In today’s Mid Week Mindful Moment I wanted to look at our passions. Until the time that I decided to chose the word ‘happiness’ as my word of the year, I hadn’t given much thought to what exactly made me happy, let alone my passions. There were always things I wanted to do, but I had never examined my true desires with such focus.
That year, as I pondered on happiness, I also began uncovering and pinpointing my passions. I had already joined a group, met a coach and started “breathing in sunsets,” as Lori Hamann from the Manifestation 100 would say, but what I began to notice was more of that pure intention toward creating my best life. I started placing my energy into what it was that lit my soul on fire. Obviously, I never traveled around Europe after high school examining life!
The study of my happiness has since stuck with me. It has become a integral part of my life. It continues to show me all of the things that I find important, valuable and worthwhile, and defines my passions. As I look back, it was what led me to start my yoga company Lone Pine Yoga and to open my wellness studio Janay’s Essentials.
Recently, I had an experience while I was at a Tibetan Sound Bowl session. The therapist I see uses several large metal bowls that she rings across my entire body. This particular session was so relaxing that I fell into a dream state. During the session my mind kept taking me to the water and then to the beaches of Encinitas, California where I met up with Paramahansa Yogananda. We were doing sun salutations, looking at the ocean and I was asking how he did it. How he found his passion of living from the heart. In this dream, I was overlooking the same ocean that the Yogananda looked at while writing his book, Autobiography of a Yogi.
A connection of dots over the next few days led me to believe that how we live and what we do are stemmed from our passions. Our passions are stemmed from our inspiration and knowledge of what makes us happy. My dream was reminding me that just as the Yogananda had everything he needed in order to live his best life I, too, already have everything I need to live mine, and that the little tree in my backyard was how I could connect “breathing in sunsets” to my passions.
Today I have included a picture of a picture (#nofilter) that I have on my desk at my studio of the view I look at to remind me of my passions. It is of a fiery sunset with a shadowy picture of the Lone Pine and the Windswept Tree that I see from my dining room window. This way when I am not at home I have an opportunity to connect here at work.
For one week, would you carve out some time to notice the things that make you happy? Are there things that you would be willing to let go of? Those things that you know are no longer contributing to your growth. Would you take some time to find something that helps you set your soul on fire? It doesn’t have to look as woo-woo as mine, but something that means something special to you.
Namaste. Janay-
Janay's Essentials 