Finding Your Heart’s Desire: 8 Easy Steps

8 steps to guide you on a path to identifying and manifesting your heart’s desire

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I can picture it vividly as if it just happened. It must have been 1970 and I climbed up onto my grandparents’ bed in Flushing, New York’ and couldn’t wait to open my grandmother’s mahogany jewelry box. She promised me, since I was a good girl, that I would be allowed to pick out one piece of jewelry for myself. I stared at all of the sparkling stones and laid them all out on the bedspread. I could not decide what I wanted because there were so many beautiful things to reward my good behavior. My grandmother slid next to me and asked, “Which one is your heart’s desire?”  I was not sure what she meant but I knew somehow I had to make a quick decision. I asked her which one was her favorite and she pointed to a very small piano charm, which had rubies and sapphires set inside the piano as the keys. I told her I wanted the piano so it would remind me of her.

Almost 40 years later, as the two of us sat outside of her retirement home in Fort Lauderdale, she was approaching her 93rd birthday. She was frail but her eyes were the same, and I reminded her of that story. Now I wanted to know what her heart’s desire was.  She gazed at me, and leaned on her walker, “For my children and grandchildren to live successful and gratifying lives and to make sure the people who are in your lives know you love them.”  Less than a year later she passed away and that conversation left an imprint on my heart forever. I still have the piano charm I took so many years ago and often wonder if that was her only desire.

What is your heart’s desire?

To many it seems like a broad question to ask and yet it might leave you thinking for a while before you can actually pinpoint what the answer might be. From the time we are born, all we want is to be loved, accepted, and nurtured. Through our life’s journey, we find friends who will encourage us, support us, understand us, and make us laugh and grow. With that said, our parents, our teachers, and our friends have consistently supported us with messages such as, Go after your dreams; never settle; stay positive. However, nobody tells us the truth about how hard it can be to stay on track to get what our hearts really desire.

How can we attain our truest desires, spirituality, emotionally, physically, and mentally? If there were a quick fix, many doctors, therapists, life coaches, and nutritionists would have the exact answers, specific to each of us, and of course would be beyond wealthy for having figured this out. Through working with clients, I have found that both men and women really need to examine what it is that they want to change and manifest in their lives. It is easy to say you want to lose weight; however, it takes a plan, motivation, support, focus, and follow-through to get what you want.

Here are 8 easy steps, which can help anyone attain what they want:

1. Change your perspective. You can have whatever it is that you desire. Stop looking at things in the old way and take a brand-new look at how you are going to achieve what you want. This time around you are going to get it.
2. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Everyone is on their own path. Do not get distracted by other people’s actions, accolades, or advice. Your path is yours alone and you will get there when you are supposed to.
3. Be aware of your inner critic. How do you talk to yourself when things don’t happen?  Are you beating yourself up? Give yourself compassion and empathy the way you would a friend or child. Be gentle and kind. You are your own best friend. Do not be your own worst enemy.
4. Keep it moving no matter who you are or what you are doing. Exercise is key here. We all need endorphins. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete or enter a marathon, but lack of endorphins leads to depression and anxiety. Taking your dog for a long walk a few times a day will keep your head in the right space.
5. Identify what your biggest triggers are so they will not throw you off. Use these triggers as a way to stay focused. Your fears have always kept you away from your desires. Make them happen this time.
6. Pick a confidant or buddy you can discuss your upcoming success with. Someone who will encourage you to stay optimistic and talk about future plans. Talking about it keeps it alive and fresh and gets you excited about continuing on your journey. The buddy system works!
7. Are you willing to ask for the help you need in order to make this happen? Do you need to take out a loan from the bank? Are you interested in going back to school but don’t have the resources to do so? Find out who you can go to for help. If you don’t ask for it, someone cannot say yes.
8. Lastly, give yourself a deadline. If you have a desire to do something, give yourself a specific amount of time to do it. If you keep it open-ended, the project you are considering will never get done. If you follow through and set boundaries for yourself, you will keep yourself accountable. This will give you a finish line to reach.

Fulfilling your heart’s desire is not going to be fast, easy, or quick. However, the payoff will be one that will satisfy every craving you have to finally get what you want.

Persistence always pays off when you put the hard work in. Just a quick reminder: Julia Child did not write her first cookbook until she was 50; Vera Wang did not become a dress designer until she was 40; Henry Ford was 45 when he created the Model T car; Rodney Dangerfield went on the “Ed Sullivan Show” at age 46; the Zagats published their first book when they were 51; and Ray Kroc was a milkshake-device salesman before buying Mc Donald’s at age 52 in 1954.  McDonald’s grew into the world’s biggest fast-food franchise in the world.

What do you have to lose?

Learn more at JillDictrow.com

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