What do we Desire?

“What we insistently desire, overtime, is what we will eventually become and receive.”
Dallin Oaks

A few months ago I listened to a talk about desire. Our desires in life are so important to our success because they motivate what we do and who we become. When we have appropriate desires, they can lead us to success and happiness in life. Likewise, when our greatest desires are not good things or are not inline with what is truly most important in our lives, they will lead us to failure and misery in life.

Desires determine our priorities in life which ultimately lead to our actions and how we spend our time. Our actions and how we spend our time eventually dictates who we become and what we achieve in life. Therefore, we must be careful in what we most strongly desire. Are the things that matter most to us in life at the top of our list of desires?

For example, I believe for many of us our families are very important. If that is the case, is one of our greatest desires in life to have a happy family? If so, what are we willing to give up or sacrifice to obtain it? If our family is truly important to us, our desire to strengthen our family relationships should be sufficiently intense to motivate us to free ourselves from any habit, attitude, or action that will impede our ability to obtain this desire. Indeed, our greatest desires in life will provoke us to sacrifice and give up other things in order to obtain them.

Perhaps we need to readjust our desires. Doing so is not easy but possible. True desires that will motivate us to change cannot be impulsive, temporary, or superficial but must burn deep in our hearts. Changing our desires requires true commitment, effort, and work. As the desires we are trying to put in the forefront of our lives lead us to action, they will begin to take place deeper in our hearts. Having the strength and discipline to forgo strong but lesser wanted desires will help us change and be better people.

So what do we desire? Are our greatest desires those things that are most important to us in our life? We must be mindful of our desires as they will lead us to our success or failure in life.