Over the years I have been told to get out and do what makes me happy, and if I really wanted to find true joy I had to do what I love.
Every time I heard this I thought yea that’s nice for some, but I have responsibilities, family kids a lifestyle to maintain, a world to conquer. So after that, then I will get around to doing what I really wanted, or at least take the time to figure out what it actually was that I loved.
Every time I heard this I thought yea that’s nice for some, but I have responsibilities, family kids a lifestyle to maintain, a world to conquer. So after that, then I will get around to doing what I really wanted, or at least take the time to figure out what it actually was that I loved.
Now as time passed and I became a little more aware of what life may be all about. I revisited the whole do what you love thing. I examined my Goals, Values, Self and Inner Self, and came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe there might be something to it. I’m not sure when it happened but the following question kept popping back into my head:
Is it possible, just possible, to do what I love to do, and keep, maintain and expand all that I have now?
You see I had two schools of thought here.
It seemed to me at the time that the only way I was really going to find out was to go out and try it. Yep it has been my continual experience that if I want to really KNOW the True answer to any question I have to experience it, it just doesn’t come by thinking and intellectualising it. Additionally it has been my experience that wisdom is gained through both knowledge and experience.
Anyway I digress, so back to the question above. The answer in my experience is an unequivocal NO! It is not possible to do what I love to do, and keep, maintain and expand all that I have now.
I have found that in doing what I love to do and what I am drawn to do, the beginnings of peace and joy. However I have also lost, A LOT!
Now for the kicker, I have also received rewards far beyond what I could have imagined, in ways I had never imagined.
Now if I were reading this I would be saying WTF! And what’s more that is exactly what I was experiencing and at times still do, and the only way currently I have to explain it is this:
For a long time I had built a world around what I thought I had to do, or what the external world, and people I loved and respected were telling me to do. I had amassed the toys, work life, family etc etc etc, then I got sick and over the years lost the lot. However after some years, experiences, challenges and lessons later I got better and started reclaiming all the things I had lost, except not with the same enthusiasm.
Something had changed, the question had entered my awareness. So rather than looking outside for the answers I went inside, I really examined what I would love to do, then went about doing and experiencing it. I became open to living and engaging with life no matter what, and that is when I started to lose the stuff and things I was attached to, but hey this was an experiment, an experience, so letting go of a few things that obviously did not serve me was a good thing right?
Nothing like letting go of the job and the security it provided, the apartment, the cars, the money and the list goes on, yep nothing like the feeling of waking most days and saying WTF is going on!
It was about this time that I became aware that, yes my outer world was certainly changing, but so was my inner world, and in that I had a moment of clarity.
What I was losing were the attachments to the things that were giving my ego the control and security it needed to keep me safe. To allow me to lead a comfortable, not fulfilling, but somewhat comfortable life. I also became aware of the fact that I no longer wanted that life, I wanted a life where I experience all that I have come to experience, I wanted to connect with my True Essence and live it.
Yes I was starting to see the same world completely differently. A world that if I allow it, and let go enough, will give me all that I need to live and experience the true wonders it has to offer.
Yes in doing what I love to do I have lost a lot, however what I have found is that as these things drop away my journey has become so much lighter and simpler.
So when someone says go out and do what you love and receive riches beyond you wildest dreams, be prepared for the fact that you will lose – big time.
Then jump anyway, because let’s face it what have you REALLY got to lose?
Travel Well
Gavin
Is it possible, just possible, to do what I love to do, and keep, maintain and expand all that I have now?
You see I had two schools of thought here.
- On one side I had seen a lot of people doing what they loved and they appeared to be happy to an extent, however they also seemed to be sacrificing so much.
- On the other side I had also listened to a lot of the experts in the do what you love field, and they promised not only could I do what I loved, but also I would receive rewards far beyond what I could imagine now.
It seemed to me at the time that the only way I was really going to find out was to go out and try it. Yep it has been my continual experience that if I want to really KNOW the True answer to any question I have to experience it, it just doesn’t come by thinking and intellectualising it. Additionally it has been my experience that wisdom is gained through both knowledge and experience.
Anyway I digress, so back to the question above. The answer in my experience is an unequivocal NO! It is not possible to do what I love to do, and keep, maintain and expand all that I have now.
I have found that in doing what I love to do and what I am drawn to do, the beginnings of peace and joy. However I have also lost, A LOT!
Now for the kicker, I have also received rewards far beyond what I could have imagined, in ways I had never imagined.
Now if I were reading this I would be saying WTF! And what’s more that is exactly what I was experiencing and at times still do, and the only way currently I have to explain it is this:
For a long time I had built a world around what I thought I had to do, or what the external world, and people I loved and respected were telling me to do. I had amassed the toys, work life, family etc etc etc, then I got sick and over the years lost the lot. However after some years, experiences, challenges and lessons later I got better and started reclaiming all the things I had lost, except not with the same enthusiasm.
Something had changed, the question had entered my awareness. So rather than looking outside for the answers I went inside, I really examined what I would love to do, then went about doing and experiencing it. I became open to living and engaging with life no matter what, and that is when I started to lose the stuff and things I was attached to, but hey this was an experiment, an experience, so letting go of a few things that obviously did not serve me was a good thing right?
Nothing like letting go of the job and the security it provided, the apartment, the cars, the money and the list goes on, yep nothing like the feeling of waking most days and saying WTF is going on!
It was about this time that I became aware that, yes my outer world was certainly changing, but so was my inner world, and in that I had a moment of clarity.
What I was losing were the attachments to the things that were giving my ego the control and security it needed to keep me safe. To allow me to lead a comfortable, not fulfilling, but somewhat comfortable life. I also became aware of the fact that I no longer wanted that life, I wanted a life where I experience all that I have come to experience, I wanted to connect with my True Essence and live it.
Yes I was starting to see the same world completely differently. A world that if I allow it, and let go enough, will give me all that I need to live and experience the true wonders it has to offer.
Yes in doing what I love to do I have lost a lot, however what I have found is that as these things drop away my journey has become so much lighter and simpler.
So when someone says go out and do what you love and receive riches beyond you wildest dreams, be prepared for the fact that you will lose – big time.
Then jump anyway, because let’s face it what have you REALLY got to lose?
Travel Well
Gavin
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