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Knowing What You Want
By Dr. William K. Larkin on February 1, 2010
Everyth
ing starts with knowing what you want. We have all been given messages about wanting too much, about the greed of our wanting, about how holy it is not to want. My parents used to tell me that I had a "champagne taste on a beer budget." Nothing has changed. I still do. Only the budget is better and what I want is still more expensive. In life we often get the message that we will get what we need but not necessarily what we want. Or someone may have told you, "All you do is want, want, want; you're never satisfied with what you have." That's right. While I am deeply grateful everyday for everything I have, I am never satisfied.
Many people were told to save their money for a rainy day. I was interested to observe that the rainy day always came to take what they had saved.
We have to get clear about what we are wanting because the mind and the brain are always creating whatever that wanting might be. If the wanting is on a subjective level, we are creating it. The Mind as a creative force is unimaginable. Scientists have tried to recreate models of the power of the right hemisphere of the brain and have simply given up. There is no way to quantify its power to produce, to store, to calculate, and to create.
If you want to get out of this life, if you've decided that you're tired of it and that your life is basically over, there is an illness that will cooperate and help you do that. If you're lying to yourself about the level of your happiness and you're really just treading water, and you'd simply like to escape, you're a perfect vibration for some dramatic thing, usually an accident or an illness. We powerfully create our worlds.
I want health, wealth, happiness and love and I want to live in an UpSpiral of love, peace, gratitude and joy. I want to learn and share, in an elegantly simple way, means of growth that move others to higher levels of happiness and joy. I want to add to making the planet a happier and more harmonious place. I want to see thousands and thousands and thousands of UpSpiraLife Groups all over the world and I want
to see thousands of VisioNavigator coaches, teaching all over the world, the simple message that there is a vision of passion for every life.
I want you to feel totally free to want what you want, regardless of what it is. So long as it harms no one else, want what you want. Oh yes, I also want a red Porsche and a black Toyota truck with an extended cab and I'd like the plastic liner to already be in the truck bed. AND I would really get a kick out of getting all of this in these troubled economic times... so filled with abundance!
28 Comments
Judy wrote on Tue Feb 2nd, 3:13pm:
I raise my glass (tho it’s filled with H2O right now since I’m doing a cleanse) to all your dreams, Dr. Larkin. For myself, I want more love than this little organism can handle. I want it to radiate out so that it becomes an epidemic to heal every lost, seeking soul, permeating every soul with understanding & allowing so that each individual might be accepted for the “who” that they are without judgment. And thank you for the opportunity to say so.
Lea Jacobs wrote on Tue Feb 2nd, 5:23pm:
For me, freedom is the highest aspiration of my life - Dr. Larkin, you have once again given me the green light to have my life be exactly the way I want it to be. When I say freedom, I mean freedom from and freedom to - freedom from all human suffering and freedom to be or to have or to go or to do whatever is right and best in the moment, not just for me, but for everyone in the world. I also have dreams of having certain things - a little home of my own on a hillside with a garden near a river would be great! I’m in the UpSpiral just thinking about it - how about enough money to share and spare - great! Ending World Hunger, Famine, War, Violence, Ignorance, Disease, Global Warming, Pollution, etc. - I can truly ‘imagine’. . . I can just let myself go for a swim in my dreams and the gym is helping me change what has to change within me to have these things and to accept these things in my life and for the world. I am learning how to truly love myself and others in order to be a part of making all our dreams come true - bless you, Dr. Larkin
Kathy W wrote on Tue Feb 2nd, 9:52pm:
I believe that it is so true that we have to be ‘clear’ on how we think about the word ‘want’. I know that throughout my life I have gotten mixed messages. First, ‘it was not Christian to want too much‘, then on the other hand I was told, “If you’re going to wish then wish big”.
Well, I have come to my own conclusion. I want all the good life can offer me. I am going to see that that happens with everyday that passes. I am soaking up life to it’s fullest and enjoying the pleasures of it.
I want to share a saying I found with you. I think it sums up what I am attempting to say.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want: if they can’t find them, they make them.
