HOW TO CULTIVATE YOUR PASSION

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

Cultivate Your Passion

An important attribute of the heart-centered Creative Feminine aspect of both men and women is passion. Heart stands for wisdom, beauty and truth and it also stands for passion.  When you follow your passion, you follow what is really important to you, that which gives you joy, love and excitement, that which fulfills you.

A great way to practice living by what’s important to you is to identify what you want and what you love, and then, do things that put you more in touch with feelings of fulfillment. As you experience those great feelings, you are drawing toward you the circumstances — and therefore the experiences — that will fulfill you.

I call this the feeling magnet! It is very simple. You get what you focus on with feeling. The feeling brings circumstances that mirror your feeling. So put your focus, whenever you can, on things that fill you with good feelings!

An exercise for cultivating your passion:

a)  I feel happy when I………….make a list of any activities, large or small

b)  I feel unhappy when I…….…make a list of any activities, large or small

c)  Happiness for me would be….…..describe things about your ideal life

d)  For the sake of more joy in my life, I will………commit to at least 5 things that make you feel great. They can be big things, such as a special vacation, throwing a party, or going skydiving! Or, they can be simple things, such as listening to music, going for a walk, working out, doing something creative. It can even be something as simple as thinking of someone you love or relishing a great experience. Anything that will make you feel good.

Include at least one of these 5 things that fill you with joy every day until it becomes a habit. From this simple habit, you will find yourself becoming happier and more fulfilled.

For example, the 5 things chosen by one client were: “For the sake of more joy in my life, I will take an acting class, focus on people I love instead of those I don’t, take my time, get out more, play more, pay my bills on time.”

As you bring what you love more and more into your life, you awaken the passion that motivates you to reach your goals and live your dreams. Believe me, hard work alone does not get you where you are destined to go!

“You draw more into your life what you give attention to.
When you put your attention on things which bring you joy,
happiness, and fulfillment, you get more of that.” – Janet Atwood

Finding Balance

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

wristThe best laid plans of mice and men…I had my well laid out plan for all my fall events. I definitely didn’t make room in my time line for tripping and falling and finding myself in the emergency room with a broken wrist. Nor did it fit into my time line to have surgery and be on pain meds and have a cast for six weeks and do physical therapy.

Well that is what is! I have been contemplating the whys and wherefores of this because, as we know, everything happens for a reason. The first thing I noticed was the enormous love and gratitude that rose up inside me.  People were incredibly kind and helpful all along the way. It was easy for me to be vulnerable and receive their help. What a gift! That has not always been the case for me. It opened me to even more love and appreciation.

Several of my friends have suggested that I needed to slow down a little and nurture myself more. I’ll go along with that, it rings true. But there are other parts I realized as I contemplated, meditated and journaled. I know that it is time for me to finally let go of the belief, “I can never do enough” and own that my best is good enough and I am enough just as I am.

There is no one I know who would say I lack self-discipline. Most think I have too much. But as I continue to contemplate and journal to find the gift in this, I see that not being disciplined enough is exactly what was happening. I don’t need the discipline to work harder, but in how and when I work and the discipline to give myself enough play time, enough time to do things for others and enough time to reward myself for my hard work.

I’m realizing that the most important place I need discipline, is in “bright shiny object syndrome.” I love to pursue them and they can totally draw me off of my time line. My email in-box is full of bright shiny objects that have stolen so much of my precious time. So I plan to give my inner child a specific limited amount of time to play in that arena as a reward for staying in integrity with my commitments for myself that day (which I plan to keep light.)

I’m also committing to take my time and do everything with more love and joy than ever before. Anita Moorjani, in her book “Dying to Be Me” defines the difference in doing and being. She says that “doing” is action that comes from the mind and is based in struggle and fear. “Being” on the other hand is action that comes from the soul and is driven by passion and love. In action based in “being,” there is room for magic and miracles. I’m afraid I have been much too much in “doing” mode, striving and pushing and not enough in “being” mode. “Whoa” said the universe. “ Where’s the self-love in this? I’ll just give you some time to stop and think about this.”

