How To Have Everything You Want, Today!

This is not a trick, it is also not a cheap title to get you in here, nor am I selling or promoting anything that costs money. There are but two ways to have everything that you want:

1. Change what you have.

or

2. Change what you want.

Now we know that many things lie outside of our control. In order to do option 1; to attain everything that we want, we require a lot of help from the outside world. We require money, opportunities, other people to act in accordance with our wishes, the right weather conditions, political climate and so on. A long list of external forces must align in our favor in order for us to change what we want, into that which we have. And even if you were to do all your affirmations, all your visualizations and any other abundance and manifestation techniques you can think of, you still need to give the universe plenty of time to catch up with your intention. After all the universe has to take into consideration the intention of everyone else as well.

So yes, you can have everything you want via the first path, however it can take time and you are placing your sense of happiness and contentment outside of yourself. You are placing the acquisition of your wants on forces outside of your control.

So let’s take a look at option 2: Change what you want. What is stopping you, right now, from simply no longer wanting that big car, that big house, new tv, new shirt, concert ticket? The answer is you, only you can decide what you want. You see pain is not the result of being without the things you want, it’s the result of wanting something outside of your control in the first place.

Let’s simplify things even more.

• In order to change what we want, into that which we have, we require outside help that we may or may not get.
• In order to change what we have, into that which we want, we require only our own choice, which we control at all times.

Here’s an example. I could want a new laptop however I do not have the means right now to get one, nor do I in the near future. Suddenly I feel a pang of discomfort, I have a want, and yet I have no means of acquiring it. Marketers and advertisers play on this discomfort in order to spur you into action and buy their product. Once the discomfort of “want” has been activated, the person will attempt to remove the feeling by purchasing the product. However because I know I can’t afford a new laptop I decide to simply stop wanting it, and instead I want my current laptop, I want what I have. When I can afford a new laptop I will get it, and then I will once again want what I have.

This may sound like nothing more than a philosophical concept but it is entirely practical. As Socrates says:

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content(ment) is the wealth of nature.”

This is one of my favorite quotes, and for good reason. Your sense of richness and happiness is equal to your level of contentment with what you have, as compared to what you don’t. And guess what! Although you are not in control of what you have, you have complete control over what you are content with. Only you can choose what you want and what you don’t. It’s entirely up to you whether you are happy with what you have or not.

Please take 30 seconds to watch the video clip below:

In this brilliant clip from the film Key Largo, Johnny Rocco knows what he wants: He wants more (an abstract concept). And so do most of the people living in the western world (and increasingly the eastern world as well) today. We want something, then when we get it that feeling of want is simply replaced by another object. This is called “Apexing”, it means that as soon as we get the thing we wanted we instantly take it for granted and want something else, never feeling a long lasting sense of contentment. We go on like this acquiring thing after thing, never gaining true satisfaction. Never having enough, just like Johnny Rocco.

Life is transitory, it changes constantly, new things come into our lives whether we want them to or not. But if you must want something, why not want what you have, why not want what you already control and can enjoy? For example:

• I want to write a blog on my laptop! – *bing* And there it is
• I want a nice cup of tea! - *bing* And there it is
• I want to be sitting in a comfortable chair! - *bing* And there it is

Always bring your wants into the now, to things that you already have, or can easily acquire that require only your own effort. This brings satisfaction and peace into every moment of your day. And for those nice things that you don’t have right now? Treat them with the indifference they deserve, if a good thing should come your way, by all means enjoy it. Like Epictetus says:

“if a dried fig should come into your lap, take it and eat it”

But do not put off your sense of happiness and contentment to some future date when you may or may not get some “thing“, be it a job, a relationship or an item. Do not betray your sense of decency and virtue in the quest for “more“. What could give you more of a sense of abundance than being entirely content with what you have? We wrongly think that it’s out wants and desires that push us forward to reach our goals and dreams, it’s not. Focusing too much on what we don’t have actually keeps us in a state of stasis, always waiting until we “have” what we want to get started.

I’m no asceticist, I don’t believe we need to relinquish all worldly possessions in order to find peace, I love cool stuff! All we need to do is relinquish the need to acquire the possessions. If they come, let them come, enjoy them, but don’t become miserable seeking them.

So here’s my challenge to you. Make a list, mentally or write it down, of 5 things you want, from small things to huge ones. Go through each one and actually say to yourself “I don’t need or want (thing on your list), all is well right now. I want what I have and I have what I want”. Say this for each item and notice how it feels in your body, do you notice some resistance, some fear, some uncomfortable feelings? That is the feeling of lies being challenged, because just like every creature on earth, as long as our basic needs are met we have the capacity for contentment right now. By all means enjoy the good things and plan for the future, but do not place your sense of happiness and contentment on the acquisition of some external item that you may or may not get in the future!

In conclusion there are 2 ways to have everything you want:

1. Change what you have.

2. Change what you want.

Do you want to have everything you desire today? Then desire that which already is, and that which will be, rather than that which you do not have and may never have. Don’t have what you want? Then want what you have

Thanks for reading, all the best

Rohan.

Related Articles:

• Peace: How to distinguish between the content and the context of your life
  
• You were born happy
• Ask yourself the right questions, today and everyday
• Desire vs. Contentment
• Judgement of Thought

Rohan Healy is the author of “Greeks to Geeks: Practical Stoicism in the 21st Century” and “The 7 Things That Made Me Genuinely & Irreversibly Happy: And How They Can Do The Same For You”

Click the book titles to visit their Amazon pages, read the reviews, and sample or purchase the books.

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