George Bernard Shaw
david brooks wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 1:24pm:
Dr. Larkin said, “We have to get clear about what we are wanting because the mind and the brain are always creating whatever that wanting might be.” And I think this is such an important point to deliberately creating the life we are seeking.
In Growing the Positive Mind, there is a wonderful process of understanding what we want by writing each want on a post-it note. I have been working on my notes for quite a while now and have hundreds. I have really felt good about the clarity the process has provided.
Sometimes, I have gotten stuck and the post-its stop flowing. When that happens, I step back and look at the notes that I already have and try to bask in the feelings of joy that their ideas bring.
If I am still stuck, I write a story about what it is like having what I want in my new life. What it is like to be living my post-its? What am I doing, where am I going, who are the people I am with? I try to describe how I feel and who I have become and the aspects of it all that I appreciate. What does it feel like to have the positive vibration that is in alignment with my desires.
Once I have written a few pages, I read over my new story and try to feel it. Every time i read what I have written, I look at the details and always find additional post-its. I may have wanted a house with the pool, but my story reveals the beautiful view from the pool, or the landscaping surrounding it.
Writing those post-its has been a wonderful process providing me with clarity and it feels great! Thanks again for your insights, Dr. Larkin!
richardsnewsong wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 1:25pm:
Thanks Dr. Larkin for sharing on “Knowing What You Want.”
Were we twins, separated at birth?
I have lived most of my life with the same neural tape that, “I have champagne tastes on a beer pocket book.” Small world!
In other words, “Richard, no matter what you want in life, don’t hold your breath - don’t get your hopes up. Learn to be happy with the bare minimum of getting by.”
With the help of your program, I am making the shift into a positive mind set that not only allows me to know what I want but also helps me to realize that I am entitled to have good things in my life. I can live with a positive expectation that good things are coming my way and in this very moment, I vibrate in my core emotions of gratitude, love, joy, peace and hope, regardless of my circumstance.
I am taking personal responsibility for my power in creating my world and look forward to exciting future outcomes as I see my FuturePac goals starting to be realized in my life!
richardsnewsong wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 1:38pm:
David,
Thank you for reminding me of the powerful process of visualization and journaling that can move us to a higher level of vibration, just by bringing the emotions into our present state of consciousness.
I am betting that the view from your pool is very beautiful indeed!
How exciting that you can write the story of the pool and even see the beautiful landscaping.
I am reminded how Dr. Larkin tells us how the brain craves “specificity” and I am sensing that your process is putting a powerful vibration in place that help you realize these wonderful desires in your life!
Thanks for your inspirational sharing!
Have a Happy!
Richard Rotbart
CFO - Chief Fun Officer
Donna Lang wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 10:06pm:
The Psychological Capital I’ve built up since engaging in the VisioNavigator Program almost 5 months ago is close to making me a millionaire in terms of Vibrational Escrow.
For me, “Be Happy - Don’t Worry” has morphed into “Get Happy - Get Rich.”
As I continue to raise my VibeCore Score, and pull from my strengths etc. I notice more and more that people places and things show up to match my desires.
As Abraham Hicks states: “That which is like unto itself is drawn.” And I am living that.
I know what I want and desire leads the way.
As Dr. Larkin States: We powerfully create our worlds.
With Gratitude,
Donna
Donna Lang wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 10:15pm:
David Brooks,
I want you to know that I have enjoyed your Blog so much. You are so full of wisdom, with an open heart and a huge capacity to share who you are - where you are!
You state,“If I am still stuck, I write a story about what it is like having what I want in my new life. What it is like to be living my post-its? What am I doing, where am I going, who are the people I am with? I try to describe how I feel and who I have become and the aspects of it all that I appreciate. What does it feel like to have the positive vibration that is in alignment with my desires.”
Simple and powerful! And very helpful. Thank you.
David, I am pulling from my creativity strength right now and through the lens of Walt Disney he sees that there is a big book of wisdom inside of you. Yummyness for the world!
In Celebration,
Donna Lang
Victoria Koutavas wrote on Thu Feb 4th, 10:25pm:
What I have realized about my own wanting is-the underlying energetic has shifted. In the past, my wanting was emanating from a place of lack. I wanted because I was not enough-not educated enough, wealthy enough, thin enough, etc. One romantic relationship after another was a desperate attempt to arrive at some sense of identity-who was I without being a part of a “we”?
