We all have the yearning.

Sometimes it’s faint, like a moth flitting around on the edge of our consciousness. Other times it’s a keen sensation, like a ball of fire in your gut as you ache for something you cannot yet identify.

The yearning is a sense that you want more to feel fuller, broader, more complete. Completion. It is an ache to fill a void so we can achieve completion.

What does completion mean, anyway? Doesn’t it imply that we are somehow lacking and need something else to make us whole? The answer to that is contradictory in and of itself: yes and no. Yes and No. Allow me to elaborate.

Yes, you need something else to satisfy you. You need something more. No, you’re not somehow lacking; not lacking in your self, anyway. You have everything you need. The yearning is to unlock what you have to meet what you need. It’s to allow yourself discover your hidden depths and realise things you didn’t even know you knew. What you’re lacking is access to those hidden treasures, not the existence of the treasures themselves.

Consider an artist who longs for heartfelt expression. She wants to create something bigger than herself, something lasting, something real. Her yearning is as a result of what lies within her. The only way for her to fill the void is to explore what her heart has to say and how it wants to say it.

The process may be scary, exhausting, or outright life-changing, but she sticks with it. Why? Because the need to fill the void is greater than the fear of what she might find if she does go with her heart’s call. The yen to feel whole is greater than the urge to play it safe and not cleave her soul open to get her answers. Change, after all, is always resisted on some level.

So our artist girds her loins and dives into her core. She finds the nub of her creativity. She finds the missing pieces of her spirit’s puzzle. She finds what she’s been searching for, longing for, and at that moment, she’s at peace. She’s complete. She feels whole. And it feels amazing.

Interestingly, though, what I’ve just described is not a one-time exercise. She won’t discover all the facets to her expression in one fell swoop; where’s the fun in that, right? She’ll have to go back to her core again and again, but she won’t mind. As a matter of fact, she’ll look forward to it because she knows she’ll find yet another part of her voice. She knows she’ll unlock another secret and discover another truth. She knows that it’s worth it, every step of the way, and she’s prepared to make the journey as many times as necessary.

This is why we are always searching for completion. It’s why we’re always yearning for something fuller and greater, because we unwrap our gifts a little at a time in order for us to truly savour and appreciate our findings. It lets us play with our discoveries and inch ever closer to the highest version of ourselves. It lets us be more of who we really are.

So when we find ourselves aching for more, it means we’re ready to go exploring again. It means we’ve mastered what our current reality has to offer and we need to shake it up with something fresh and exotic. We need to widen our eyes in wonder as we stumble across yet another magnificent jewel waiting to enrich our lives and perception of the world.

We all have the yearning. We all have the answers. It’s just a question of going looking for them, of being willing to do so in the first place. The yearning is about exploration, and discovery, and completion. It’s about cleaving your soul open so you can unlock its secrets and dance in its richness. It’s about trusting that the call to find more of your self is a call worth answering. It’s about transcending a temporary scarcity to swim in infinite abundance.

Each of us must make the journey for ourselves. Each of us must reach within for ourselves. No one can do it for you, but they can do it with you. It’s like life coaches, you know? They don’t give the answers to you, they help you discover the answers in you. It’s the same with every support system and religious/spiritual model around the world. First you must look within before you can understand and implement anything without. It’s all about the spiritual exploration, people.

What’s next for you and your yearning? Will you step into the fullness of your spirit as often as you’re called to?