Do What You Love
While writing lately I have been reflecting upon my passions. After all it is easiest to write about things that you are passionate about. This has been leading to me thinking about how our society often encourages people to NOT follow their passions.
I often wonder how we arrived at this place. How have we convinced ourselves that others are right when they tell us our dreams are simply not practical? How can we tell ourselves this? When talking to people about my lifestyle, a very common question is “How do you afford to take the time to do that?”. How can I afford not to?
What are your passions? Are you doing what you love to do? If not, what excuses have you told yourself? It is easy to create many more excuses of why not to do something, than why to do something. Even I fall into this pattern at times.
Currently I am out of money, and have been feeling rather sorry and stressed out for myself that first of all I can not find an immediate job, and secondly that I need to get a job to earn money in the first place. It is a great lesson for me to go through. One of learning to trust the rhythm of life, and that everything is a balance. It helps me to look outside of the box also. I was assuming that I would be able to at least do little odd jobs for people until businesses in this area started hiring again, and that just has not happened. And so I am dreaming outside of the box, working at coming up with possible alternatives. This is still a work in progress, but instead of allowing myself to be stressed out that things did not happen as I pictured, I am turning it into a passion.
Sometimes life does hand us moments that diverge slightly from what we had envisioned, but it is valuable to reflect on how it might be best in the larger picture. What did this moment bring into our lives? Currently I am practicing writing, perhaps I would not have even started that if I had started a job right away. Perhaps writing will become a means of earning some money. It is valuable to look at how things might be working for us, instead of thinking they are all working against us.
Anyways, back to my main thought. It is no wonder that our society is so out of balance when a small percentage of people are actually following their passions. Sometimes this starts at an early age, when the adults around us tell us to stop dreaming, and become part of the “real world”. For others it starts when we are in college or enter the work force. We might start out in the direction of our passions, but quickly give up when a couple obstacles pop up in front of us. Instead of looking at these as building moments, we give up with no hope. It is most valuable to be able to pick yourself up after a failure of any type, and be able to move forward with passion still. Sometimes we try something and find out that it just wasn’t what we pictured, and as it turns out isn’t the best path for us. This is a great realization, because it frees us to go explore in other directions and find that thing that is right for us.
I am blessed to be surrounded by beautiful people that are following their dreams, and some that are just starting on the path of Do What You Love. I am inspired and in awe of each and every one of them. I hope that each person that has found their passion in life, and given themselves permission to follow them, will encourage others around them to follow their own path to bliss.
So here is the question of the moment, How are you following your Dreams? Do you Do What You Love? Do you Love What You Do?
And a little PS to add onto the end here, after I wrote this we got in the car to come to the library to go online. When we got into the parking lot, a lady I used to work with last time I lived here pulled up and asked if I was still looking for work, and to come into the place she is working in the morning. Hah, the Universe has interesting ways of working.
Bloom!
When we deny our dreams we are but a tight little bud.
Hidden beauty wrapped up in a tense little package.
When we embrace our true nature and start to live our dreams,
We unfold one petal at a time.
Until, before we know it we are a glorious bloom,
Bringing joy and beauty to the world around us!
Thank you to all the beautiful blooms in my life!
Each One of You Touch Me Deeply !
A Long Walk With Nature
We have finished another great pilgrimage! The Appalachian Trail was a great challenge for me in many ways, much more so than I thought it would be. It feels really good to be done right now, but I am also very grateful that it was an experience that I saw through to the end. This spring/summer we hiked about 2,500 trail miles, starting 300 miles before the Appalachian Trail (AT) in Alabama.
Here we are at the start of the AT on top of Springer Mountain in Georgia, after our 300 mile warm up.
Of course there is more than can be said about such a journey, but at the same time there is something so simple about the lifestyle on the trail. We carry everything we need on our backs, get up in the morning and hike until dusk, and enjoy nature as much as we can. As with any life style there are good days and bad days.
I love the simplicity of trail life though, you are living a pretty self sufficient lifestyle in which you are moving with the rhythms of the world around you. This is something that I think many people dont get to experience very often in their lifetimes.
I made it to the end! Here I am on the top of Mount Katahdin, an amazing end point for our journey!
This is Bernie’s second time making the journey from Georgia to Maine.
We took (and by that I mean mostly Bernie) over 1,900 pictures of our trip. Bernie will be putting pictures and his story on his blog soon, and this time around (since we now have highspeed internet!!!) I hope to share some of the pictures also and tell my own story of the hike. With this I hope to share at least a little bit of what I experience out on our long distance hikes both physically and spiritually/feeling. It feels great to be back home! And I look f0rward to catching up with all my lovely online friends also! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far!
