Dream Catcher
The six month Playing Big program, that I participated in last year is now open for registration for 2012. It is difficult to convey in a blog post just how powerful this program, led by Tara Sophia Mohr, was for me.
Today, as I was looking over my notes from the beginning of last year’s class, I zeroed in on the section on callings. Tara writes,
When you take the great love for all life,
when you take the great power of service,
when you take the energy of the universe,
the desire to extend, expand, and amplify lifeAnd filter it through the prism of
your gifts
your abilities
your circumstances
your opportunities to serve
what you get isyour calling.
Callings can be many and varied. They are those wisps of inspiration that come into consciousness, sometimes involuntarily. You can recognize them by these clues.
* You feel an unusually vivid pain or frustration around the status quo.
* You see a powerful vision about what could be.
* You have a sense that this work is mine to do.
* You are strengthened when you begin to do this work.
* You feel huge resistance.
* You don’t have everything you need yet to complete the work.
* You aren’t yet the person you need to be to complete it.
Those last three are usually what stops us. I know they did me. Yet, here they are listed as clues that it is indeed your calling.
It was right before the beginning of the Playing Big program that I attended a poetry retreat in Kentucky at a contemplative center. While there, I was asked if I would be interested in leading a photography workshop.
At that time, I was just starting to develop my Photo By Design online workshop. I had attempted to have some local Adventures in Seeing classes, with little success. I told the woman at the retreat center that yes, I would be interested, because I was a contemplative photographer.
As I was driving home, I realized that I had never said those words before and I had just agreed to consider doing a weekend workshop, something else I had never done before. Playing Big helped me to realize that this is one of my callings, and gave me the courage to put myself out there, learning as I go along.
I plan to participate in two classes this June in contemplative photography so that I can learn more, yet I am not waiting until I take those classes before offering my own. My weekend workshop in contemplative photography will take place April 27-29, 2012 at Bethany Spring in Kentucky.
So, if you are feeling those wisps of inspiration and want to put them into action, I highly recommend the Playing Big program.