Is there an art to releasing guilty passions? I feel so grateful that I live in a country where I can express myself freely by embodying the values I hold dear to my heart.
In my morning meditations and prayers, I’m always asking how I can be of greater service to humanity especially with the current refugee crisis and the killing of innocent people.
This week alone, we’re mourning the victims slain from the attempted coup in Turkey, the treacherous murder of innocent people in Nice during the Bastille Day celebrations, and a brother having strangled his sister in Pakistan in an ‘honour killing’ because of the ‘inappropriate’ content on her social media accounts.
To say that I feel incredibly heavy hearted and helpless, is quite possibly, an under statement. A part of me also feels very guilty for the blessings in my life, and I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.
In the last decade, I’ve worked hard to clear both the inherited guilt from my lineage, as well as the learned guilt that I acquired from the way I was raised.
As a recovering Christian who has given the traditional church based patriarchy the middle finger by becoming a celebrant, in recent weeks, I have felt a fresh sensation of guilt enter my energy system.
I have felt guilty for the blessings in my life when I know that there is so much suffering in the world. The pull to revisit my former social work career has been stronger than ever, but the lack of clarity as to how it’s going to happen has stopped me from moving forward.
On a cerebral level, I know that holding myself back from the things that give me so much joy is certainly not the way to go, yet my heart yearns to share this joy with so many others in the world.
When it comes to accessing our passion, my friend Natalie Southgate says:
“You can almost turn it off– it’s easy to get stuck in our heads and this can stop the passion.”
Is passion a luxury? A waste of time? Should you be taking time out when you have so much work to do for instance?
For most of us, we tend to get blocked as we haven’t been taught about the importance of following our desire nor have we learned to use the tools that help us to prioritise our passion as a normal part of our life.
For some people, its been buried for so long that its hard to even know what their passion calling is..
And when it comes to finding it, ask yourself:
Where are you naturally drawn to?
When you go to a bookstore, where do you go?
What did you love as a child?
Reignite it in your life, as it’s the fuel that gives you the energy to help you light the world up again.
Today, I’m off to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition with a dear friend. I find so much inspiration from her story, her art, the way she stayed true to herself and her values, especially during a time when women had so much less freedom and choice than what they do today.
I know in my heart of hearts, that by consciously placing myself in environments that inspire me, with people who I can draw inspiration from, a little spark will ignite the way for me to move forward with my own desire to be of greater service.
How are you going to fuel your passion today? Til next time, Patty xx