Purpose, Passion or Pass?

Perhaps I am lucky that I have experienced both real passion and real focused purpose.   It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve been able to really understand that some people never get to feel either.

That makes me so sad – and I really want to DO something about it.  The problem is of course I know that everyone has the opportunity at some point.  Some people just choose to pass on it.

I’ve also realized you can’t MAKE someone dig deep unless they are ready and willing.  I’ve tried in the past.  I’ve even thought I succeeded but then nope..not so much.

All I can do is live my life in a purposefully and passionate way and hope that inspires.  I figure if I can move someone to start on their own life journey awake instead of sleepwalkng through it then that would be more than enough. 

I can also offer up some of my own experiences which is what I often do with these blog posts.  Digging is hard work, even when it’s mental and not physical.  BUT I do know that both types of digging is easier if someone lends you a hand – or a shovel.

I knew for most of high school that I was going to be a teacher.  I just knew.  It bubbled up from my heart of hearts and drove me to do what I had to do.  My passion drove my purpose which gave me my continued motivation.  

So what happens when you get to a point where you feel like you’ve achieved what you needed to? 

You have a choice even then.  Find your passion, dig up your new purpose or pass and stay right where you are.

This is what was happening to me a few years back.  I felt like I had reached a leveling off in my growth and the craving for something MORE started. 

It was this craving I think that may have been starting even when I moved across the country alone to live on the west coast.  I don’t think I recognized it yet but it may be that is when the seeds had been planted or struggling to break free of their shells.

Either way, I was looking for my own passion and purpose.  While I love teaching the kids and enjoy it still, I know I have grown and want to play a bigger game in my life.

Probably why I got certified as a Coach in the first place.  Stepping stones to where I was headed.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I need to be able to go even deeper.  With myself, my business and all of life.  I can see it, taste it even…but didn’t know quite how to get there.

I was a bit stuck.  Funny how stuck rhymes so nicely with YUCK isn’t it?

I started getting an idea but I was resisting opening up to it fully.  I’m not even sure why.  So much has changed the last few years that I think perhaps I just wanted to stay in some comfortable settings for a while but my restless heart would have none of that.

The signs started showing  up more and more often until one day I just took action.  A tiny small thing…reaching out to a friend for some information…that lead to a huge leap.

Suddenly, I’m headed back to school!  I’m upgrading my skills, opening doors and freaking out with happiness! 

I can’t quite see around the bend in the path yet but as soon as my feet hit this road I knew…just KNEW it was the right one.

I won’t kid you that my inner saboteur jumped right out and started yelling about ‘what if this’ and ‘what would happen’ sort of stuff.   I gotta say I almost smiled at that.  It means what I’m doing is just scary enough to bring about some serious leaps and bounds of growth.  I’m aiming so BIG!!

I answered that little voice with faith and then told her to shut up and sit down, cuz I’m doing it anyway.  Oh yes…I got this!

Open hearts find their passions – you already know what it is I promise you.  Fear and inner beliefs try to keep us from them.  Quite a dance really. 

I believe in me (and it’s taken a lot of work to be able to say that with real conviction!) but I also believe in YOU.  If you are having trouble finding your own purpose just look at what makes your heart sing.  

My heart sings when I help other women figure out what makes their hearts sing…pretty awesome huh?

How much attention have you been paying to growing your life?  Do you have Purpose, Passion or do you Pass?

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The answer is the question

It has occurred to me over the last while that for a very long time I had been looking at things all wrong.

Shocking I know. ;)

I had spent a lot of time believing the hype, the quotes and I suppose the movies and thought that we all must be searching for our own very special, very important answers. 

It was shown, insinuated and flat-out told to me that this was what it was all about.  Finding that answer; that truth which would set us free, make us happy and make everything make some freaking sense.

Looking back on this now I think I was aware on some level that there was an important link missing from this.

An answer would be great sure…but what the heck was the question?

Nobody ever talked about that part.  Certainly no one ever told me what the questions were or should be.  Most importantly, no one ever talked about how to figure that out.

This realization hit me one day and it took a long time and a lot of other little wake up calls to really understand what this meant.

Go on..ask yourself.  What is the question you are trying to answer? 

For years I felt this pull, the need to look for something.  I begain to learn about different religions and cultures.  To look at different aspects of the human condition.  I studied psychology, sociology, biology, geology, ancient cultures, linguistics, the greats of literature,  mental health, special needs…the list goes on.   I found some peace and connections here and there, but never could really put it all together into this mythical ‘answer’.

I think it made me a better teacher though; such a wide variety of interests. My thirst for learning rubbed off on some of my students I hope.

But yet, here I am.  Realizing that the reason I could not find my answer, even among all this different formal learning, and life experiences was simply mind blowing.  And it was this - I didn’t know the question I was trying to answer.

The answer? That may not be what is really important after all.

Perhaps the real key in life is not in finding all the answers.  It’s asking questions that matter to you and exploring them.  Truth is, you may not find the answer to your original question.  The truth is you may only end up with more questions.

But that’s good.  Self discovery, life…it’s about figuring out what matters.  There is no magical final answer out there.  Each answer can only lead to more questions so it makes sense to pay attention to the questions you are asking.

Ask the right ones and you are going to end up on a path that will lead you to yourself.   Questions bring light and understanding to your heart and soul as much as they do to your mind.  GOOD questions lead you further into a topic or idea.  There is no end to that kind of discovery!

How freaking exciting is that?

My suggestion is to we need to spend more time on figuring out the question.  You may find you already hold the answers you look for.

What questions have you been asking?

