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<\/a>The quote was a slap in the face. As if waking from a daze, I realized that I had not done postures in a month. And I saw that I had avoided yoga because it sharpened my awareness and showed me that I was unhappy. But because I had been unwilling to make a change \u2014 to move and leave the relationship \u2014 I had stopped doing the thing that increased my awareness. In this way, yoga is a catalyst that demands truth.<\/p>\nThis truth includes, but is also subtler than, simply doing what is right or wrong, ethical or moral. It means listening to your heart\u2019s call. <\/p>\n
I love to share this with my tutoring students. I remember a student, Aidan, was considering college majors and said, \u201cI\u2019d love to be an architect, but the world needs environmental activists, so that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do.\u201d <\/p>\n
Aidan is correct. We do need environmental activists. But I believe that even more, we need people who are passionate about what they do, living from their heart. I don\u2019t think one can actually serve the world best by assessing what the world needs. I think, instead, we serve the world best by responding to our heart\u2019s call. Not our ego\u2019s call, mind you, but our heart\u2019s.<\/p>\n
As an environmental activist, Aidan might make a difference. That\u2019s true. But as an architect, Aidan will be following his bliss. He\u2019ll be fulfilled and happy. He\u2019ll be lit up and creative. He\u2019ll be a beacon of light and energy. And, I trust, his environmental concerns will still find a very effective, perhaps more effective, medium \u2014 maybe he\u2019ll design green buildings or discover environmentally sustainable building materials.<\/p>\n
Joseph Campbell told his students, \u201cIf you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living…Wherever you are \u2014 if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so, in our spiritual Easter egg hunt for the Keys to Happiness, we come to key number two: <\/p>\n
Follow your heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n Notice what gives you a feeling of rightness, ignites your creativity and passion, and makes you feel most alive, and pursue that.<\/p>\n Before every major decision, ask yourself, \u201cWhich choice feels right, is in line with my values, ignites my creativity and passion, and is an expression of my true self?\u201d<\/p>\n And by the way, following your bliss does not automatically mean giving up your nine-to-five job at the insurance company to dust off your old Fender Stratocaster and get the college funk band back together. Sometimes the boring job at the insurance company is just right. Your bliss might be the paycheck that feeds your family and allows you to spend happy evenings and weekends together. Or not. Following your bliss only means tuning in to and following not your ego, not your mind, but your heart. Put another way, it means setting aside what you want and doing what God* wants for you. And God, I believe, communicates through our hearts and through a feeling of passion, vitality, and rightness.<\/p>\n<\/a>About Brian Leaf:<\/strong>
\nBrian Leaf, M.A. is the author of Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi. He draws upon twenty-one years of intensive study, practice, and teaching of yoga, meditation, and holistic health. Visit him online at http:\/\/www.Misadventures-of-a-Yogi.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n