A’Musing Mondays: grounded in passion

Aligned Wisdom from a celebrity and a man learning to live off the streets.

Howdy darlin!

I ran across this video from Ethan Hawke this morning and decided I’d give it my time.

I’m glad I did, because Ethan reminded me that retreating from the success milestones celebrated by our culture to being motivated by service to our art(or other passions) grounds me. “The world doesn’t know what it wants” so why am I trying so hard to please it?

Then my mind quickly drew up an aligned teaching from an unexpected source

A decade or so ago, I volunteered at an SRO where homeless people were transitioning from living on the street into living in a residence. I showed up each week to guide residents through a yoga practice. My class was “not well attended” but it was consistently attended by one man. This man was transitioning well and was studying acupuncture at the local school so that he could become an acupuncturist. He was always kind to me, offering whatever he had at hand in gratitude of my service. He took what we did in class back home with him and created a home practice for himself not as a goal or challenge but “because the yoga wants to get done.”

That was his drive: “it wants to be done so I do it.”

The A’Musing part:

1. I have spent time with both of these men in quite different settings. To me, both men hold the same value as humans, however, they hold very different stations in our culture- one held high as an award-winning financially successful celebrity and the other looked down upon as “one of the homeless scourge taking over Austin.” Regardless, both men are motivated by a shared value- service to their art/getting it done because it wants to be done.

2. What is it in your world that wants to get done? Are you doing it or being it at any level whether “big or small?” If not, what are you putting in the way of that?

3. Stymied? Try this as a jump starter: watch Ethan’s video again but this time replace the word “acting” or “art” with something you are passionate about or an endeavor you are pursuing- you’ll be surprised at how even though he is specifically talking about acting, the essence of what he’s saying can be applied to just about anything.

4. Don’t have time for #3? Then just fill in the blank “__________ wants to get done.”

Please share your insights with us in the comments.

you are loved- never doubt it,

Jenni