Being There vs. Getting There

What is the deal with wanting things and not being willing to do the work to get them? For instance, I'm sitting here at my computer, knowing that when I stop, I will go back to cleaning my house and mopping some floors that desperately need attention. So why do I keep looking for reasons to stay at this computer? I want the floors to be clean. I want the house to look nice. So why don't I WANT to do the work that will get me those results? I read something once that said ---- basically------"If you want a clean kitchen, then somewhere inside of you, you must want to clean it. If you want to be able to play the guitar, then you must want to learn to play it. Whatever you want, there also exists in you the desire to do the necessary work."

Now, I'm not sure I believe that. On some level, it makes sense. Or maybe it makes sense on all levels and the things that we say we want but that we aren't willing to work for are not really desires, but merely wishes. The more I think about this, the more illuminated I feel. I have talked for years about how I wanted to lose weight. Once, several years ago, I actually did something about it and lost 13 pounds in a month! Then I gave up on the notion of not eating after dinnertime and promptly gained the weight back. Then, early this year, it occurred to me that all those years I must have only been wishing to lose weight and waiting for the wish to come true. After all, I hadn't made any effort to change my habits, and those habits were the path I had followed to get here. I started making some changes, small though they are, and what do you know? I've been losing weight, slowly but surely, and I have not done anything huge, either. I've just been doing the daily things that need to be done. Eat more fruit and veggies, eat less junk, move my body more. Park farther away from the store. Walk the block to a neighbor's house. Take a kid to the park rather than send him with somebody else. It's not even that hard. I just had to realize that I no longer wished to lose weight, I just wanted to.

So, I changed my mind. I have talked myself out of my thought that wanting something and wanting to do the work for it come separately. I think they really do go hand in hand. So I guess now I just have to watch myself. The things I do are going to always tell me what I really want. How much easier can it get to self-assess?

Great. Now I've learned something, and I'll have to be responsible for knowing it. Growing up. Whew!! What a lot of work!