Desirous

There is a fine line, pencil-thin, between longing and desire. Longing is an ache that extends linearly into the horizon; external and unattainable, and as the name suggests – the feeling of time passing slowly. To long, is to be distant from what you want.

Desire, however, is something you have within you; a fire power, burning. It is an always-on hunger, and like a craving, can be satisfied; and yet, we still can’t get enough. There is a want, want for more, more. Desire is not something you go looking for, but rather, it is the object of which you seek.

Longing, sigh, exhales from a place of lack while desire breathes in abundance, deeply. The former suggests saintly patience, a virtuous surrender to an enduring desert, where we are starved of thirst. The latter overflows, and will continue to do so the more we give in, so give in to the ephemeral garden where heart berries burst and bleed their sugary juice.

Desire, not longing, sustains us. It gives us the energy we need to keep living in the moment, lest we get ahead of ourselves and cross that line | a future we do not yet have. Desire, not longing, grounds us with a deep love expressed in the here and now.

The lesson is not in practicing patience, but in taking action to soothe that ache; to embody it and be pleased and released; to feel the blood rush and watch the color come back to your cheeks.