Even when the work promotion, smaller-sized clothes and man du jour would show up, gratitude and joy felt hollow and were short lived.
After many years of self-discovery and most recently the work here at ANI, I am delighted to report my wanting is all shiny and new! Now, as I write my post it notes, my wanting comes from a place of true possibility. I am the source that fuels the wanting-not the other way around. Operating from this perspective, I am feeling infinite abundance, unlimited choice and most importantly, peace.
My wanting begins from a place of deep gratitude for all I am and all I have right now, in this moment. I am plenty, my life is perfect and what joy I am having visualizing what I am writing on my post-it notes!
Jack wrote on Fri Feb 5th, 9:30am:
Well Dr Larkin, you nailed it again. I feel a bit like the blog writer who said that you must be reading her thoughts. Last weekend I reached the VibeCore chapter in your book. I put down what I wanted and it has had a huge effect on my life and what the Universe brings into it in only one week. Easily as important, when I have a significant challenge, it is no longer simply a pain generator. Now it is a signpost telling me to avoid that emotion or action and that it points out something that I am missing that I feel a deep need for. When I first read in your book the comments about having wants and their positive effects, I struggled. Like many others who you refer to I have been taught that material or other human wants are a blockade to finding the Spirit. The model of the enlightened one who has reached a state of bliss and connection is the ascetic who gives all to those who have less. The problem is that this process hasn’t really progressed the way I would like. As I have cycled gratitude, love, peace, and joy I have felt an internally derived sense of wanting to do acts of lovingkindness to others for its own sake, not for any personal reward. Now in addition to my thanks, you can be connected to the thanks that arises from others for whom I give myself. You are going to be a very wealthy guy buddy. I have been a spiritual seeker most of my life. The peace your teachings are bringing to my heart opens the doorways to the Universal. There are no doubt many different ways to find and open these doors. I have read the teachings of many different wisdom masters. The emotions that you work with and speak about are the most powerful path I have yet found to unlock the unseen. Receive my prayer of thanks and have fun. Be careful on slippery turns with that red Porshe though.
Erik wrote on Sat Feb 6th, 2:07am:
I’ve had a cold for the past two days, yet I’ve been in the Upspiral, even though I felt physically crummy sometimes. I even hit and Upspiral score of 100 yesterday and 97 today. I had the experience of driving and feeling the beauty and oneness of all things.
As for what I want… enlightenment, love, joy, and peace. This or something better is now taking place. Yipppeee!
suzanne wrote on Sat Feb 6th, 10:11am:
“Knowing what you want”. I used to want from a place of neediness and lack. I mistakenly thought I needed this “thing” to be happy or successful. Once I discovered the contentment within myself at a deeper level, and that it is an inside job, my wants for outer things lessened. A sense of non-attachment makes me feel free!
Now I choose to want something from a place of joy and excited anticipation. My wants aren’t so much the material things, but seem to be more of a universal expansion… I want love in my heart today, I want to experience peace with this project, I want to share my talent with the world, I want to jump up and down with joy today because I can!
I give myself permission to open and expand my wanting - to be in alignment with the greater ME. I am creating my world and it is absolutely wonderful.
Margot wrote on Sat Feb 6th, 11:53pm:
To Donna: I love your image of “Vibrational Escrow”!!
Like so many of you, I too have suffered from the misguided belief that “wanting” was bad, sinful, wrong, selfish, etc. etc. But as a result of working through Growing the Positive Mind, I have come to understand what Dr. Larkin means when he talks about how it is out of wanting that creation comes. If we don’t WANT, what is our motivation to search, to strive, to learn, to attempt new things? Viewed in that light, how can wanting be bad? And it doesn’t matter if the wanting happens to be wanting of material things, spiritual things, humanitarian things - it’s all one, it is the wanting of WHATEVER that motivates us to move forward to try and achieve it - consciously or unconsciously. For myself, as a result of expressing my wants in the post-it notes, and from them deriving / establishing goals for the first time EVER in my whole life, I have found a clarity and singularity of purpose - in my business, my philantrhopic endeavors, and life in general - all of which fills me with joy and gratitude in abundance. And through that clarity, I am achieving more than I could have possibly imagined just short time ago, on many levels.
