Ignite Your Passion
By Susan McNeal Velasquez
Why were you born into the family you were born into, and why don’t you fit into the expectations and roles that you were told would ensure you a happy, fruitful life if only you would placidly go with the program?
Trying to be good, acceptable and right, according to whatever external standards you have bought into, may be blocking you from discovering what you want and how you need to live.
To survive, you may have experienced painful amputations of what was familiar to you. Perhaps you had to leave your family, let go of marriages you promised under oath would be until death, or jobs that were supposed to be springboards to a better standard of living but, in actuality, numbed your innate creativity and deadened your senses.
Whatever the unnerving choices that brought you to this notion that you are ‘different’ with a negative connotation, we are about to leave behind.
You are different—diverse, distinct, unusual, special, distinguishing, varied. This is a fact, not a fault. There is no need to try to convince others or waste your energy fighting and resenting the world or specific people who don’t understand you or your needs.
To author your own life to your specifications, you must uncover, discover and own your individual, inquiring, instinctive, passionate core self.
The door to your inner dreams and desires remains locked until you free yourself from using all your energy to appear consistent and to prove you are acceptable. It is time to accept your own individuality. The more visible you become to yourself, the more inconsistent you will probably appear to others. Consistency creates predictability and uniformity. You become safe for others, which is helpful in meeting your belonging needs, however, it does nothing to enhance your self-esteem and individuality.
When you shatter your stultifying veneer of placid predictability, you give yourself a chance to ignite your passion. You claim your strength and unleash your power to change, flex, perceive and respond. You begin to blossom and be funded by your inner wellspring of moment-to-moment guidance and direction.
When you finally give your loyalty to yourself, you begin the process of becoming soul-centered.
Today is a great day to activate new levels of thriving. Your next task is to identify as many avenues as possible that will help you to nurture, protect, rejuvenate and ignite a new, warm, validating and enriching core identity.
What aspects of yourself do you want to open up to and embrace to further your inner and outer journey? What aspects of yourself do you want to consciously let go of to clear the way for new experiences of the delightful and insightful kind? Who can help you thrive? What creative people, projects and environments can you seek out, open to and explore to further your self-development?
By listening to your inner longings and claiming your birthright to a full partnership with your highest and best self, you can open to a new day and, therefore, a new life filled with the promise of fulfillment and the satisfaction of having your feet solidly planted on your unique path.
Susan has been a local since 1986 and is forever grateful to be a part of this special community. She is the author of Beyond Intellect: Journey into the Wisdom of Your Intuitive Mind. Reach her at: beyondintellect.com.
