Balanced Life Center

Do What You Love…

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“Yeah, but I don’t know what I love.”

…And the money will follow.

“What a load of crock!”

How many times have you had those reactions to that saying? After all, you have responsibilities, children, bills to pay. You want the car, and the home, and the latte, but what do you love?

Self help gurus implore us to ask ourselves what we would do if we had millions of dollars or if this were the last day of our lives. However, those scenarios are so far-fetched in our psyche that we don’t have “real” answers to those questions. I have a different approach.

What would you be doing in this moment if you could do anything? Would you be reading this post or writing one? Would you be outside smelling the rain? Would you dance naked to your favorite song? The key to this exercise is to keep it to this moment. Something that you can do right now given your resources and your environment. What little change would you make to this moment to make it downright lovable? Memorable even.

Now, tomorrow, if you catch yourself in despair wanting to know what life is about, ask yourself what you would love to do for the next 5 minutes. The trick:

DO IT!

Everytime you get that feeling that life is not as good as it can be, shift and do something you love.

You may be thinking to yourself that I’m full of it, but go ahead and try it. A few things will happen. First, you will start to have more moments of joy. More moments where you are actually happy. Last year, I started this blog with the post Start Today. It was the same idea that I had to begin to dig myself out of the trench that I found myself in. I wanted to be happy. A simple request. I wanted to start doing what I loved, but I had no idea what that was anymore. However, I did know that I enjoyed the camaraderie of the blogosphere and the outlet of writing, and that I loved to teach. So I started with that first post.

Next, you will find that as you experience more moments of joy and happiness, your life is still progressing as you do what you love, the earth is still rotating and the sun still shines on cloudless days, you might take a greater risk. For me, it was upping my post schedule to once a day. A little more sweetness to my life as I took time to express Spirit in a medium that was comfortable for me. In the process you find you trust yourself more. You might actually have a rebuttal to “Yeah, but I don’t know what I love.” You begin to find out.

As you experience more of what you love, you get intolerant of the things you don’t. “I don’t like spending my day doing the kids’ laundry,” you might say. Then you carve out some money in your budget for someone to come in twice a week to do it. Don’t laugh. My aunt, who has 9 children, had an ironer. She’s also a judge and a deeply spiritual woman. Ironing was not her thing. When you do more of what you love, you begin to crave it. You pursue it the way you would a crush. You find out everything about it. You love spending time in its company. When you’re away from it, you use your mindshare to dote on it. Your life gravitates in that direction.

Finally, the part I’m working on, the money will follow. For now, this is largely a matter of belief. However, based on my experiences thus far, and by observing others who have taken this path, I know it’s just a matter of days. In a year, my life has changed drastically for the better. I am pursuing my passion and it is opening doors at an unrivaled rate. I was approached recently to facilitate a weekly forum on spirituality.

I am reminded of a scene in Sex and the City when the character Samantha said to her boyfriend as he was about to lose hope, “First the gays, then the girls, then the world.” Take a chance and pursue your passions. At the very least, your cup will be full.

In Spirit,
Nneka

Entry Filed under: Self Awareness, Money and Wealth, Personal Development, Purpose and Work

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