Daily Reminders
When we are trying to incorporate a new point of view/thought process into our lives, it’s important to have daily reminders of what we are trying to accomplish. This is a central point to many of the different books I have read over the last couple of years.
Every thing we do/think/say is part of our programming. We pick up programming from everywhere, our parents, school, society, friends, etc. When we become aware that we are stuck in a program that no longer serves us in how we want to live, we need to reprogram ourselves. This starts with identifying the aspect we would like to let go of, and figure out what we would prefer to have in its place. An example that many people might be able to identify with is worry. Fear is a highly utilized manipulation in our society, so it is easy for us to get swept up in worry. Ok, so I want to ease out of worry in my life and bring in confidence and calm.
The first step is to acknowledge when you are feeling worried about something. Don’t punish yourself when you become aware of it, simply note that you are feeling that, and replace it with a more confident, positive thought. The more you practice this, you will find yourself doing less of the thing that you would like to experience less, and more of what you want. Now one of the best ways to help with this is to have a daily reminder. It can be a little note that hangs in a place you look often, it can be a bookmark that says something profound applying to your situation if you read a lot, it could be so many endless things I can’t even begin to list them here. What ever it is, you will know if it helps you!
Two of my most powerful daily reminders is two rings that I wear. It’s the only jewelry I wear most of the time. They are simple, but pretty. When I saw them I knew I had to have them. The one I wear on my left hand says “life is good” and the one I wear on my right hand says “do what you love” on the outside and “love what you do” on the inside. This ring was the inspiration for my blog title. Sometimes I only see their message on a subconscious level, but most days at least once I really do stop and focus on the words inscribed on them. These words are endlessly important to me, because my main goal in life is to enjoy it! This can be hard to do once in a while, we all get wrapped up in our own personal drama, or outside drama. But if we have that daily reminder, it makes it easier to come back to the place that we want to be as the world swirls around us.
So find that item(s) that does it for you, that thing that really speaks to you. So that every time you look at it you get that deep down feeling that you are reading one of the sacred truths in life.
A Good Day to Reflect
We have finally hit typical western Washington fall weather. The last couple of days have just been steady rain. Its great for all the plants, but it doesn’t make for enjoyable outdoor trips. So I have been enjoying the time for reading, and doing some crafting. I have been working on my needle felting.
We put an add on craigslist to sell some of our chickens, and we have gotten a couple of calls. I always get nervous about selling our animals to other people. Our chickens have it so good here, I can only hope that they will end up in homes that treat them well and let them roam around. We had a couple come last night to get 4 hens and a rooster as a birthday present for their 7 year old daughter, who wants chickens. Hopefully their girl will love them.
I have been reading a book called Money and the Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks. I really love their books. Their books The Law of Attraction, and Ask and it is given, are both really good ones for changing your perspective on the world. All of their books teach you how to release the negativity in your life, and focus on what you want. If you have never heard of any of these books I highly recommend going to the library or book store and checking one of them out, you might be surprised at what you learn.
Enjoy each moment, and always follow your dreams.
Do What You Love
My outlook on life is: if you are being true to yourself, and following your dreams, you will make the world a better place. When we find our bliss in every day moments, its spreads to those around us. We will never be able to change another person, but if we change ourselves, the world will change with us. So as much as possible I try to live my life following my dreams, it’s a challenge to always accomplish this, but as the years pass I find I am doing it more and more.
I find myself getting frustrated at all the negativity, violence, sorrow and fear in the world. I know the human race could accomplish so much more than we are. And then I remember if I just take a little time to go out into the world, and spread my own brand of sunshine, those around me will be affected. When we are at peace and enjoying our life, the stress and dis-ease within us melts away.
So if you find yourself full of stress and anger towards an aspect of your life, I highly recommend sitting down and asking yourself, what you REALLY want out of life. What are your true desires that either you or other people have told you just couldn’t happen? What would you rather be doing? It might not seem like it at this moment, but you can do it. You just have to change your perspective on how you are living life. Its not something that changes over night, you don’t want to go quit your job tomorrow. Just start with the little things. Start with one little thing that you have always wanted to do, and have always told yourself it wasn’t practical, or you couldn’t afford it, or you just don’t have the time. Go to the spa, go for a hike, take a soak in the tub, splurge on a special culinary treat. What ever that first little thing is for you, take that moment in, realize that you are actually accomplishing something you have wanted to do for a while.
