Ask Higg(in)s

Pursuing the Heart’s Desires

Everyone wants to feel free to pursue their heart’s desire. When one’s heart yearns towards a thing that yearning is a signal that this thing, whatever It is, is somehow important. Pursuit of the heart’s desires leads to discoveries of self. It leads to the discovery of what is important in one’s life and it leads to the discovery of one’s passions.

Finding one’s passion is important because exploring It, whatever It is, produces feelings of keen interest, satisfaction and well-being.

Many do not feel free to pursue their heart’s desires. Too little time, money and energy are a few reasons people avoid pursuing their desires. Some believe that pursuing interests is a thing children have the luxury of doing but adults with responsibilities no longer can do. Some wait for retirement to pursue their heart’s desires. For some, their hearts are deadened by disappointment and they no longer feel the call of the heart.

What we as a whole do not seem to understand is those things that interest us are a road map to happiness. We are interested in what we are interested in for a reason. Interests vary widely just as people do and following up on things that interest us leads us inevitably through a continually unfolding life of fulfillment.

A society that lives a Kindness Paradigm must support the individual in pursuit of their interests. Society as a whole must expect the individual to pursue their passion knowing that the individual with the desire is also the individual capable of magnificent prowess in their special area of interest and that benefits everyone.

It must be stated that following one’s heart may be done in very small steps. It need not take much time in a day or any money to begin. All one need do is acknowledge the tugs in their heart and the inspiration of the mind. Look for even small ways in which to act upon this important information for as Lao-tzu said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Cheryl Jensen December 23, 2013 at Lake Goodwin, Washington

Passion and Work: They’re the Same

Work has become for many, not all but many, a necessary evil. It is a thing to be endured so that one may eat and have a place to sleep. It takes the starch out a person to put effort into something they are not enthusiastic about and though a person can recover from this many times eventually one is worn out, emotional elasticity is gone. When a person feels hopeless and inelastic, depression can set in.

Millions are living this scenario. This is strange, really, because each of us is quite capable of finding things we enjoy doing. What we don’t have is a societal paradigm that allows us to expand into the things that bring us joy. Our paradigm allows us to work many hours per week at a job to pay the bills. Then our paradigm expects us to recover on the weekend. Most of us have about 48 hours to mentally refresh ourselves before the next workweek begins.

While this system works in many ways, and not all jobs are miserable, it lacks a requirement for happiness: continual expansion. For a person to feel fulfilled one must feel that expansion is occurring. We may not call it that but expansion is a requirement for life. Just as a body of water that doesn’t move becomes stagnant a person must continually expand or become stagnant.

That thing that is the framework that the Universe exists within, some call it God, is continually expanding. Each of us is the same…when we cease to expand, when we no longer have wants, we die. We may die the slow way but stagnation leads to death. The road to a happy life lies in expansion and we expand happily into things we are interested in. Thus, the Kindness Paradigm encourages people to find their passion. The Kindness Paradigm also encourages the rearranging or rewriting of governing laws and rules to support the pursuit of people’s passions.

There is a certain wholeness in one’s work and one’s life being joyfully intertwined. One faces the work day with enthusiasm if one expects to be occupied doing something they enjoy.

In the Kindness Paradigm one walk’s out the door every morning with enthusiasm rather than as if one is being sent off to one’s death. And if by chance one does go out the door feeling as though one is headed to their death someone notices, cares and helps one set the day back on track. If one cannot get back on track one is gently nurtured through the day in a way that mitigates the damage one unintentionally creates for oneself.

By providing an environment in which we nurture and support the development and expression of people’s talents and interests we help people move into their wholeness.

If one considers the whole of humanity a jigsaw puzzle and each person, each animal, each rock or tree a puzzle piece then we need every person developed into their wholeness so the puzzle piece they are helps to create a beautiful picture. For each person that does not develop into their wholeness, for each animal, rock or tree that is abused or treated with disrespect the picture as a whole is that much less beautiful.

Cheryl Jensen December 22, 2013 at Lake Goodwin, Washington