| Several years ago, after spending time in quiet | | | | planes take off and land until I was old enough to drive. |
| reflection and reviewing childhood playacting roles, I | | | | When I turned 16, I often took her car to the airport |
| wrote down things I had a passion for when I was | | | | and hung out all day by myself instead of going to the |
| trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. | | | | local mall with my friends. Then I took it one step |
| It is said that passion can make your life richer in more | | | | further and drove out to the countryside where I could |
| ways than one. By recognizing what makes you | | | | safely drive down the middle of the highway, |
| happy and simply doing more if it, you can create a | | | | pretending to take off and land. (Unfortunately, I |
| fulfilling and rewarding life for yourself. All kinds of | | | | ultimately paid the price with a couple of speeding |
| people are transforming their passion into profits these | | | | tickets! Isn't that what the pundits mean by "paying the |
| days. | | | | price"? Well, it was definitely worth it....in retrospect, of |
| For the first ten years after graduation from college, I | | | | course!) |
| listened to other people's "well meaning" advice, instead | | | | See the connection there? Whatever you used to do |
| of trusting my intuition. I ended up working at a bank in | | | | as a child that you found fun and engaging is most |
| several clock-punching-nine-to-five positions, the | | | | likely what you're destined to do as an adult. The |
| majority of which I absolutely no passion for. I was | | | | reason many people aren't doing what they're called to |
| bored to tears. After almost a decade there, I began | | | | do is because they ended up repressing their dreams |
| to realize that I was capable of doing much better. I | | | | in the name of "being realistic." |
| also had a feeling my destiny was something | | | | Realistic according to who? Their parents? Their |
| altogether different but I didn't know what. | | | | friends? Relatives? Society? They have a myriad of |
| So I set out to find my path. | | | | excuses saying, "You don't understand, I have to work |
| That's when I eventually quit and became a Wall | | | | at XYZ Corporation because I have to pay the bills |
| Street stockbroker. Five years after that, I had another | | | | even though I hate my job." No, life is not about paying |
| revelation and quit Merrill Lynch to follow my dreams | | | | the bills. It's about living your life's purpose. All it takes is |
| of becoming a motivational speaker and eventually | | | | a little time to find out what it is. |
| pilot. Those were heady days, trust me. Scary but well | | | | Only you know what you're good at. Others might |
| worth it. | | | | have some kind of idea where your talents lay but |
| Doesn't it make sense that if you are doing what you | | | | that's only their opinion. You're the only one who can |
| love doing and getting paid for it, you'd be happier, | | | | decide what talents you have and how you will apply |
| more content? Millions of people are tired of going to | | | | them. The universe will guide you if you pay attention |
| work with a less than excited attitude these days. | | | | to "coincidences" and "synchronicities" which hint at |
| Why do you think they dread Monday mornings? Why | | | | what action you should take. |
| do you think customer service is just horrid - are these | | | | I've found that the universe eventually provided me |
| people, by definition, happy in their jobs? | | | | with the "how." That's how I, a deaf pilot, was able to |
| Here's how I found my passion(s). I took out a piece of | | | | earn the instrument rating for the first time in aviation |
| paper and wrote with wild abandon what I wanted to | | | | history in February 2006. When I first started flying in |
| do with my life. I wrote anything that came to mind | | | | 2000, I distinctly remember seeing FAA regulations |
| without worrying how ridiculous it sounded. My mind | | | | where it spelled out, in black and white, the two way |
| was allowed to drift back to when I was a kid - I | | | | radio requirements for the instrument rating. By |
| asked myself what things I did during "playtime | | | | definition, that excluded the deaf pilot population; yet, I |
| activities" that made time fly by fast. | | | | affirmed that I was going to find a way around it |
| While I was doing this little exercise, my ego tried to | | | | somehow. What happened was I made a decision that |
| interfere and plague me with doubts saying things like, | | | | I would achieve it even though it looked impossible at |
| "How will you accomplish this?" "You're crazy, you | | | | the time. |
| can't afford to do this!" "How will you survive?" "You're | | | | I'm very fond of a quote from the book |
| not good enough." | | | | "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsch: |
| If you have a family to feed, you might get something | | | | "When you 'make up your mind' about something, you |
| like, "You've got a family of four mouths to feed, you'll | | | | set the universe into motion. Forces beyond your ability |
| just have to wait until they graduate from college | | | | to comprehend--far more subtle and complex than |
| before you do this!" If thoughts like these find their way | | | | you could imagine--are engaged in a process, the |
| through your mind, gently acknowledge them and set | | | | intricate dynamics of which you are only just now |
| them aside. In other words, give them no power. | | | | beginning to understand." |
| I vividly remember when I used to play "schoolteacher." | | | | You see, I hadn't yet met people who would eventually |
| As a youngster, I pretended I was a pipe smoking | | | | help me get it. I hadn't heard from the FAA that it was |
| professor, teaching imaginary students for hours at a | | | | possible for a deaf pilot to fly in instrument conditions |
| time in my tiny bedroom. Even though I didn't grow up | | | | (i.e. flying in "bad weather"). All of this was to take |
| to be a "professor," I am now a teacher of sorts as a | | | | place in the future - 5 years after I made the decision! |
| professional speaker showing others how to turn | | | | Food for thought: Cultivating and nurturing your |
| adversity into a university of possibilities! (and while I | | | | passion(s) will take you places beyond your wildest |
| don't smoke pipes, I do smoke cigars!) | | | | dreams. Trust that your efforts are being supported |
| Another childhood pastime was imagining myself as a | | | | by the universe once you make a decision. Also trust |
| pilot, flying model airplanes over makeshift villages with | | | | that life is very generous to those who follow their |
| little plastic houses and fences. Right around that time, I | | | | passions. |
| begged my mother to take me to the airport to watch | | | | |