Category: Finding Your Passion


“Play us a tune on an unbroken spinet, and let the bells ring, let the bells ring! Play music now: play us a tune on an unbroken spinet. Do not make echoes of forgotten time, do not strike music from old broken keys, do not make ghosts with faded tinklings on the yellowed board; but play us a tune on an unbroken spinet, play lively music when the instrument was new, let us see Mozart playing in the parlor, and let us hear the sound of the ladies’ voices. But more than that; waken the turmoil of forgotten streets, let us hear their sounds again unmuted, and unchanged by time, throw the light of Wednesday morning on the Third Crusade, and let us see Athens on an average day.”

Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River

Dr. Tian Dayton writing for The Huffington Post explores the “biology of codependency“.  His study of the neurological findings about codependency found that codependency is fear-based. He further believes that the stress of living in a home where the children learned to be more vigilant to the adults’ moods rather than their own taught the children to access mood from outside them. What happens to the child’s moods? The child loses touch with what he/she is feeling.

Coming alive links:

1.  Give me a break: Are you busy for a reason?

2.  Formation–“to be nobody but myself— in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me somebody else— means to fight the hardest battle any human can fight, and never stop fighting.” e.e. cummings

3.  It’s the perfect day to be alive.–includes “Wonderful Life” by Natalie Grant from her CD Relentness.

100 Ways to Change Your Life for the Better is from Cultivate Greatness. These tips were originally compiled by Jessica Hupp. I have listed the topics of the 100 tips with a link for each:

  1. Health–Good health is the foundation of a good life, so make these improvements, and they’ll resonate out to the rest of your life.
  2. Mental–Improve your mind by taking these simple steps.
  3. Social–Take these steps to change your social life for the better.
  4. Emotional–Improve your emotional life with these simple strategies.
  5. Financial–Make these changes to improve your life’s financial outlook.
  6. Habits–Make these changes in your daily life to improve upon yourself.
  7. At Work–Take these steps to make things just little bit better.
  8. In Your Community–Getting involved in your community is a great way to improve upon your life. Try these methods for getting out there.
  9. In the Environment–An excellent way to improve upon yourself is to reduce the negative impact you have on the world. Take these steps to get greener and change your life for the better.

Arinna Huffington is finishing her drive to promote getting enough sleep. Oftentimes when we are busy, we slip into a sleep-deprived life style. Most new parents fall into this habit. But it can long term pressure to a marriage or work life. In ending her Sleep Challenge 2010, she writes:

“I also learned how valuable it is to talk to people about sleep. It’s as though you are enlisting the world around you in helping you meet your goal. Not only did people share with me their sleep tips, but having people constantly ask me if I was getting enough sleep or making sure I wasn’t drinking coffee after noon or staying up past my scheduled bed time were a wonderful safeguard against falling into old, bad habits.”

“You don’t have to write about your sleep experiences twice a week and publish them on HuffPost and Glamour to get the same benefits. Tell your friends and family about your sleep goals — put it out there — and watch how many “sleep angels” start looking out for you and holding you to your sleep commitment. It’s like a Field of Sweet Dreams: build it, and they will come (to tuck you in).”

Learning and maintaining a commitment to make our sleeping important to our life will add passion and drive. Our passion is increased once we allow ourselves to believe that our dream may be possible. I love helping people so I am open to anything that will help me fill this need. Because of my letting go of old beliefs about myself, I have been freed up to work toward a movement that will enable the people I care about to join together.

Our passion comes from following our flow. Flow has been explained by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He describes our flow as that feeling of joy when we are doing something we love to do and are doing it effortlessly. Some athletes call it being in the zone.

Writing in her blog, Joyful Days, Daphne offers us a challenge to choose one of the following proven ways to living  a happy life:

  1. Believe in something
  2. Embrace silence
  3. Work on your own terms
  4. Find your “flow” experience
  5. Have something to look forward to
  6. Hang out with friends
  7. Just carry on living

Many people believe that aren’t creative. Yet few of them schedule creativity. Creativity is an art and a science. You can find your creativity by making it a goal. Schedule time to spend searching and exploring your “flow” activity. Remember creativity is playing and enjoying what you do in your creativity time.

James Chartrand (who is really a woman) writing in Fuel Your Writing about how to learn the skill of being inspired suggests during the following to find your flow:

  1. Explore new experiences  ”
  2. Ask people about themselves
  3. Bring a notebook
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