I invite you to join me in making a commitment to self-love, to more “being” and less “doing.” I know that the more we love ourselves, the more we draw love and favorable conditions into our lives and…as I am finding out, it takes vigilance! Look for the Self-Love Quotient Quiz I’ll be posting tomorrow.

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Beth McKinnon is an empowerment coach. She has helped many, many clients not only heal the wounds that have kept them from going for what they truly want, but also get clear on the outcomes they want for their lives, their compelling vision. Then the action plan begins to flow and the magic begins to happen!

Please feel free to post a comment below!

 

The Penny & The Lilac Tree

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

The other day. I received a small check in the mail. I noticed I was slightly disrespectful toward it, throwing it on my deck and not depositing it immediately. As soon as I noticed this, I stopped myself at once realizing how counterproductive that was.

I look at nature and how important every teeny tiny thing is to the whole of creation. Take the lilac bush, for example. There’s nothing more spectacular than a lilac bush in full bloom! But how did it get there? It took millions and millions of teeny tiny things – from the soil, to the seed, to the worms, to the decaying matter, to the minerals, to each droplet of water and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

If Mother Nature did not honor each and every one of those things, we would not have the abundant manifestation that is the lilac bush!

It occurs to me that we must honor every penny and every teeny thing we receive in our lives with gratitude, trusting that it will build and grow in its own time, in its own way and present us with abundant delicious fruit when the time is right.

We fulfill our dreams through passion, strong intention, letting go of the negative, self-effort, enthusiasm and a lot of grace.

In my experience, nothing draws grace like gratitude!

Trouble Asking for What You Want?

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

Do you have difficulty asking for what you want? Most people do.. and not only where other people are concerned, but for what you want from life in general or from daily situations.  What if you didn’t have to actually ask? What if you could set a clear intention and then just watch it unfold.

I suggest the practice of setting an intention for the outcome that you want from every activity in every day. It takes discipline and remembrance, but it is so worth it. Suppose you have a lot of sales calls to make and you’re dreading them. You know that if you make a certain number of calls, you will make sales. You will want to set an intention for your sales goals, but you could also set an intention for other fun things, such as how many people you make smile. Delightful outcomes can result from playing with this as well as success.

Suppose you are going to the grocery store. You could set an intention  “I find everything I need quickly and easily, today.”  I went to a specialty food store the other day with that intention and almost immediately someone came up to me and asked if they could help me find anything. I said yes and she helped me and then stayed with me throughout my shopping and helped me find everything. It was wonderful!

So get in the habit of setting intentions not only for the big things you want, but all throughout the day. I also set an intention at the beginning of every day before I get out of bed for the kind of day I want to have. This practice will open you up to receiving the generosity and experiencing the playfulness of the universe.

As you have successful and fun outcomes on small things, it will help you believe that you can achieve the big things you want in your life. You’ll find yourself having greater and greater faith that your intentions will be fulfilled.

The Power of Our Thoughts

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

A few days ago, I was leaving  a workshop I had just given on the power of thought to create what you want and what you don’t want. A friend was carrying a big vase of flowers to my car. I was thinking about where to put them and concerned about the water spilling. Then, I thought “I think it would be a good idea to pour out the water first.”

Just at that moment, my friend stumbled and the water and flowers dumped out onto the parking lot. Problem solved!  He was horrified and so apologetic. I said, “Don’t be. I was just thinking that it would be best to dump out the water.” We scooped up the unharmed flowers and put them back in the vase for the short ride home. I think the universe was showing me just how quickly our thoughts can manifest.

Happiness is a Choice

Beth McKinnon Posted on by

Teaching a workshop for people in treatment for cancer, I asked the participants what their perspective on cancer
was in that very moment. One person’s answer struck me. She said ”I better get happy” Wow!
Most people don’t even know they have a choice about that. Exercising that choice took that woman right out
of victimhood. This is the kind of thing that makes many people say that cancer has been a blessing for them.

That pipeline of happiness is always flowing. The only time it stops is when you put a crimp in your pipeline with negative thoughts, feelings and judgments. They pull you down out of the supportive flow of the universe. You just have to change your point of view to a grateful one and that pipeline begins flowing into your life again.

As simple as that is, it can be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, and… if you are able to do it, it will change your life.