Passion and Intuition

The above is a song called Weightless by Marconi Union. This eight minute track was created in collaboration with the British Academy of Sound Therapy and is regarded as the most relaxing song ever. According to scientists, it induced a 65% reduction in overall anxiety and brought test subjects' resting pulse rates to 35% of their usual resting rates.

Hmmm. So are you relaxed yet? Anyways so this is perhaps related to this "touchy feely... finding yourself bit" I've been contemplating lately. The first centers around a bit of what I addressed last week, trying to find or understand what my true passion is. The second I'm calling a need to strengthen my intuition. I think in the craziness of life we often forget how to hear ourselves. I think I've forgotten what its like to tune into that gut feeling... and even harder, forgotten how to have the guts to act on those gut feelings. I find these two related because I wonder whether I have to relearn how to really hear myself before trying to find what my true passion is.

For a while now I've honestly toyed with the idea of just quitting my job and traveling the world for a while. I would love to get away from my day to day routine and truly be able to quiet myself, so that I can really hear what it is I need or want.

Where would I go? Well I'd start here in Seattle and travel west, probably starting in Japan then Korea. Besides those two countries I'm a bit more open. Perhaps Nepal, Mongolia, and Turkey in Asia/Eurasia, then Croatia, Spain, Ireland, and Scotland in Europe. Considering my personality and that I was on the road most of last year, traveling the world for 2 or 3 months isn't as crazy a possibility for me.

The harder part is going to be whether I have the guts to take off, not knowing what would be here when I came back. It'd be different from traveling the world knowing you had a job or an offer to come back to. This is where the practical asian side of me goes "Are you freakin' nuts?!?!" Luckily I can more than afford to do this, heck I could afford to be without a job for over a year. But I've always been a pretty strict rule follower. I've always done what was expected. Can I take this big of a leap?

This has been on my mind for a bit, but I know I have to think about it more. Perhaps the rumblings will get so loud to where I can't ignore them. Or perhaps I don't need to do something so drastic. In pondering what my true passion might be, I've been asking myself a number of questions. These questions in a way seem so simple and innocuous, but I find that they are deceptively difficult to answer.

What do I love to do?
What comes naturally to me?
What do I feel passionate about?
What have been the happiest times in my life?
What have people always told me that I'm good at?
What did I always want to do when I was a child?

I'm working on my answers, though I find it difficult to just answer them and without automatically trying to tie them to some career choice.