Accepting your truth, the things you are passionate about, and the call within.
By Danielle Feerst
There are many people who have obsessions over things like music, gaming, or a certain pastime like writing short stories, but who get lost in the creative process by agonizing over small details, fears, and tasks that seemingly help advance their lives but are actually a distraction away from their true calling and ultimate goals.
If you are born to be a musician, then you need to declare it to the world and practice being a musician. If you are born to teach, then you should dedicate your life to teaching. To show up to work and feel it is not work is the ultimate way to be invincible, unstoppable, sexy and you! Writing with persuasion is a calling for some – they may go into writing sales copy. For others it might be design or architecture.
Whatever calls your heart has the power to stake a claim for you and help define your purpose here for your short stay on Earth. We are all visitors passing through, enjoying the space, the sounds, the land, the sights, and each other. Life really is that simple if you take away the distractions, human folly, the drama that plays out on the world stage, and any traumas that have come your way. You can go back to the basics through meditation, prayer, traveling, or even falling in love if you are lucky. God says that the only way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the love of your neighbors, to love others as you love yourself – and then you will find your truth. This is because, I believe, that our truth is love. We love our ideas, our stories, our family and friends. Sometimes we fall short and we end up hurting others, but real love does not hurt, true love heals.
Detouring for a minute to announce an amazing book called Giving The Love that Heals, that was recommended to me by my therapist: I have found comfort in knowing that my great love (not just romantic but divine) is unstoppable, overflowing, and always yet to come. I recommend healing the heart, getting down to authenticity through self-reflection, and refocusing on acceptance of who you are in order to find happiness in both personal and professional aspects of life.
For how can you be professionally happy without acknowledging the things that bring you joy? These are the things you might be able to do on a consistent basis to give back to others and share your love, even if they do not provide monetary value. Although, there are ways to monetize most of your passions if you are creative enough and can persevere.
One of my coaching principles for young adults with autism will be to lean into obsessions, they are windows into the mind and the way it works. Obsessions in young children with autism are often the bane of a parent’s existence, but in my therapy practice I use obsessions and unique interests as motivators for achieving other developmental goals. Recommit to your interests, recommit to your light and cast away self-doubt. I recommend the following 5 steps to a positive psychology mindset, to cast away self-doubt, to lean into your interests, to open up creative space, and to charge ahead offering your true self to the world. We need you!
Create a quiet space, possibly in a place you are alone where no one shares with you. Maybe it’s your room or a nook in your house, or a favorite coffee shop.
Take blank paper and a pen. Bring a book or something you like to the space. I recommend not be near your phone or computer, unless your computer is your access point to your main interest – such as coding or gaming.
Take some time to generate words that come to mind when you feel free from external pressures, work demands…what would you like to do with your time?
Write down the feelings that come to mind picturing yourself flourishing doing what you love to do! Is it possible? Yes.
Step away from your notebook and stand up. Close your eyes and repeat a positive affirmation to yourself 3 times: I am _____. You are what you tell yourself, so make it reflect the greatness.