And like Jack, I have been exposed to many different ways of looking at achieving a happier life, but have found none that provide real tools that I could use to make it happen for me - until now. Thank you, Dr. Larkin!
sherri wrote on Sun Feb 7th, 6:51am:
Wow!! I just have chills all over. This it it, just what I needed right now and from these blogs I am not alone.
I read your statement of what you want and felt charged, clear and more connected to what I want then ever before.
I have said so many times in my past, I am tired of struggling with life everyday. I considered life a full time job of struggling for love, gratitude, joy or peace.
That was then and the “now” is clearly changing since I have embraced Growing the Positive Mind. I feel the consistent little changes everyday that are raising me to the place were all is possible, because I believe it and say it is so!
Thank you Dr. Larkin and all these kindred souls,
Sherri
BarbaraLily wrote on Sun Feb 7th, 9:44am:
All those “voices of lack and sacrifice” are still ringing in my head, but they are growing quieter. I loved the old movie, “Auntie Mame”! To quote her, “Life’s a banquet and most poor fools are starving!”
I intend to feast — on foreign travel, dancing, and enjoying Nature. Peace and Love to all.
Melody wrote on Sun Feb 7th, 1:39pm:
When I was young and expressed the many things I wanted, my dad would say “And guys in hell want ice water too!”. I never really knew what he meant but I got the message that I always wanted too much. Don’t get me wrong, I was a pretty spoiled kid with loving parents who got most of the things I wanted. But under it all was the message that wanting things was wrong. I didn’t think that it affected me that much until I was challenged with the post-it-notes exercise. It wasn’t always easy to flush out what I really wanted from the good things I already have.
Gotta love the effect of early programming. I’m surprised to learn that it is still echoing in my mind.
The wall of my home office is now lined with post-its in a dozen categories. Thanks to Dr. Larkin and dear Dr. Don for jump starting my want machine. I’ve already started manifesting. More to come . . .
Mountain Chat wrote on Sun Feb 7th, 2:44pm:
I’m still making my way through the book and the VibeCore chapter is rich. Dr Larkin has inspired me once again with his clam-cleaning, ceiling-fan, just this plan. And I just had an opportunity to use it.
My homework for a class I’m taking was to call someone in class to discuss what we’re experiencing. I thought it was a dumb assignment. I didn’t want to do it. Moreover, I was matched with ... bless his beautiful heart ... an energetic mismatch for me. Again, bless his heart. And like REALLY I didn’t want to go through this exercise.
But I also didn’t want to go back to class tomorrow having blown it - and my partner - off.
So I called him out of obligation. And while we were talking, my leg was bouncing with impatience and I couldn’t wait to get this finished.
And then I remembered, “Just this.”
I was on the phone with a beautiful human. He (and the situation) deserved my loving attention. And I had just learned about cleaning clams and installing ceiling fans. It worked. I stayed focused, loving, and attentive until it was time to hang up.
This is yet another amazing clue (or cue) in Dr Larkin’s book. Thank you, Dr Larkin, for whatever it was in you that made you want to write all this stuff down.
Carol wrote on Mon Feb 8th, 10:19am:
It was a great epiphany for me when I realized that I was equating ‘wanting’ with ‘lack of gratitude’. Thank you, Dr. Larkin, for reminding me of this strange old belief. I have never allowed myself to ‘want’ much or to set goals in my life. Now I can do both with freedom. It is still a difficult task….this goal setting….but now I have more tools, the permission, AND encouragement to do so. Thank you.
david brooks wrote on Mon Feb 8th, 11:23am:
Kathy W. I loved your quote from George Bernard Shaw: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want: if they can’t find them, they make them.”
This is such an important aspect that I am discovering as I do this work. The more I focus on what I want, the more it comes to me. I like being responsible for what takes place and I like that my personal power comes from tuning into who I am - my strengths, how I feel, and what I want my life to be. My life is unfolding because of my attention to it - deliberate creation is so much better than meandering.
