I'm often contacted by new clients hoping to find their passion. They describe it as their guiding vision, a feeling of palpable excitement that's missing in their lives, and that will bring them a deeper and more abiding satisfaction. As I listen to their frustrations in sourcing this inspirational well-spring, I've noticed a common thread, and a common mistake, that blocks their path to clarity.
Most people take a logical and considered approach to finding out what they want. Believing, as conventional science has taught, that we live in a mechanical world -- they list their skills, preferences, needs, limitations, the things they love and are good at, and the life they dream about. And although they do in fact, arrive at perfectly formed conclusions about their options, not being machines, they're surprised when something in them -- their soul, to be precise -- rebels.
Actually, on the surface, their approach is exactly right. And it's a good step as far as it goes -- a good place to start. It's important to know these things about yourself. But in seeking to tap their passion, people are searching for ways to engage themselves in a way that is still unknown. They're seeking to give birth to something entirely new, and that contributes to something larger than they can imagine. That something has to do with meaning and purpose, and with relationship.
The problem is, we live in a quantum universe, one of profound interconnectedness and creativity, where discovery happens through a distillation process that can't be approached in a linear way.
Let me shift momentarily to quote Murray Gell-Mann, a Nobel laureate physicist who studies complex adaptive systems and inspired my thinking on this subject:
"...In the study of global phenomenon you have to allow the aspects to emerge... you can't go in with a specialized intention of finding out something. If you want to understand a system you have to stand back and take a crude look. You are looking for the relationship of one thing with another... then you discover certain principles. The principles give you possibilities .. you come up with correlations... with relationships that let you know what is going on. Einstein said that he only wanted beautiful theories... because intuitively you know it is right... because it is harmonious..."
I recently had a wonderful opportunity to explore how this systems approach works with a group of people who gathered for a day to imagine their perfect life. We listened to each other's stories and then went into a guided visualization to imagine our ideal environment, imagining what and who surrounded us, and evoked positive feelings of contribution, and re-enforced our balance. We shared our images with a small group, and constructed a collage of them made from magazine clippings and colored pens. It was great fun, and produced a tangible universe that visually reflected what we were seeking -- in ways we couldn't have predicted.
Staring at clips of two dogs, a toucan and a llama in her collage, for example, one woman realized that she didn't so much need to change what she was doing, as to bring supports into her life that helped her to enjoy simple pleasures, and companionship that allowed her to be present in each moment. Another woman pasted pictures on various parts of a body that she outlined on her page, and was startled to see a dispirited, plain figure that mirrored exactly how she felt about herself. In a flash she realized that doing a 'makeover' of her external appearance, to match how she felt on the inside, was her route to discovering the new identity that was waiting in the wings to emerge.
Our right brain stores the images, vision, creativity, self-image, and dreams that move and motivate us. If we find ways to access and take a look at them, we'll see that they combine to form a gestalt, a whole picture of the principles, and perhaps values, they represent. And, as importantly, how we feel about them, and what they mean, become instantly apparent, unleashing new purposefulness and passion.
There are a number of purposeful activities that can help uncover the passions already stored within us. Walk, journal, draw, sing, meditate, stare out the window, dig in the dirt, visit a gallery, listen to music, wash your car. If you stay alert to your feelings as they arise during these activities, you'll find that your right brain is only just waiting to reveal them to you.
Autor: Kathleen Daniel
Kathleen Daniel, MS, L.Ac. writes about change and transition from the inside out, combining insights and experience from a life lived internationally, with a lifelong yoga practice and work as an acupuncturist, organizational consultant, educator, and life and personal leadership coach. She is an alumni of Johns Hopkins Women's Leadership program, and the creator of the Wellness for Women and Pausing at Midlife retreats. Website: http://www.aheadofthecurveatmidlife.com
Added: February 28, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
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