It’s been forever and a day since everyone was gaga over Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper but here we are in love again.

There’s so much to say about Bradley Cooper; like how he’s my new celebrity husband (sorry Matt Dillon we are now on the outs.) But that’s not really what I want to chat with you about today.

The topic of today’s chat is

Passion

This movie made me cry non stop mostly because of the theme that I picked up on hit home big time.  To me this movie spoke intimately about what it means to live a life of passion.  Something for which I feel is deeply important and easy to lose sight of.

I believe most people, including myself at times, are allowing life to live us rather than living our life. Oprah coined the term “living your best life.” But what does that really mean?  Often we walk around like zombies in our heads, on our phones, in our frustrations, worries, challenges not realizing that each moment we spend in this place is a moment we can never get back.

In 2014 the Gallop Poll revealed that the average American works 8.8 hours a day with 21% of workers over the age of 18 working 50-59 hours  and 18% working 60+ hours per week.

Hello!  Can you say insane?

When you average in texting and emailing off hours with employers and colleagues, most of clients work well over their alotted hours, In polling some clients I have found out that it would be seen as aggregious if you pushed back to state that the time you are not being paid for is actually your time. Some people mentioned that they would be concerned that pushing back would put their employment at risk. I feel like a dinosaur but I must say that this floors me!

Cut to our topic…Passion.  Where is the time to tap into the heart and cultivate passion in one’s life if you are constantly on the computer cut off from the present moment and natural world?

It reminds me of this now infamous song from the aforementioned movie….

I get chills every time I listen to these lines of the song Shallow.  It speaks deep to my soul as I believe it does for so many.  I was in the theater bawling screaming NO and then YES ever so softly to myself. Like many, I have grievances with myself for things done and choices made that if I could go back I would do differently.

It is hard to honor that which has passed that you can no longer get back. Grasping and clinging to attachments that are no longer continue to create dis-ease within. Further and further distancing us from our heart. Searching in the past with regret doesn’t change the present yearning for more.

“Tell me something boy…aren’t you tired trying to fill that void? Or do you need more? Ain’t it hard keeping it so hard core?”

Sings Lady Gaga’s character Alley to Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine. Jackson filled his void with alcohol but really it’s a case of pick your poison.  We all can find ourselves leaning on something or someone to help us fill the void that we so deeply are afraid to sit within.  Work, alcohol, weed, food (extremely common,) shopping sex and the ultimate distraction of work, all of which keep us distracted just enough that we never have the time to feel the void that we are keeping so hard core.

The song Shallow speaks about living life to the fullest; a life lived from the heart far far away from the shallowness that we often experience.  The song and the movie touched my soul so deeply.

It reminds me of a question that I asked one of my client’s recently

What makes you feel alive?

These days I work consciously to try to answer this question. It gives me pause to help me think about how much time I spend focusing on things I can’t change or doing things that make me feel deadened.

At times I talk to my clients about “calling Bullshit on yourself.” It’s something I try to do every time I catch myself in negative thought patterns or stuck in fear. Who says you can’t do certain things? Who says that’s not possible? Often times I find that it’s really only myself. There may be naysayers out there but honestly I think I can be my biggest naysayer. My biggest challenge is me.

Sound familiar?

I bet it does.

Every time I call Bullshit on myself and listen to my heart I find a HUGE well of positive energy rise to the surface. Every time I have done this I have achieved/manifested what it is my heart truly wants. All I need to do is make the decision that what I want is possible, and the Universe comes in to make it happen.

Case in point…my decision to book a vacation to Costa Rica for the end of this month. It has been six long years since I have traveled due to building my business.

Ever since I booked the trip, my business has continued to get busier and busier. Referrals are coming at me from all angles and opportunities to do the kind of work that I want to build more of have sprouted up as well. It truly feels like all I needed to do was live my life full of passion instead of fear and everything started to fall into place.

Why didn’t I do this sooner you ask?

Simply put I was too scared. I, much like most people, had been waiting for “the right time.” I was waiting until it seemed like it would make logical sense to take a vacation.

That was the worst thing I could have done for myself.

There is never a “right” time to honor your heart. There is never a “right” time to live a life of passion. The right time is right now. As much as I knew that in my head, it was hard to embrace it in my heart.

Lady Gaga’s character in A Star is Born couldn’t see what Bradley Cooper’s character saw in her. While Jackson Maine saw beauty in Alley, he had a hard time seeing the same beauty in himself. We often try to pass along the light to others without embracing the light within each of us. The light is where the passion lives.

There are many ways we can cultivate the light within us. In a very simple way it’s about embracing the things that bring us joy on a daily basis. There is nothing quite like traveling for me. It makes me feel alive in a way that nothing else can. That being said, in order to get ourselves to that place of the big joys or “wins” we need to look at our daily habits and ways in which we live.

Just for today, embrace something that makes you feel alive. Maybe it’s an activity, maybe it’s visiting a particular place or maybe it’s being in touch with someone you love. For today choose to give your spirit what it needs to feel passionate.

And always, always believe in possibility. It is the belief that anything is possible that helps us feel alive!

As we end our chat for today, I am reminded of another song from a movie I saw this winter that truly encapsulates what it means when you live a life of passion.

There is nowhere to go but up!

Cheers to Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper and Mary Poppins for passing along the message….

Life is meant to be lived not mulled over, analyzed and shamed. So live life to the fullest and allow your heart to burst open with passion.

Cheers!