Every new year, most of us reflect, as if we need a date in the year to make a new start.

A lot of people have denoted Jan. 1 as being the date you get a new beginning. It’s on the calendar and even though it does not say “New Year” or “new beginning,” somehow our minds tell us that is what it is.

We have formal services and programs — such as watch night services, where we count down the seconds and at 12:01 a.m. we align ourselves with the good we want for the new year in a scared setting such as burning bowl services, where you make a list of those things that no longer serve our highest good and burn them; white stone services, where we are given a white stone which symbolizes freedom and we sit quietly to receive words from the divine to be our focus.

These are just some of the rituals that we have used among others to cleanse and align ourselves for the new calendar year. Since this is such an internal and intimate process, many of us go with what we think we want and not our hearts desire.

So, let’s look at wants and desires and how to use this information in the reflective process to manifest change.

A ”want,” in my point of view, is … I want it now!  I have to have it!  I have to have more!  Manipulation, envy, control and jealously are first cousins of want. 

We want more things, more clothes and more of everything.  We become obsessive in our thinking. You see someone with something that you do not have and you want it. It can lead to greed … and we go after what you want in unhealthy ways.

A desire is from the heart, of the soul and it benefits you and others. It also takes time to manifest. 

Desires require patience and are usually accomplied by a vision, a dream, aspirations and hopes. Desires bring joy and passion alive in you soul.

So ask yourself: What is my heart’s desire? How will my desire help me to grow and help others?  Am I willing to be patience with myself and hold on to my vision? Write the answers to these questions down and hold them in mind.

So, knowing now what you want or desire and the difference, it is your choice to have a plan of action to implement in small steps one day at a time.

Do not be your own worst critic, nor share your plan with people who do not support your highest good.

Surround yourself with positive people, not naysayers.  Believe in yourself and in a Higher Power to guide you along the way, each step of the way. Have faith and know that what you believe you will receive.

No New Year’s resolutions, which most of us only keep for three or four weeks — only your heart’s desires benefit you and others.

Yemaja Jubilee is a Charlotte County native and a poet, author, playwright and inspirational speaker. She is also the co-founding artistic director of Cultural Libations & co-producer of “Black Wall Street-The Money, The Music & The People.” She can be contacted at landNluv@aol.com.