Wants and Needs

Part of taking responsibility for ourselves means taking responsibility for what we want and need, and knowing that’s okay to do.

Learning to tune-in to ourselves, learning to listen to ourselves, is an art. It takes practice. We can use our ability to guess what others want and need, and apply that skill to ourselves.What does it sound like we might want and need? What would we guess would help us feel better? What are our feelings telling us? Our body? Our mind? Our intuition?If we ask, then listen closely; we’ll hear the answer.We are wiser than we think, and we can be trusted.What we want and need counts. It’s important, and it’s valid. It’s okay to learn to participate in meeting our own needs.We can learn to identify what we want and need and be patient with ourselves while we’re learning.

Today, I will pay attention to what I want and need. I will not discount myself.

From the book: The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series