Distracted Desires

how the ways we live hide what our hearts really want

Our world is fraught with distraction, convoluted with suffering and injustice; sometimes blatantly visible for all to see. At other times, limited to our personal lives; our inner-spaces. We focus on these pains and pull them back towards us in multitudes of ways. We grasp them tightly, often allowing them to define us as people and communities. Our very wants and desires are corrupted by this suffering and a part of us has become addicted to it.

Along with personal suffering and societal injustice, we are plagued by materialism. We want with no end. Something sad in us feels if it just had that one thing, maybe the desire for happiness would be fulfilled—if only for today. We waste time in pursuit of things that serve our suffering instead of our freedom, confusing ourselves with the consumers we’ve been trained to become. Fear is the tool of our projected distortions. The learned fear of our own heart’s truths and facing the wounds we hold in our bodies is the ultimate tool of entrainment to our self-suppression. We all have the power to find the truth of who we are within our heart if we are not afraid to look. And keep looking.

Deep within our cores lie entirely different desires. Some of which we all share. Those we’d all be striving for when we look past these cultural distortions. We'd want to live in honor of our place in the universe and our mother earth, we would search for relief from our ever present fear of suffering in the crushing hands of the modern world’s unrealistic expectations, and we’d want for the happiness and prosperity of everyone around us—the right for every person to serve their true purpose and create their own beautifully unique expressions of freedom.

To achieve this true happiness, we must first acknowledge our heart's true desires. We must learn to see past what we’ve been taught to distract ourselves with. When we do, we’ll come to find our capabilities endless. We’ll see ourselves stepping into harmony with the world. We can learn to know the true bliss of living in divine synchronization with ourselves and our communities, and be released from the pain which comes with our isolation from truth. We can learn to once again to know ourselves, once and for all, as children of the universe—realizing ourselves fully as the collective eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of our living planet.

-Daphne Garrido