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Tapping Into Your Passion

Tapping into your passion
Passions for life lie at the intersection of what you love, and what you are good at doing. 
 
If you love food and you are good at cooking, then cooking maybe a passion. 
God bestows us with gifts and talents, and when we take those passions and gifts and mix it with values and opportunities to make a difference, then we tap into our flow and experience ikigai. 
 
“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” T. D. Jakes 
 
Discovering your passions:
What do you love? What inspires you?
 
Where do you excel? What are you good at? What is a God given gift that you possess?
 
How are the two sets of questions related in your answers? 
 
Lastly, develop your passion. 
It will be something you enjoy doing, so do it! The more you do it, the more joy in life you have!
Learn more about it so you can do it even better!
Start to infuse it into everyday life, allowing it to link itself to day-to-day tasks. 

Life Flowing

Flow
Our ikigai trickles little by little or like a flood into our work and lifestyle when we “go with the flow”. 
 
That “flow” manifests itself when what you love, what you do best, meets how you see the world, and make a difference in it. When these things start to align and balance you will definitely start to see your flow come naturally through your everyday life. The more they balance, the heavier the flow. 
 
In Christian terms, the flow is equal to the anointing. The anointing is important in everything we do, we need God’s hand to be in everything. But in ikigai, flow is already infused into everything, because that anointing we are seeking is already there. 
 
When we over-spiritualize things we try to commit things we say and do to God and make it spiritual when He was there with you the whole time. We don’t have to search for things that are with you all along. 
 
How do you start your day? I would commit things to the Lord, I will do this and that, but in this relationship, I don’t really have the power to kick him out, l know I’m a partner in this life, and the experiences I will encounter will have his hands all over it, if I commit or not. 
 
Flow is experiencing God set things up for you, to enjoy your purpose and touch others through your day to day life, (that has been created for you since time began). 
 
Like opportunities, flow is happening all around you and is in everything you do. You have to be willing to open your eyes and see it for what it is. As you notice it, the more you see it happening without you making moves to force it to happen. 

Your "why" to live is greater than your how.

He who has a why to live, can bare with any how. 
Knowing your ikigai allows you to:
be content when things are crazy
Focus on yourself and others
Control your daily routine
Direct your personal growth
Direct your drive and motivation 
Be proactive 
Anchors your life and influences decisions 
 
With your ikigai in mind you have your “why” to live. Following your why, the how flows to you and through you. Your day to day actions follow your ikigai when you have settled on what they are. 
 
Write down what you feel is your ikigai is. 
It may be more than one. But not too many, they will start to conflict. 
 
If you need help, write down 10 things you did that you actually and enjoyed and brings a smile to your face just thinking about it. 
 
Look closely at the ten. Is there an underlying connection to most of them? Throughout your life, has this little action always been there? 
That might be part of your ikigai! 
 
Look at Jesus and His declaration at the start of his ministry: 
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
 
Later on they asked Jesus if He was the One. He had bed been living according to his ikigai, and he told them this:
 
“Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Luke 7:22 NKJV
 
In a nutshell, our why, (our ikigai living day to day) gives insight to the how, which ultimately reveals the results that will be coming. 
 
He who has a why to live, can bare with any how, because the how’s are produced by it. 

Ichigo Ichie: Living In The Moment

Ichigo Ichie: Living In The Moment 
Ichigo Ichie is a very intriguing concept for enjoying your ikigai, living out your purpose. 
To enjoy living out your reason for living, we need to understand that it’s the reason for living in the moment. 1 hour from now the circumstances may change, and your reason for living at that moment may be different, so we have to be mindful of now. 
 
Simple terms, mindfulness is the awareness of yourself in the present, the here and now. Ichigo ichie is that fully, plus the understanding that being in the moment is so important, that if we don’t take full advantage of it, we lose it forever. 
 
It reminds me of the story of the Gates of Shambhala, that only open once in a lifetime. 
 
Ichigo ichie is basically translated as “once, or one time, one meeting” the meaning is roughly “in this moment, this is an opportunity”. So we must take advantage of the opportunity now, or lose it. 
 
The one of the main concepts to being in the moment is actually BEING in the moment. Being present in the present. Your emotions hold you in certain stages of time, and the present is the ONLY place that NOW can exist. 
 
Sadness is caused by something we’re missing in the PAST.  We can be sad now, but that will mean that sadness we are experiencing is holding us in past moments and we are not in the present. 
 
Fear is caused by something that hasn’t happened yet. So now we are being held in the future by something that might not even happen. Since we are holding on to something that may or may not happen, we are not in the present. 
 
Happiness is an emotion that we can actually have in the present. Enjoying the now, enjoying the person in front of you, the time being spent just being. 
 
The time spent in the now lasts longer when you take advantage of it. There is an old saying, “a minute in an argument lasts hours, but hours being with the one you love only seem like minutes.” The amount of time could be exactly the same, but being the present, and enjoying the opportunity of the now will be fully lived, and that’s what the frame of mind I want you to have in your ikigai!
 
““Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
Matthew 6:34 MSG
 
As we part ways, I say to you, “Ichigo Ichie”, because I treasure this moment, as a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, & Ikigai way of life 3

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, & Ikigai way of life 3
Recap: 
Sustainable thinking: You become what you think about most of the time
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 
Proverbs 23:7
 
 
Wabi Sabi: appreciating and finding perfection in imperfection. 
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 
2 Cor. 12:9 
 
 
Ikigai: finding the reason for being, and allowing that to be the source for a long, fulfilled life. 
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Proverbs 29:18 
 
Everyone and everything has purpose. We are all at our peak existence when we our serving and doing what we are designed to do. 
 
One of my books on ikigai says:
The purpose in life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away.
 
That’s servitude. You are here on purpose, and that great idea you have in you is the answer to a problem the world has. Seek to know your calling, and be sure to start doing what you are called to do.
 
We get so wrapped up into being like everyone else, that many times we forget we are unique and called according to a specific calling, just for us. We try so hard to be great with working with our ultimate gifts and talents, and we miss the point.
 
The point to ikigai is to do what you do naturally, flowing in your gifts with ease, where your very soul seems to be at peak performance, and your happiness is contagious.
 
Your ikigai could be from just cooking meals, all the way to leading and teaching people, but whatever it is, it’s you. Your everyday being, stop looking at the lifetime achievement awards, and live your everyday life right now. in fact, that lifetime we look to the future in trying to achieve is solely made up of the everyday accomplishments we accumulate as we live life to the fullest, doing what we are designed to do!
 
A chair was designed to be sat on. When it constantly used as a ladder, the pressure on the legs make it weak and wobbly, eventually breaking. Like this, when we steady try to be who we aren’t, and try to be the God of our own lives, we have to orchestrate as God would, we have to set future appointments like God would, we have to handle our enemies as God would, and so on and so on. So let’s let God be God, and live life in a way that’s meaningful to Him, and ourselves!
 
This sustains your life, and since this life is for you and you only, appreciate the beauty and how special you are in this world. I bet you are already close to living out your ikigai, you just have to start to now do it intentionaly!
 
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody" 
1 Thessalonians 4:11,12 

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, & Ikigai way of life 2

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, & Ikigai way of life 2
Recap: 
Sustainable thinking: You become what you think about most of the time. So let those thoughts sustain you and help you in a positive way become the greatest version of yourself the world has ever known. 
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 
Proverbs 23:7
 
Wabi Sabi: appreciating and finding perfection in imperfection. 
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 
2 Cor. 12:9 
 
When look back at our imperfections and some of the mistakes we’ve made we may get into a negative rut, or that we can’t be loved, or feel useless, thinking it’s no use. 
 
Wabi Sabi is a mindset shift that looks at the imperfections of things and finds the beauty in it. There is greatness in you being the only one. You can be the only you that can reach the people only you can. God said that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that is no mistake. Your mistakes and quirkiness are your character, and the sum of experience has created you to be were you are for such a time as this. You are here to turn hurts in to healing, applying your experiences as a balm to others so they won’t have to suffer through the same things. 
 
Find the beauty in the imperfection. 
Find the beauty in yourself. 
Can you imagine the wood or the bowls not wanting to be themselves? They would not be able to support the bonsai tree. They would not have lived out their purpose. 
 
Ikigai: finding the reason for being, and allowing that to be the source for a long, fulfilled life. 
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Proverbs 29:18 

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, and Ikigai

Wabikigai: Sustainable Thinking, Wabi Sabi, & Ikigai way of life.
Sustainable thinking: You become what you think about most of the time
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 
Proverbs 23:7
Your thoughts bring you the opportunities to lie out what you are thinking. 
“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer”
The rich think rich thoughts that subconsciously allows them to see opportunities that opens doors to them to become richer. Same as the poor. 
The stimulus check. What did people do with it?
 
Wabi Sabi: appreciating and finding perfection in imperfection. 
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 
2 Cor. 12:9 
 
Ikigai: finding the reason for being, and allowing that to be the source for a long, fulfilled life. 
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Proverbs 29:18 
 

No Objective Leads To No End

No objective leads to no end. 
So today we will revisit our goals for the year. 
We want to make them S.M.A.R.T. 
When we are in our feels and emotions run high, we might say this year my goal is to be a light; or I’m going to be a positive change in the community. 
 
Very admirable for sure, but what does it mean? 
How will you know if you’ve accomplished it?
What is the end result?
 
A lot of times we fail at completing goals because they become never ending. Since there is no clear objective, we start out towards the goal and keep running until we run out. Out of gas, many get frustrated and either quit, say to themselves they could never do it, or put off the goal for other time, like never. 
 
A Coach’s (mentors, pastors, accountability partners, etc.) main function is to coach the habits and behaviors, so the results will be more positive in the direction of the Coachee. 
 
So from now on, we’re going to tweak our habits for better results!
 
Habit tweak for the day:
Set or change your goal to be:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant 
Timely
 
Reword your goals in this fashion, and it will be a 1,000 times easier to create an action plan for each one! 
 
An action plan is your goal broken down into 3 or 4 simple smaller steps. 
 
So instead of, I’m going to be a positive change in the community... maybe, 
In February, I am going to volunteer in my church’s food drive 2 times. 
 
It’s specific, can be done, bound by time, and it’s relevant to what you want to do.