Knowing what you want out of life sounds easy and isn’t. It starts further back, with knowing yourself — honestly, even brutally — and that’s the work of a lifetime; you reach the end of it still with more to learn.

But as you come to know yourself, the shape of the life you want comes with it. Then the decisions are yours to make, toward a place only you can see. “Your heart is your compass in the journey of life; follow it.”

No one else can navigate it for you, because no one else knows where you’re trying to go. The heart here isn’t a detour around good judgment — with self-knowledge behind it, it’s the instrument that points you home.