Newsletter
August, 2013- Getting back into the groove - finding your passion!
Greetings!
It's one of my jobs to help people to become the best version of themselves that they can be. It takes a lot of work on both of our parts, but when the work is done and you can see how far you've come - it's pretty incredible!
One of the things that I try to help my patients find is their passion. Passion for what they want to do in their life. Sometimes, it's easy as people seem to put away their passions because of fear, or for practical reasons. Other times, it's much more difficult as either they are depressed or disenchanted with where they have gotten in their lives and the passion is buried far down in them and it takes a MAJOR excavation to get it out, dust it off, and work with it.
This newsletter is about passion - how you uncover it. How you recognize it. How to try to work to find it. If we can't find what we are passionate about - it's difficult to unleash all of the potential you have inside of you.
Until next time!
Dr. L
How to find your passion...
I put this cute pic of my new baby Zella on this section because teaching a new baby and watching her grow is such a passion for me. Her learning and becoming this awesome, smart and helpful part of my family is so rewarding. Teaching and learning have always been passions for me since I was young. In fact, this is the first step in how to find your passion...
1. What did you gravitate to/enjoy/automatically were good at when you were young? This is really crucial to know because when you are young, you aren't necessarily thinking about raising and supporting a family or trying to attain status or financial freedom. You were just doing what you were good at, or enjoyed. Sit with yourself a while and ponder this. Better yet - write it down. When you write things down they become work product to your brain and is something that you are more focused on.
Ex.
For me I would write:
- Taking care of animals (I grew up on a farm).
- Making clothes for my Barbie (I wanted to be a fashion designer for a long time).
- Art (even as a young child I used to draw for people. Kids used to pay me 50 cents to draw them a Cabbage Patch kid or Garfield).
- Cooking (I used to cook for my family when I was still too small to reach the stove. I would stand on a chair to cook).
2. Make a visual of what things drive you. Now people call this a vision board, or inspiration board. Something along those lines. Just take out a magazine or while you are reading in the paper and pull pieces out that inspire you. Place them on a cork board or even your refrigerator with magnets or on a poster board with tape. Whether it's a sports car, a beautiful painting, a purse, a place you would like to be, or an inspirational person - put them on the board. Visualize those things in yourself that you want to be. Objects always inspire and so this is a good exercise. Now, if you see a lot of material items there - that's OK. Now, you see what drives you. If material things drive you (and that's not a bad thing) - you have to make money to obtain those items. If that's your only inspiration to work harder or longer hours then that's OK. If it's a location and nature - then you may need to go out and experience that to inspire more thought. You can add things to the board and take things off as you obtain them/achieve them. It's meant to grow with you. You can take pictures of the board and catalog how far you've come over time.
3. Understand or learn about people that are where you want to be and/or who you admire. I love biographies and I watch them all of the time. I also like to read about people. It really doesn't matter the person to me because I find people interesting, but when I was younger I would always watch stories about people I wanted to be like. I remember when I was young, I would spend a lot of time with my grandmother who has inspired me to be who I am today. I think of her often and I think back to when I was young - each thing that she did that made her special to me and the things that I wanted to "copy" that she did so that people would admire in me what I admired in her. In each person that I meet - I take away something from them. Something that they do that I don't like or something that they do that I do like. I did this with teachers in the past and into the present.
Ex. Make a list of those people that inspire you and learn more about them.
- When you see this person or hear about this person - what strikes you as the thing that impresses you about them? My grandmother had a quiet strength about her. She was someone that when you looked at her, you knew that she was smart, capable, respectable, and someone that was subtly strong.
- What is it about them in particular that impresses you most? She was just a good person and it was something that was obvious. She always treated others as she wanted to be treated. She had the respect of people without really having to say or do much.
- Is this something that you can adopt into your own persona? There was something that she told me later, because I asked. She never said bad words and I asked her why not and she told me that it wasn't lady like or classy to do that. This is something that I knew that I could do easily and have continued throughout my life and it has served me well.
- What do others think about this person? I never heard anyone say a cross word about my grandmother. Now, it may be because she was my grandmother and people showed respect, but I'd like to believe it was just that she was such a wonderful person. She might have put people in their place, but they deserved it and they knew it. I believe that she gained respect that way. Good boundaries. It's something that I also have taken with me even today.
In the next newsletter we will take our exploration of the passions to the next level!
Until then.
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Don't forget - just because the office has changed, doesn't mean that it's not there. In fact, many of my patients now like the Skype and I have seen people everywhere (at work, in their car, in their beds, with their dogs!). My website has been updated to accommodate the change and you can get a peak as to how the home office looks which is pretty cool.
Thanks again for joining me on my journey!
Sincerely,
Dr. L and family
EMILY LAZAROU
LA COOP, PA
