What is it You Truly Want?

I've heard and read that more and more people are depressed these days. I can't help but believe it is due to a lack of genuine connection with loved ones and the natural world around us.  We seem to have everything we want and more, and yet, we come up lacking. Technology has not fulfilled us in the way we all thought it would.

Throughout my week there has been a recurring theme. That theme has been about 'want'.

Sitting in meditation class last night our teacher, Clayton Smith,  asked us to think about what we really want; what is our biggest dream.

Then we were told to envision a piece of paper with a line down the middle.
On the right side we were to imagine we had written the 3 things we would be willing to give up to achieve that dream. On the left side the 3 things we would not be willing to give up.

I could envision my dream perfectly and what I would give up and what I wouldn't and when I really thought about it, that dream was within my grasp right now.
If only I was willing to make the few changes that encompassed those things on the right side of my list.
What is holding me back?, I thought to myself.

So many things ran through my mind. Perhaps I'm just not ready. Perhaps it's not what I really want. If we knew what we really wanted wouldn't we be half-way there?

My youngest son always said "If you don't want, you don't get". I believe he is right.
He, amongst all of the people I know, is the only one truly pursuing the life that he 'wants'. Others seem to be bogged down in either not believing they really deserve to be living the life that they want, or living in fear of failure if they ever tried to live that life.

So where does the depression of so many in our socieity arise from? Is it the fear or is it just the feeling of being stuck and not being able to move forward and take a chance on achieving their dream?  What's holding you back?

Perhaps it's not what we really want that counts, but what we really need? Have we, in gaining so much materialism, given up that which we want and need the most?
Quality time with our loved ones?
A clean and natural environment diverse with plants and animals?
Healthy food raised close to our homes at a reasonable cost?
A slower pace of life where the people and things we do have in our lives are given more value and not so easily given up on or replaced when things don't go according to plan?

What is it we truly want? Do we really know?
Until we are able to answer that question, doors will remain closed to us and we will never realize the dreams we are meant to have fullfilled.