frugality with life. Whatever scraps are tossed at me, I can cook up something delicious.

Yet I found, as I hit middle age, that I was happy, I was content, and still I wanted more. What exactly that was, I wasn’t sure. But I knew it to be something more than the fun I was already having.

Wanting more gets a bad rap. We see it as something that is shameful or greedy. Yet if one believes in the eternalness of their soul, isn’t there always more? Isn’t there always a time ahead of where you are today? And isn’t there always a calling forward into a better tomorrow?

If I am eternal (which I personally believe), then wouldn’t it be boring if we stayed the same? These are the questions that a mid-lifer proposes when she delves into spirituality as a hobby.

Here is where I landed. I found that my life was at its absolute best when I was enjoying and appreciating what I had in life and, at the same time, wanting more. The appreciation brought me peace. The wanting more brought me hope. And I needed both of them to bring me to equilibrium.

Equilibrium is my term for the peace we find, inside, when we see life as perfectly unfolding. That’s the spot I wanted to be, but it only came to fruition once I owned my desire for more.

Some might see a desire for more as a criticism of your present circumstance. I don’t. Not anymore. I see my desire for more as causing me to celebrate my current life situation, as I know I am always moving forward toward more. More joy. More fun. More people to love.

If you want to find the sweet spot between now and more, practice this new idea: I am happy with life, and still I want more. I am content where I am, and still I seek to grow. I love and appreciate the blessings of a good life, and still I would love to experience more.