What gives you real fulfillment?

Continuing the story from the Why Café where John has ended up after getting lost and almost running out of gas. John’s waitress Casey continues to be his spiritual guide and challenges him with some insights!
 
John has already learned that his life purpose is about doing what he loves to do.  As this seems too simple, John asks Casey why people don’t just go ahead and do what they love to do?  Why do we often get side tracked or end up in situations where we don’t feel fulfilled yet we stay because we feel stuck?
 
Casey explains that society puts ideas in our head about how to make ourselves feel good. Like buying nice clothing, driving cool cars, eating at fancy restaurants etc.  When we ‘buy’ into those ideas, we tend to start buying those products but what we experience is only temporary satisfaction.  Then we see other products and think they are cool and will give us pleasure so we buy more things.  Eventually we end up with a lot of stuff, bills to pay but still have a lack of fulfillment at a deeper level.  So a vicious circle is created, we seek jobs that allow us to pay the bills but they don’t necessarily bring us satisfaction and neither do the products, so we end up getting trapped in the job with, seemingly, no easy way out.
 
Sound crazy?  Well, John has to admit that he may have fallen into that trap and although he is not sure he is ready to make big changes in his life, he is ready to keep listening as what Casey is saying is resonating with him.
 
Does it resonate with you?  Here are some questions to reflect on;

• Where does your sense of fulfillment come from?
• Are you doing things that brings you true fulfillment everyday? Every week? Once in a while?

Next time I will discuss how to start bringing more joy, energy and lasting fulfillment into your everyday life – without having to change jobs or buy expensive toys!

Until then, I invite you to live your life with passion, purpose and inner peace!
 
Jackie

Are you tired of waiting to be 'good enough'?

I am going to take a break from the conversation at the Why Café to talk a bit about WHY people don’t go after what they really want in life.  Fear is at the heart of why most people don’t move forward towards their calling, towards what they are really passionate about – often a fear of not being good enough, not making enough money or simply not knowing how to move boldly forward. 
 
In my coaching I tend to work with highly sensitive, passionate and intuitive women who want to make a meaningful difference in the world but who feel stuck because they are scared to speak up, to put themselves out there, scared that they are not educated enough or strong enough or credible enough. Scared that by speaking their truth, by truly standing up for themselves they will lose or risk too much. 
 
These women often put up with behaviour that one could call bullying or a simple lack of respect from others. They put up with it because keeping the peace is so important to them.  But at some point the status quo is no longer tolerable let alone safe or peaceful. They realize that the situation is no longer good for them or others around them. 

Their health may start to be affected, some times in small ways like not being able to sleep well and some times in big ways like a cancer diagnosis.  People may tell them to simply be tough or strong or less sensitive but that is just not in their nature.  I help these women find a way to explore and learn from their fears so they can express themselves, become unstuck and walk courageously down a new path in a way that feels intuitively right for them.  A peaceful yet powerful way of listening to, respecting and expressing their inner knowing - what is true for them. This helps them gain confidence and feel empowered to pursue what they feel passionate about.
 
If some of what I have said resonates with you, I invite you to comment below by answering the following questions;

• What truth am I hiding from?
• If I had no fears what is my inner voice encouraging me to do or say?
• If done in a peaceful, respectful, how would my life change by doing or saying those things?

Food for thought!
Jackie

Can you Outswim a Sea Turtle?

The Why Café adventure continues as John asks Casey questions about how to start living one’s life purpose. Casey shares a story about scuba diving with a giant sea turtle.  She decided to float at the surface of the water and watch the turtle as it moved along.  To her surprise even though she was wearing flippers and did not have a life vest she could not keep up to it. 

Curious, the next day she went to the same spot and spotted another turtle. The same thing happened, she tried to follow it but could not keep up. This time she observed that the turtle simply stayed put while swimming against the tide and then made a few quick movements in order to ride the wave and move quickly ahead. 

Meanwhile, Casey was using all her energy and strength to try to keep a steady pace and not fall behind the turtle, regardless of the waves.
 
That was the end of Casey's story. John had expected the big lesson to be obvious so Casey challenged him to reflect on it and here is what he said; most of us spend a lot of time doing things that bombard us (e-mails, surfing online, watching TV, shopping, outings, reading the newspaper etc.) and that take up a lot of our time and energy. Then when it is time to pursue our passions we often don’t have the energy or focus to really move forward.

Casey was impressed with John's interpretation and he then proceeded to calculate the number of years he would dedicate to answering e-mails if he spent just 20 minutes a day. It was more than one solid year!

So I invite you over the holiday period to think about ways you may be swimming against the tide and using up energy on non-purposeful activities. I have been busy unsubscribing to lots of things lately and bit by bit I hope to spend less time on reading e-mails and more time on writing about subjects that are close to my heart!
Blessings,
Jackie