Identity&Values
I really want to know what sustains you, from deep inside, when all else has fallen away?- Quote from Unknown
But truly, I do want to know. I think about this all of the time, over and over to the point of obsession. I ask myself this when my mind gets caught up in mundane frustrations of daily life and I have to remind myself by asking “What Sustains you Kim”?
That question takes me to all of the loveliness that surrounds me each day and focuses me on what it is that I am Grateful for. My passions, my hobbies and my true life purpose. I know that THIS is my true life purpose and sharing my gifts with those in need. My hobbies and passions include Nature and Gardening, Animals, Astronomy and the Stars, Astrology and the inner workings of how the planets truly do have an influence on our personalities, I have a deep passion for reading and learning; I have an overall passion for a life well lived full of adventure. So, when engaged in recent conversations with several of my friends and acquaintances that many of them do not have any labor of love outside of their 9 to 5 and their families. I simply could not fathom such an existence, but it did make me wonder just how many people have nothing to sustain them through the daily trenches of life; something that is truly only belongs to them and not their friends and not their husbands and children- something more that give us a reason to live and to live well.
I have always lived a very unconventional life and have chosen to live my life by myself, for my self (yes I do have my daughter and from a very brief marriage), but I knew at 22 that I did not want that kind of life. I always knew that I wanted more from life than to be of service (yes that is the way I see it) to one person and one lifestyle. I wanted passion and adventure. Call me selfish (many do), but I wanted to live MY life for myself and it got me thinking why couldn’t everyone have it all; the husband, wife, children, a career and a Labor of Love? AND, why wouldn’t everyone want at least a diversion of amusement from what they are forced to do every single, solitary day just to survive?
The thought throughout this article is to provoke us into thinking “What if everything fell away from us, what would sustain us from deep within”? What our your convictions, passions and life purpose? We all have a greater calling just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed, but how do we discover it if we do not know? It is as easy and knowing your self and knowing what you love deep inside your heart; that burning passion, and taking one tiny baby step in the direction of pursuit. Something that may seem to be a mere hobby could turn out to be your calling.
The Passion and Purpose Test: Ask yourself: What do I do in my free time that when doing it time seems to fly by as if time did not even exist? The Answer to that question is Your Passion and Your Purpose – so go pursue it!
I knew that deep within me a writer was waiting to scribe the words of this blog since the age of 3 1/2 or 4 years of age, when I learned to write my own name. I wrote my name on EVERYTHING; from my hospital birth photo to the white leather seats in my Mother’s brand new Ford Convertible Mustang (Oh how I loved the way the ink of that blue ball point pen was so easily absorbed into that leather, much like buttering a warm piece of toast). I wrote on walls and doors, in books and on shoes and my clothing, I also enjoyed the way blue ball point ink soaked up into my skin; akin to my Mother’s white leather seats. From discovering diaries written in the early 1970’s and finding the first entry that said “I am documenting everything in this diary because someday, someone will read this and it will be important to them”!- I was 8 years old. It took me 40 years to discover that my diary entries and keeping records of our families history was more than just a hobby, it was a passion that I was born with and it lived inside of me all of these years until I jumped and did something about it. Yes, it all started as a “hobby” or an outlet of my emotions.
Throughout my search I have also remembered how Art itself was my first expression before writing. Everyday I create some form of Art. This is how and why I created Expressions of the Universe. It includes photographs, poems, blogging, painting, drawing and so much more. Art is in everything I do. From the way that I shower in the morning to my make-up and the way I get dressed. The food that I prepare and the way that I care for my animals. The work that I do 8-5 is Art and the way that I communicate to my co-workers. My garden is me showing my neighbors a form of Art every day – some beauty for their eyes; to the bird feeders that I fill every day so that the earth’s Art-ful creatures can visit and dot my yard with their vast array of flowing colored feathers.
But we are talking about what sustains us. The list is endless and infinite like the Universe itself. The important question when you ask yourself “What sustains me”? should be discovering what it is that you need each day to light your spark, bring magic into your life and keep a smile on your face. The most precious do not cost a thing, but your time and attention. No soul should ever be able to say “I am bored” when we have a world of wonder right outside our very doors and I would dare each of you to try something new, something different, something out of your normal routine; step outside and take a walk in your neighborhood and find something beautiful. Don’t stop until you find yourself smiling and do more of that every day. Find your passion, find your gratitude and watch your life and dreams turn around to a more positive adventure. Let the intangible sustain you and the more you allow that, the better your life and the more you will discover all of the magic that it holds.
So, what prompted me to write this?- I noticed that so many people that I am acquainted with have nothing outside of their 9-5’s and family. They are like robots. They wake up, go to work, come home, make dinner, do homework, watch television, go to bed and do it all over again day after day after day. They get their thrills in a shopping mall or a flat screen. Their lives do not have any substance. They do not have dreams beyond winning the lottery and what they would do spending all of that money (although that dream could sustain you for a little). Working for the weekend so they could drink and sleep their dreams away. I don’t know, maybe I am the only nut job that thinks that reading a book or being out in nature just observing it is a thrill, but I cannot be a caged bird in a house, sitting numb in front of a screen watching other people faking life and until I hit the lottery and I can ditch the 9-5 I am going to do what sustains me and that is to create Art and a dream and a little magic with the beauty that the Universe is offering me every day! xoxo Kim