Dreaming Big is fun!
kathy wrote on Mon Feb 8th, 1:30pm:
I love being incharge of my life and my feelings. What power. I can remember so clearly how I let other peoples moods affect my mood. NO More thanks to the UpSpiral and all that incompuses. My wants at this time in my life are not material. Use to be. Good way to fix myself I thought. Now I want love, joy and peace. And guess what I am getting them. I am amazed at how my up mood is affecting people I come in contact with. Fabulous. All this hard work with ANI is paying twofold. Thanks you so much Dr. Larkin.
linda wrote on Mon Feb 8th, 8:56pm:
Knowing what we want gives us direction as we jump into the banquet of life. Believing we can actually have what we want is the springboard from which we make our leap. These two truths are really entwined. When the belief portion is overlooked or forgotten, we may experience a belly flop that has us doubting we’ve even been invited to the table!
Dr. Larkin, I love your blogs because they really provide an opportunity for me look inside myself and see where I am in relationship to the various topics and where I want to be. They facilitate a ‘lean’ toward action, should I accept that challenge – the challenge of stepping out of the current status quo of parts of my life. I have seen myself in a certain way which feels normal and I am just now getting glimpses of how limiting that is. I want to consistently raise the bar of my status quo on the UpSpiral.
I realize that I need to give more definition to what I want, sort of flesh it out and then flush out the reasons I tell myself that I can’t have it. Caution is advised here since the Universe always says, “yes.” When I know what I want, but sabotage myself with justifications that seem very real - the economy, people with more experience, not enough jobs, not enough money - I am really lying to myself and the Universe will let me! Looking back over my life, I can see that when I got what I wanted, I had no resistance blocking my desires.
Sooo – I want a job as perfect or better than the one from which I was laid off – a job which allows me even more self- expression of my strengths. I want to travel for pleasure, having the time and money to do so. I want continued great health insurance for our family at premiums easily affordable. I want to inspire and teach positivity (possibly UpSpiral Life Groups) and Science of Mind principles through motivational presentations and writings. I want to have the wealth to allow my family to enjoy what we want, when we want. I say a big DITTO to Dr. Larkin’s paragraph five! I want to OP OUT of this recession (a bumper sticker!), depression and any suppression of the Truth of my Being! I want to live in peace, gratitude, love, joy, and hope, sharing these attributes of Spirit with all.|
Mack wrote on Tue Feb 9th, 3:29pm:
Wanting is it a true reflection of who we are? Or could it be a new awaking that has been hidding dormant? I am so thankful for the awaking. It allows me to want what it is that I choose to be selfish about. This is my chioce. No longer waiting for the approval of others and feeling guilty when I don’t get their approval. I think we all have different dreams and visions of the world and we are free to experience whatever bliss we choose. The wanting brings us in to a state of I am alive and this is my desire. Today I choose to go after my desires in high gear with no explanations and no regrets.
Mack wrote on Tue Feb 9th, 3:38pm:
Melody my dad use to throw out that same old Ice Water Quote. Its funny I didnt get it as a kid but many years later I did discover its true meaning. Meaning You are asking for too much. Funny I always thought that if you didnt ask you wouldnt receive. Isnt it funny how this world makes a play on words. First you are told to speak up and then you are told you are asking for too much. How would he know if someone in hell asked for ice water? Maybe they did receive it and they got it because they wanted it.
Melody wrote on Tue Feb 9th, 3:41pm:
LOL Mack, I think you’re on to something with your last comment. Maybe they did get their ice water - simply because they asked! Thanks for helping me reframe.
Rick wrote on Tue Feb 9th, 5:05pm:
The whole practice of journaling about what I want has been great! It has taken some time to get used to the idea that I can focus on what I want. When I was reading the Law of Attraction books by the Hicks I used to just be amazed with the idea that all I had to do was focus on what I want, have fun and feel good.
The chanting that Dr. Larking suggested of “Money, money, money, more money, plenty, plenty, plenty” has been great. I think it is the first time I have chanted about money or wealth and not felt some kind of guilt or shame wanting more prosperity. I’m heading in a better direction.
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