What We Really Want

Most people, if we really search inside our own hearts, would know what we truly want, but chances are we'll pick something else that's inside our head rather than our heart. What we think we want is something we do not have, and are not likely to get, but even if we do get it, we will still be unsatisfied.

As a young boy my dream was to own a large boat, a yacht. As it turned out, when the day came that I could finally afford a yacht, I did in fact fly down to Fort Lauderdale, the best place to shop for yachts on the east coast. After several days of looking at various models and learning about the different options, I finally found the yacht I liked the most. It was at that moment when I realized that the yacht was a false dream—something that I had romanticized inside my head over the years. But when the day came to buy it, all I could think about is, "What on earth would I do with this big boat?" My point is there was something I wanted, indeed dreamed about for most of my life, but it faded away in the reality.

There are all sorts of things in this world that seemingly offer to give us, what it is that we think we want and need, but they never quite deliver on the promise. These longings, dreams, hopes or whatever we choose to call them, are things we think will satisfy us, but at the end of the day, they leave us still longing, still unsatisfied, feeling empty inside.

We cannot cast out pain or tragedy or misery. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds. Evil and greed will invade the hearts of many, and intolerance will exist for as long as there is human life. Evil is not a political or religious word. It is a reality- just as love is a reality. But, if there is one thing I have learned in my sixty years, it's that decency is a far more common human attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives through the presence of love. And, love can be found inside our hearts, if only we will listen.

The challenge—and it is a difficult challenge- is to find peace within ourselves, to find happiness in the ordinary miracle of just being. Once we open our hearts and minds to the fundamental innocence inside us, what we will find waiting there is pure love. This taste of inner peace and love is possible for everyone in every moment.

So the next time we ask ourselves what it is we really want—what will make me happy—if the answer is someone, or something, or someplace, then take my word for it—that's the wrong answer. Everything we need is in inside our heart where love will put a floor under all our sadness and fears and uncertainties. Love will guide us, much like a beacon serves to guide wayward ships in a storm, to where we need to go, because love walks before us always. Let's take on the challenge—one day at a time.

Doug Wallace is an attorney, a successful entrepreneur and a published author. His book, Everything Will Be All Right is a memoir, scheduled for nationwide launch on October 1, 2009. Doug chose to write his story of growing up in poverty as a way to call attention to the unimaginable hardships for the generationally impoverished. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders Kindle, Sony Reader, and retail book stores everywhere beginning fall 2009