Follow your heart’s desire! ~~ Really?
Here is what Alan Watts has to say about following your heart’s desire in this 3 minute video. From my own experience, he’s right. He advises against living a miserable life chasing money, doing what’s not fulfilling you and going after “what makes you itch.”
Does his message sound unrealistic? Unworkable for your life circumstances? Too good to be true? It’s not.
This is my story. A little over 10 years ago, I was managing a multimillion dollar budget while driving 300 miles weekly chasing mostly useless meetings. Tomorrow, I am flying to Sivananda in the Bahamas for a 10-day paid trip to teach yoga, meditation, relaxation and guided imagery ~~ my heart’s desire. And I’m going back there May 23-26, 2013.
Yes, it’s true, but it wasn’t necessarily on purpose. Life had a way of closing other doors on me (and it wasn’t pretty) until I was pointed directly toward following my heart’s desire.
What appeared to be a dream job …
soured. It was even affecting my health. Angie, my mom said,” Julie, you can either have your health or your health insurance.” Not only that, she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and I desperately wanted and needed time with her. That job worked me endless hours.
So after a 25 year long run of successful careers, I went into business for myself. Ever since my college days, I practiced and taught yoga as a sideline. My day jobs included working for the WV Board of Regents, Director of Special Services at a community college, Assistant Dean of Students at a private college, Director of Health Management at a large medical clinic, Chairperson of the Alive &Well Coalition, and Regional Director of 6 huge hospital-based holistic centers. All this time, I taught weekly yoga classes and wrote my 4 books and numerous CDs on weekends.
This part of my work life had run its course. Finally, I picked up this thread and now my own business is thriving ~ and I am too. My heart is filled with satisfaction and happiness. This is composed of offering 6 weekly classes, several trips per year to offer programs at wonderful places, writing (I am revising my 30 Scripts for Relaxation, Imagery and Inner Healing book) and recording guided relaxation and imagery CDs. Just recently I made a recording of my Native American flute playing called Blue Moon Rising, and it now has a national distributor after only a few months. There’s also plenty of time with my husband, hikes with friends, caring for my pets, music lessons, free time and even more.
Believe me, it was hard and scary at first. I was filled with doubt and didn’t have much work or money, but I kept at it. All those years working for others taught me skills I needed to be successful. And it worked!
What about you? What’s your heart’s desire? What are you building upon? There’s lots you can do to help yourself, after all, your life’s mission and purpose is always calling you and will pave the way for you once you turn in that direction.
You can explore this by delving intuitively into your true self through yoga, meditation, yoga nidra, guided imagery, looking back on your path for clues, day dreaming, career counseling, etc.
Yoga’s wisdom teachings say, “It’s better to do your duty poorly, rather than someone else’s perfectly.”
Come to one of my workshops, or someone else’s, and start learning how to live your life in the manner that speaks to your soul and fills your heart with satisfaction. You won’t be sorry.
And don’t forget the elbow grease and be open to grace.