This is often such a difficult question to answer. Maybe it is because we don’t ask ourselves the question often enough to know the answer.

We are conditioned in this society to be compliant, to keep status quo, and it is even ingrained in our biology to resist change when we have our basic needs met.

Perhaps this is the key - that by asking what we want, the answer will either bring about disappointment or change. And disappointment is something we can surely tolerate, while change is something that requires conscious effort and disruption of current status, comforts, and ways of being. Maybe by not asking what we really want, we take ourselves off the hook for giving ourselves what we want. By not asking ourselves the question, we can continue to blame others for our current life situation, when it is ultimately ourselves that are responsible for our lives.

This question brings about a certain level of responsibility that first asks us to dream of what is possible, next of what is wanted within that possibility, and finally, a question that may be more subconscious, “What am I going to do to get what I want?" Or rephrased, “How do I want to get what I want?”

With forward action in mind, shifting the responsibility to ourselves becomes empowering yet vulnerable. By naming what we want and how we want to get it, we put ourselves on the hook for taking the necessary action. Talking the talk and walking the walk. Naming what we want assumes risk and the unknown, which may bring up fear and self-doubt. But without asking the question and taking the steps, we remain stagnant and on autopilot, unconsciously moving through life. The alternative is making conscious choices that lead to fulfillment.

In my opinion, life is about growth, and we owe it to ourselves, as conscious humans, to stimulate our growth by asking what we really want and how we want to get it.

So what do you really want?