There is fire to yearning; it isn’t weak or fleeting. Yearning can be directed towards another person, an experience, or a way of life. If we dive deeper into the focus of our yearning, we will often discover it is a longing for connection and meaning. 

Yearning is experienced in many different ways–it can even feel bittersweet or painful. Yearning speaks the language of the heart and is different from craving. A craving is trying to fill a void and has a more physical connotation, and cravings are rarely satiated. Whereas, yearnings express the desire of our hearts. 

Yearning can be the fire that gives us focus in pointing our inner compass in the direction of our heart’s desire. It can help us discern our heck yes from an “I guess so” or “yes” that was really a no.

Yearning can be a launching point of what wants to move through us or be lived out. 

Yearning seems appropriate to talk about on the heels of the summer solstice as we’ve experienced the longest day of the year–where the sun is at its highest point in the sky–and its fire kisses our part of the earth, unlike any other day of the year.

Because of our interconnection with all life and the elements, this is the perfect time to pay attention to the whisper or outcries of your yearnings. What inner yearning has been ignored or pushed to the side because it is out of the norm, inconvenient, or not in keeping with the world you have currently created? What is underneath the focus of your yearning that wants to be experienced or lived out? 

I invite you to carve out some time in the next couple of days and give voice to your yearnings. Put pen to paper, without filter, with compassion and honesty, and allow your inner yearnings to speak. What rises up? What is wanting your attention? Lean in, listen to what is being revealed, and create some space for its unfolding.

May the yearnings of your heart fuel your passions into being.
With love,
Kathleen