Are You Doing What You Love?

At the base of the magnificent 385,000 - gallon Great Ocean Tank, located in the center of Charleston's South Carolina Aquarium, lay a beautiful quote that has inspired me for nearly a month since seeing it.

The quote reads this way - "In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand what we are taught."

Originally penned by a Senegalese forestry engineer, Baba Dioum was an advocate for nature and natural resource conservation. He gave his life to understanding and preserving the worlds most precious natural resources. His understanding led to a love for his work & the subject of his work which, in turn, compelled him to advocate on behalf of the very subject he studied.

I'm always inspired by these highlight reels in history. Such inspiration ignites or re-ignites an internal conversation in my head that goes like this....

"What exactly am I fighting for?"

"What gets my heart beating a bit faster?"

"What am I always thinking about, tinkering with, hoping to make better?"

Ask those question of yourself. What answers come to mind? What similar dialogical dances are happening in your head each day? Maybe your family is the subject of such a discussion. Perhaps it's your job, your hobby, or your area of volunteerism. Whatever you identify, allow this quote (above) to guide a more intentional pathway in front of you?

• Why do you love what you do?

• Do you actively look for opportunities to learn about what you do? (are you a student of your subject?)

• Do you actively look for opportunities to teach about what you do? (are you teacher of your subject?)

• As you gain understanding of what you do, are you also gaining affection for what you do? Like, do you really love what you do? Are you getting close?

• As you grow in your affection for your what you do, do you find yourself fighting for or advocating on behalf of what you do, in one way or another, albeit organically or in more organized ways?

I dare you to put your heartbeat under the microscope. Ask some of these questions of yourself and see what it does in you and where it may guide you. It may be a dangerous discussion but this discussion just may awaken something with in you.

Consider some of your own historical heroes that you have come across over your life time. How do their stories stoke in you inspiration and clarity in your own life?

Get out your notepad, ask some of the questions above, and try and provide some answers. Talk to someone you love and trust and ask them their opinion on your life using some of these question. If you will give some time to this exercise, you just may discover some pockets of latent intuitive passion. Such self awareness may begin to shape your intuition into clearer intentional pathways and perhaps even a pursuit of an identified life mission. You're life will never be the same.

I'm grateful to Baba Dioum for his brief deposit in history. Perhaps I will deposit something magnificent as well. Perhaps you will too!

I'd love it if you could drop me a note here and let me know what you're discovering about yourself. Peace and love to you all. Paul