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Everybody’s Talking About It

A little bit of a deviation from my usual sort of posts…kind of.  Winter Solstice.  It is a day of contemplation and celebration in my house. 

Winter Solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. For a long time my understanding of Winter Solstice was simply that it was the day with the smallest amount of daylight hours.  When I was younger there was always something about the seasonal changes that drew me.  The Winter Solstice was especially so.  I just knew my heart and soul  got a bit lighter and more joyful.

Imagine my surprise when I got a bit older and I discovered there was far more to it and for many people it was a day of real celebration.

The December solstice has played an important role the lives of many people in ancient times. Solstice observances were held by virtually every culture in the world. Solstice rites were practiced among such diverse groups as Native South Americans, Celts, Persians, Orientals, and Africans.

To this day, the world is still influenced by the many traditions linked to the observance of the December solstice. Just take a few moment to google some of the more commonly known Christmas Traditions like the Christmas Tree, mistletoe and even the date chosen to celebrate the birth!  As things evolve they seem to stay the same…but that is a topic for a whole series of posts!

Many people are talking about the Mayans predictions for this year. The day the world will ‘end’.   Those who are in the know realize that this doesn’t mean the world will end by being destroyed and annihilated. It means it will be ending this cycle and beginning anew.

This year, many believe the Solstice will mark not only a return of the longer daylight hours, but the beginning of a whole new phase of human consciousness and usher in a new era of positively. 

I think I have already seen the signs that the worlds collective consciousness has begun to shift and it makes me incredibly happy and hopeful.  I plan to stand in my truth and let my light shine brighter than ever. 

To those who want to create a movement for peace, unity and love;  this is our time.

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I Love To Sit In Silence

It’s so important to take that time…the time to pause.

We rush, rush, rush through life.  So often we wonder just how we got to where we are.  We say things like “how did it get so bad?” or “where did the time go?”

Sitting with yourself  in silence is so important and we so rarely take the time to do it. Taking time to sit in silence with yourself provides you introspection and allows you to not only see what baggage you’ve been lugging around but let’s you choose to put it down.

I’m not really talking about meditation here, although that can be a place to start.  I’m speaking to taking moments to BE in the moment. To feel the sun, brace against the wind and taste the raindrops.  Experience the emotional aspects of who you are.

To figure out our why.

To learn where your ‘stuff’ has come from and face it before you drag it with you to the next experience.

To really, really live we must stop once in a while and be in our moments.  We must look at all we carry with us and see what needs to be unloaded and left behind.

This poem is a beautiful reminder of how it feels to be in a moment and to experience it.

I love to sit in silence beneath a shady tree and listen to the song of birds and to the buzz of bees.

I love to sit in silence and watch the clouds go by and then read a book or hear a song and hear the wild bird cry.

I love to sit in silence when the day is almost done and see beyond the distant hill the paint glow of the sun.

I love to sit in silence in the evening twilight and listen to the whippoorwill sing with all its might.

I love to sit in silence beneath the starry night and pray to all in earnestness to live in silence all the while.  – author unknown

To do this sort of soul searching we must learn to be still.  We must stop being afraid to listen to our own voice.  We are all a work in progress but as with any important project we need to stop and evaluate where we are from time to time.  We need to occasinally pause and ask ourselves ‘why am I doing this?’

The world is a beautiful place.  You have a beautiful soul.  It would be simply a shame to not take the time to appreciate and experience this.

Feel free to use this affirmation “Today I take time to pause and drink in all the beauty that is life.  I stop to use all my senses to be in the moment“

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Say NO to Deficiency Motivation

Every get up in the morning and just wonder just how you’re going to get going?  (My answer to everything in the morning is coffee so you might want to keep reading. ;D)

Or perhaps you’re like me and take a big breath at times and say..”okay, you can do this – get going”  in the hopes that this will actually get you going? Yes, I talk to myself…a lot.

Then you see people who bound out of bed ready to tackle anything.  They go, go, go with seemingly unbridled energy.

What gives?

Why are these folks so freakin motivated all the time?

Well, they may be hyped up on energy drinks I suppose, but there is another possibility.  Everything might be related to how they choose to think about and see the world.

You see there are two ways to view things that expressly affect your internal motivators. Those feelings that you can do it, and you are about to!

You see, there is this way of thinking that far too many adhere to.  Wayne Dyer called it “deficiency motivation”.  Basically you are motivated because you think you are lacking.  You don’t have as much as the other guy. He’s smarter than you; she’s prettier than you.  You are not enough, you don’t have enough so you  must work, work, work.  You are motivated by a deep down core of fear; a fear of not being enough. 

Yuck.

 

And guess what? It really doesn’t work.  Think about it. You will only find frustration and self-depreciation here.  You can NEVER win this one.  There is always someone who is or has more of something.  What kind of life is that you creating then?  One that can never be fulfilled or joyous.

So, where do we take this then?  How do we motivate ourselves?

We learn to be grateful and celebrate all that we already have and all that we are.  We live in the right here, right now in a joyous way.  It’s vital to understand that you are enough.  Where you are is exactly where you should be right now.  Your journey should never be compared to someone elses because it is uniquely yours.  Apples and oranges my friends.

This is not to say you shouldn’t work towards goals and dreams that you have.  Not at all.  It just means that as you work towards each new step in life you are taking time to find gratitude for that which you already have.

You are a gift in this world.  You bring things to it that no other person can.    When you stop doing things to impress or compete with others your purpose will speak much louder to you. And really, there is no greater motivator than living from within that purpose.

Try working with this affirming thought each day.  “I am grateful and appreciate all that I am and all that I have.”

 

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