“I Want . . .”

For a couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling with a word.

That word is ‘want’.

You and I use it a lot, as does everyone else.

But what does it actually mean?

And how does this screw up our affirmations and our communications with our subconscious mind, and the Law of Attraction in general?

You see, ‘to want’ means both a desire for something or to lack, or be without something.

And as a noun it means much the same, a lack or absence of something, or a desire or wish for something.

The thing is that the subconscious always seems to revert to the true meaning of the words you and I use rather than any more common or current ‘incorrect’ use.

So when you and I state that we ‘want’ something, meaning that we would like to have something and we say for example “I want a new car” – the interpretation is literal.

I want a new car = I lack a new car – which is a true statement. This gets interpreted as the status quo.

The subconscious answers, “Sure, you don’t have a new car, so what?  You lack a new car, statement of fact, nothing for me to do there then.”

And if you and I just go on ‘wanting’ things, clearly nothing  – no thing -is going to happen.

Because no ‘change’ in the status quo has been requested.

But if you and I were to say “I have a new car” then the reaction might be different – especially if we precede that with something like “I am so happy and grateful that . . .”

The subconscious turns around and says “Hey, that’s not right, better do something about it”.

Even a less defined phrase such as “I’d like to have . . .”, or “I expect to have . . .” works as well. It just modifies the timescale.

I was doing this a couple of years ago, just thinking about having (not wanting) a new car; so unexpectedly someone rear-ends me and writes of my current car, and I end up getting a new one.

Things don’t always happen the way you or I expect – unless we’re also specific about the circumstances of the change we desire to effect!

But most English speaking people use the word a lot, usually to express a desire for something.

Interestingly this doesn’t seem to happen so much in other languages as they use different word for different meanings of ‘want’ – or maybe it’s just that English speakers are rather more lazy about their vocabulary.

The answer is for you and I to think positively.

Rather than using ‘want’ when we desire something you and I can try using ‘expect’, or ‘desire’ or ‘will have’.

Or we can go the whole hog and treat that desire or expectation as already having been achieved.

Now, just as an aside, I’m using the word ‘try’ here meaning ‘test’ or ‘experiment’, as in ‘try it out’ or ‘try it on’. (There’s another word that’s frequently used incorrectly!)

The thing is that affirmations do work, but only when used properly; and the words used are very important, because everything you and I say in that context is interpreted according to the correct usage of the language we are using.

You know the phrase “Be careful what you wish for” and you’ve heard the children’s stories about the ‘three wishes’.

If you and I aren’t specific about the request for our desire, our expectation, or the fulfilment of our vision then we may end up going down a path we didn’t expect or nothing may happen at all.

No wonder so many people who’ve tried this out in a superficial way will tell you that it just doesn’t work.

Well, without someone who knows how to drive it, a car doesn’t work either.

Think carefully and have a great week.