Always running. Always reaching. Always striving. Always looking for something to satisfy our cravings.

My friend Nora called me the other week and told me she was unhappy; that she didn’t know where she needed to be in her life and was unsure that the city she’s leaving in is leaving her fulfilled. I asked her “What do you crave? What do you desire?” And soon I was asking myself the same questions.

Moments that make me smile big like a goon as I walk down the street; that make me laugh out loud in front of strangers. Moments that produce tears at the corners of my eyes because I’m so completely aware that I am blessed and privileged. I crave harmony between myself and the kids I nanny, and time gone unnoticed when we’re involved in an activity. I desire embraces from people that I love that rejuvenate my soul from within and make me feel so loved. Phone calls with friends around the world and listening to their struggles. I desire expressing passion about my values to the point where I feel fire in my bones and can’t sit still. I chase freedom from the world and all of its’ constructions of how people are “supposed” to live.

I used to think happiness is all one should ever strive for. That if I wasn’t happy there was something wrong with me. I used to think I should only smile all the time, and that showing other emotions made me weak. But that’s not what life is about. We are made to fall so we can see life from the ground. Once we know life from that perspective, we can truly appreciate what lies in the sky.

We must desire in order to grow. We must crave in order to appreciate. We must understand pain to help us understand comfort. As humans we experience the different sides of all emotions at one time or another. Sometimes it takes a long time to understand why we are behaving in certain ways. Other times, we get it right away. Each of our trials and under-goings make us individual. I believe our trials help to mold us into great teachers on the subject.

Some say curiosity killed the cat. Some say rules are made to be broken. We all will try things that we are interested in, regardless of the rules, regulations, or contrary advice we receive from even the people we respect the most. We may try things until we hurt ourselves or those we love. Sometimes we don’t realize that our cravings and desires rule us. Until one day, when we decide we won’t do it anymore. This isn’t what we crave anymore. This isn’t what we desire. And we move on. We wonder about some other human life phenomena. And we chase it. And we hold it close to our hearts and identify with it. We get to know the things we wonder about so well that we can tell stories about it and teach it to others. The things we wonder about become our stories.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark.
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

“We think about the things that we put into our minds”

Twinkle, twinkle little stars… What do you desire? What do you wonder about?

~*~