If you want, you can keep a journal of your journey into the life you have always wanted. You will find as you give yourself permission to do the things that you really want to in life, the easier it will be to do more. Things will fall into your lap as if they were meant to be. As you follow your heart and accomplish your dreams you will find the ‘guilt’ that society has programmed into us will just melt away. There is never any reason to feel guilt for following your heart. Most of the time guilt is projected on us by those that are jealous because they have not given themselves the permission to follow their dreams.
I live an very different life style than most, and I know that I am blessed. Many people do not understand the way I live, because of their programming. I live on very little, my expenses are pretty minimal, but at the same time, if I find something that really draws me I do not exclude it from my life just because it costs me money. I do not have a ‘real job’. The closest thing I have had to a real job in the last 6 years was my very part time job as a breakfast waitress when we lived in Winthrop for two years. The most I worked was 3 days a week, and that wasn’t very common, I usually worked one or two days a week, and usually got the days off that I wanted. If we wanted to leave for a couple of weeks, most of the time I got that time off. And the reason this worked for me was, I stated what I needed, I didn’t ask permission, I wasn’t rude, I just stated what I was up to in life, and most of the time the universe has provided for me. I suppose that is one lesson I have learned in life, there is no reason to have to ask permission for everything, we need to take responsibility for our lives. This doesn’t mean we should walk over other people, we can be courteous to those around us, but we don’t need to let them walk on us either.
When we did live in Winthrop, I worked for the grocery money, and Bernie worked for our landlords in trade for our rent. In the two and a half years that we lived there, the only rent we paid was first and last, and I believe one month. There are ways to live simply yet fully. With the schedule of ‘work’ that we had, we were free to explore as much as we wanted. Often we worked on the weekends, and had the rest of the week to hike, take pictures, play in the river near our house, travel, watch tv on those cold winter days, and what ever else we needed to do to follow our dreams.
We have also done quite a lot of long distance hiking. Since we are not tied into a job or a home, we can take all summer to go for a hike across the country. There are also all kinds of volunteer opportunities to see the world. This summer we spent in the Aleutian Islands doing Sea Otter research. We were not ‘paid’ for doing this work, but they pay for all our travel expenses to and from, and a per diem to cover all food and supply expenses. We got to experience a beautiful part of the world, in a way most people never will. Love the places that you are, and if you dont like it, then move yourself to a place that brings peace to you.
Another helpful way to bring yourself to the place that you want, is to surround yourself with like minded people. As you can change the world around you by finding your bliss, having people around you that are already following their dreams, you will find yourself changing for the better.
Spend some time thinking of what you want out of life. Nothing is impossible. Some things might be a long journey from where you are now, but you can get there. You have to start the journey to reach the end. And the easiest way is to start with the little things. And remember, Do What You Love, Love What You Do.
This is Me……
Well, how does one start a first entry in blog about daily life? I could write a long involved history of who I am, and where I have come from. Or I can simply tell you that I live life the way I want. I am an explorer, a dreamer, an artist, and so much more. My life is blessed in so many ways, and different than so many others.
I am 26 years old, and I have quite a list of wonderful adventures already under my belt. I have done quite a bit of long distance hiking, traveling to beautiful places, living in wild spaces. I have been with my boyfriend Bernie for 6 years now, and we travel all over together. He is one of the main inspirations in my life for living alternatively. My parents were a huge influence in my life also, they always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and do what called me.
Currently we are living on my parents property for the winter. This is the place that I grew up, and I affectionately call it the zoo. We have quite the collection of animals out here, one of my favorites being the banty chickens. As time goes on I am sure I will talk about all the different creatures that share our space.
Bernie does wildlife photography, and we sell cards and prints sometimes at the holiday craft shows, and other shows. Its something that we can do in between our adventures. He does a wonderful job with the photography, and then I custom mat the pieces. We always get great feedback on the photography. I will share some of his photography on here, and some of mine. I will also have the link to his blog that he has just started with his photography.
We are all signed up for a couple of holiday shows in Bellingham, I will write more about those as we get ready for them. I enjoy doing them for all the different people I get to meet. I love people that are following their dreams and selling their crafts.
I am actually working part time for a friend that I met at one such craft show. Christie owns Birchwood Botanicals, and makes herbal body care and other products. She makes WONDERFUL products, and is a great person. I am working part time helping to put her gardens to bed for the winter. I love being out in the dirt with the plants.
Well that’s a very general overview of where I am right now, with each entry more details will emerge, and the story will become more complete. I look forward to sharing with anyone that is interested in my perspective on this game called life.
