What is the difference between wants and needs?

"I want to be rich; I need money."  "I want to be thin; I need to stop eating so much." "I want to own my own home; I need to get a job!"   For me, the difference between "want and need" is that want is a message you give yourself to express your dreams and desires while need is the direction you take to attain those dreams and desires. Wanting is a lower form of energy. It's not enough to merely want something in order to attain it.. It's the burning desires of "need" that fuel the deepest part of your soul into the belief that it's that item, person, etc. that will give purpose to your life. Want is though the birth mother of need. Sometimes you need something you didn't even know you wanted until the universe presents it to you.  I try to practice daily to not want for anything, but my ego self will generally win when I discover something that I absolutely must have, cannot live without, that I desperately NEED!