Passions – mine include poetry and coaching. What are yours?
As a coach, I understand and support clients’ desire to make room for their passions – from family to running marathons, playing music or just being goofy with your friends now and then.
I doubt our work/lives can ever be in “balance” – or that perfect equilibrium is the right goal. I do believe we can choose every minute of every day the focus, time and resources we’ll give to any aspect/s of our lives, even if we can’t totally control what is going on in that aspect (e.g. emergencies). Sometimes we’ll choose to pull an all-nighter at work and other times to take a half day holiday at a spa or play hockey at 5 a.m.
Allowing ourselves to nurture whatever it is that revitalizes us, makes us laugh or feel alive, does pay back! Have you ever been stuck for an idea to solve a problem, and you took a break, even for a short walk with your dog or to play a tune on your guitar – and then when you looked at the problem again, a solution magically appeared to you?
One of my passions is reading and writing poetry. I wrote the Wish I Knew poem below many years ago, capturing my quest for more meaning in my life. From feedback I’ve received on the poem, I know this theme speaks to many of us.
Poetry is a form of expression that distills everything to its essence. My poems “come to me”. They help me sort out thoughts and feelings so I can then move forward. Like poetry, coaching is a process that brings clarity. Coaching helps people get to the essence of, and work through, confusion, being stuck, challenges and choices. So my passion helped me realize that being a coach would be a good fit for me.
I’ve found meaning in coaching others. What each of us is looking for is different. Your passion may transform your career, change where you live, help you lose that last ten pounds, or simply magically bring more joy into your life without changing anything specific. That joy will flow into whatever you do.
Where to start? FIGURE OUT what is really important to you generally, and then specifically at a particular time or juncture – and ACT on what you know is true for you.
WISH I KNEW
Sometimes
I go to sleep
For days
Weeks
Months
Even years
Curled up
Between the sheets of
Inertia and No Vision
Under the comforter of
Take No Risk
Suddenly
I wake up
The universe
Around me is
As it was
Before I slept
And I appear to be
As I was
Before I went to sleep
Except that now
Somehow
I am again filled up
With the energy
Of that universe
Wish I knew
What puts me to sleep
And what wakes me up
Why some days
When a penny glistens
On the ground
I see it
And feel lucky
Grab it
Save it
Love my life
And other days
I sleepwalk right by
© 2014 Joyce Kaplan