Quora response to a question

We can educate and over time shape our desires.  Our natural inclination is to believe that we are who we are. That fixed mindset is limiting and really sets us back.

One key is to identify and build upon our noble (e.g., constructive) desires or yearnings (e.g., wanting to help others). Building upon our strengths is a way to accelerate our growth. We need to see and focus on the good in ourselves. We can also identify and work on overcoming our destructive desires - or those that tear us down (e.g., addictions).

There is no more important work than to educate our desires. Our yearnings are the basis for who we become.

How do we do this? James Allen wrote 

a noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but it is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking; the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts.

Continued efforts to improve our thinking (e.g., daily visualization, sincerely prayer, learning, planning, recognizing our growth, and seeking to improve) are key ways to educate our desires and shape our destiny.

On a scientific level, the overwhelming belief for centuries was that you are “fixed” largely based on your genes.  That false belief has been shattered, and it's nothing more than poor fiction.  We drastically underestimate how the brain can restructure itself to help us succeed.

What you think and imagine changes the structure of your brain – down to the very connections between the brain cells and even down into the genes.  Your thoughts or activities turn certain genes on and others off inside the nerve cells - which then make proteins and then change the structure.

You can sculpt your brain based on the choices you make. In other words, your brain can get better at whatever you choose to do.

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Change what your heart desires