About a year ago I spent two weeks in the Amazon. A good friend of mine organised the trip and invited me to come along.

A few months before the trip, I broke my leg and had a metal plate permanently attached to my tibia by eight screws. I hadn’t fully recovered by the time of the trip.

(I still haven’t fully recovered 18 months later.)

I contemplated cancelling and going a year later. As it turns out I wouldn’t have been able to travel this year either, as we have a young baby to care for. I’m sure there’ll be a good reason preventing me from travelling next year too.

There’s always something. There’s always a reason to kick your dreams down the road. You don’t need to look too hard to find one.

After thinking it through, I chose to travel to the Amazon last year. The experience was largely outside of my comfort zone. There were difficult moments to navigate – mentally and physically. I couldn’t participate in many of the activities I wanted to. There were moments I had to swallow my pride.

But I turned up, and enjoyed an experience that will live with me forever. There were many memorable moments. The highlight was a lifechanging ayahuasca ceremony with an indigenous tribe.

Of course, I can always visit again.

In the conversations I have every single day, people freely express their desires to me. They share in great detail the things they would like to create or accomplish. They talk with passion and enthusiasm. I believe them.

Often the actions they subsequently take suggest the desire they speak so passionately about is not real. Life gets in the way. They allow preference to get in the way of creation.

There are always two desires in play at any given moment. The first is your expressed or stated desire. The second is your genuine desire.

Your actions are always an expression of your genuine desire.

Very few people are aware of this. We are experts at convincing ourselves that we want something more than we actually do. It’s a comfortable faćade to hide behind. It saves face.

It also prevents you from course correcting the actions you need to take to fulfil your real desire. When you are not honest about what you are doing, it’s difficult to take action to change it.

Many years ago I was in a ‘kind of’ relationship with a lady who was a few years older than myself. It was fun, but it wasn’t the relationship I desired. It wasn’t my stated desire.

The actions I took suggested something totally different. I called her. I messaged her. I arranged to meet often. I enjoyed her company.

My preference not to be alone on a Friday evening got in the way of creating the relationship I desired. There’s nothing wrong with that.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this. The insight is realised the moment you’re brave enough to be honest with yourself.

There’s massive liberation in getting past the embarrassment and answering honestly, ‘Why aren’t I doing what I say I want to be doing?’

Only one thing is required to create your dream relationship, your dream job, or your dream life:. ‘A genuine and sincere to have it’.

Because when things show up in your life that do not move you towards your desire, you will say ‘no’ to them. It won’t be difficult.

Ask yourself two questions:

• What is my biggest desire right now?
• Where am I allowing (temporary) preference to get in the way of creation?

When you answer the second question honestly, you’ll be much clearer about your genuine desire. No matter how much you hate it, acknowledge that the actions you’re taking support this reality.

You can’t get to the Amazon unless you book a flight and turn up at the airport. Your actions are always an expression of your genuine desire.

Have fun with this and go easy.