Inspire Your Soul - Find Your Passion With Maria Stenvinkel

Indeed happiness is the way to a beautiful life…
To aspire, dream, believe and stride!

But what brings you “real happiness” is the “real deal”…
The real joy that makes you surrender and feel surreal!
No, it’s not like a fortune wheel…
Fortune can never promise to offer you smiles!

While your smile can surely attract the much needed luck…
And cheer you up whimsically making you awestruck!

So what’s the story here, let’s begin…
Yes it is necessary to first find your purpose or dream…
Something that plumps you up each day with zeal!

Something which you gladly refer as PASSION…
Something that always keeps you moving curiously in action!
That’s my friend is the reason of your true happiness! :)

“It’s only when you face the Sun, you witness Sunshine! That’s when you begin to forget the darkness and cherish the existence of light!”

I love going to insightful events and covering them all! It is always exciting to explore and meet new people who are blessed with the divine energies to inspire the world. 

Dear fellas, this is a special post as I am writing after a number of full moons! With this post, I begin my special blog series “Inspire Your Soul” to give you delightfully warm doses of inspiration. This series is dedicated to the real-life angels who work to bring light into our world!

The first angel of my series is “Maria Stenvinkel”,  founder of fabulousmondays.com, Stockholm based blogger, yoga teacher and a personal development trainer who helps people in finding their passion.

It is not every day that you meet epitomes of affection! I am highly ecstatic to meet Maria in person. The enlightening and enriching rendezvous was at a recent event in the city, where Maria shared about her journey dispersing her exclusively valuable wisdom!

[PS: I convey sincere regards to my friend, Moritz Schrรถeder, for organising this one-hour talk show and presenting live inspiration to the people of Stockholm. Moritz, founder of wolkify.com embarks the venture of providing a potentially classic platform for personal development.]

Here’s how the show unfolded…

Maria’s Story…

Maria began telling us how Dyslexia crippled her self-confidence in the early years of life! She constantly felt the insane pressure driving her crazy! But she always knew in her heart that she was special, she sharply felt her instinct knocking doors of her senses to be courageous and then one day she found a way to drift from pressure to pleasure!

Maria decided to drop the burden of the pressure and lighted her heart with what gave her immense pleasure:
  • Writing
  • Yoga
  • Dancing
  • Inspiring People
Maria started active blogging and it was an immense source of happiness. The turning point was actually that moment of astonishment when Maria observed her first guest post to have received 16000 views. This instance was a green signal from the Universe, and since then there has been no looking back!

Key Archives…
  • Passion is not something you discover, it is built over time, just like a strong relationship! Time is indeed the best investment!
  • 80% of the people cannot identify a singular passion.
  • Allow yourself to make mistakes and be a good observer. You’ll definitely come across something valuable.
  • Do something. It has to be creative and playful. Don't be so serious!
  • It is not about taking giant leaps but just one step at a time out of your comfort zone.
  • The life that we desire doesn't come by “chance” but by “choice”!
  • The secret to finding passion is CURIOSITY! Curiosity leads to passion! :)
According to psychologists, “Curiosity” is:
-Easy to reach
-Doesn't demand anything 
-Doesn't put you under pressure 

On the subject of passion and curiosity, Elizabeth Gilbert says, “Passion is a tower of flame, but Curiosity is a tiny tap on the shoulders, a little whisper in the ear that keeps on saying – hey, that’s interesting!”

Key Learning...
  • Remember to go step-by-step! Be a scavenger and learn the tricks of scavenger hunt!
  • “Anything that generates your CURIOSITY … simply start following it!”
Round Table Q-A…

Q1. (a) How to handle your relationships meanwhile you are following your passion? (b) How not to poke people's beliefs regarding your choices?

(Maria nailed it!)

A1.(a) I see a difference between the old Maria and the new self. What I felt earlier was pressure, but with daily meditation and yoga, I realized as you let the pressure go, the pleasure comes through you, making you lightful.

One needs to balance and align the masculine and the feminine energies of the body. Masculine energy is outwards (action) and the feminine is inwards (intention). This helps you in prioritising your stuff, thereby bringing clarity of whether something is significant! And as you move with this clarity, you dedicate your time to fulfil your passion each single day!

Be mindful about where your time gets consumed in the entire day! If it is worthy and towards the direction of your passion, increase the amount of time you spend. It is okay if you can only devote 10 minutes each day for your passion, but don’t forget to be regular! Remember, with consistency you lose the pressure! And when you are relaxed, you can definitely spend valuable time with your family and meet your priorities with right amount of time.

After all, everything is important! Both, passion and family have their own significance. There is no black or white, everything lies in between! There is no one solution. You need to find out more solutions and then make decisions focusing on the most appropriate choice meeting your life scenario. For example, if you are the only earning member, you cannot quit your job just to fulfil your passion; you have to be responsible about the needs of your family, and only after fulfiling your responsibilities, with a happy heart, you can devote substantial amount of time for your passion.

(b) Just be true to people, justifying your beliefs and opinions. Following your passion doesn’t mean that you are belittling someone else’s beliefs!

Q2. What should people who burn their passion too early, should do?

A2. Take small steps and break them further down. Face the challenges! Remember, fear highlights those areas in life where we really need to grow. Give attention to that fear. You can even take crawling steps. Don’t be over committed. Take a break. Don't force yourself. Everything comes on its own when you are relaxed. 

Don't focus on the goal. Rather focus on the process. The outcome is going to be awesome as you intended or it may even be better than what you might have thought of! Chunk down the stuff! It’s easier to shape up small things, not the big ones! Create a balance.

Q3. How to shift your thoughts?

A3. You learn from everything! We all are connected. Everybody is there in your life to help you walk through your spiritual journey. But we live in a filtered society. At times, this can become very shallow. The intensity of the degree of how one person perceives what's going on in their life really matters a lot! Watch this pattern of perception and slowly align your thoughts with your purpose or passion or happiness! Invite only the promising thoughts and discard the rest.
Maria Stenvinkel and Jyotika
With Maria Stenvinkel :)
And as the passionate evening wrapped up, it ignited us all with the flame to “find our passions”, and accentuating the belief of those who already have discovered theirs!
I heartily appreciate and thank Maria for presenting such a recharging session and sharing her wonder wisdom.

I really encourage you all to pause your lives for few moments and ponder upon your “passion”! If you’ve got one, kudos! Keep up your efforts to fulfil it! If not, then continue to discover that “something” which makes you curious, happy and alive!

[PS: I found mine long ago, that is "writing" :) and I keep updating my passion list! :D #WATWB]

Be Curious! :)
Be Happy! :)
Be Alive! :)

And...feel free to contact Maria at Hello@fabulousmondays.com.

Disclaimer:

* Author of this post reserves rights for the compiled content being an original concept. Be mindful to give credit for using this blog post or photographs elsewhere! Please do not copy without permission. ©Jyotika Rajput Mehra

* The author reserves all rights for the images depicted in the blog post.

* This post is purely based on the author’s knowledge gained at the talk show "How to Find Your Passion" by Maria Stenvinkel held at Wolkify in Oct 2017 in Stockholm. The content may contain some added information as interpreted by the author. The purpose of this post is to inspire and motivate the readers, share the insightful ways of discovering passion in life, let them know about wolkify.com and fabulousmondays.com; and promote the virtues performed by Moritz and Maria via their brands.

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