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My New Year's Resolution...

I know what all of you are thinking out there, it's already January 12th and I am finally getting around to making a resolution for the New Year. Even though that's what it may seem like judging by the title of this blog entry, nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, I have been storing up this resolution for a long, long time, finally making the decision to act upon it about a month and a half before the New Year even began. This year's resolution was to "follow my heart". This is something that I am relieved to say I have actually been able to hold myself to in the New Year, with some amazing results to boot.

Those of you who have followed my blog postings know that I have quite a penchant for philosophy, martial arts, yoga and psychology but have been working as a web applications developer, graphic designer and general data junkie. As much as I have enjoyed doing these things, they have never spoken to me like teaching does. I was fortunate enough to spend three months out in Portland, Oregon this last fall and in the process was able to reconnect with what was truly important to me. Along with being immersed in beautiful landscape, I also had the good fortune to establish a 5-6 day/week yoga practice, taking classes with Tiffany Cruikshank and Deena Zimmel on the weekends.

One weekend, after some introductory breathing, Tiffany made a simple request of the class, "Picture what you truly love (not in a lusty way) to do, when you feel you are fully expressing your true self." I immediately thought, "That's easy, I love to teach", a seemingly simple statement that gradually snowballed into real action throughout the coming months. So, there I had it, the answer to the question that so many people struggle with their entire lives without finding out what makes them tick. So, what for some would have been a source of joy ended up becoming more of a call to action. After all, if this is what I truly loved to do, then why wasn't I doing it or at least actively pursuing it?

The long and short of it was that I had always been afraid to really put my heart on the line, lest it would get squished. After all wouldn't it hurt less to be disappointed with something that didn't quite matter as much? This was a perspective that had gradually come to permeate the core aspects of my life, personally as well as professionally. However, by the end of 2011 I realized that I had to make a change and really put myself out there and risk failure at what I hold most dear. So, here it is, the second week of 2012 and here I am following my heart and holding true to what I love.

In the last week I have learned about potential teaching opportunities for bringing movement into the public schools, breathed life back into a vast network of teachers, trainers and associates, and found a way to spend 8 months teaching, training and putting together teaching curricula and programs. In other words, by being brutally honest with myself in what I truly want, and suspending disbelief and assumptions by what is possible, I have opened myself up to opportunities I never could have even imagined. In many ways this shows me just how wrong I had been with holding back what was in my heart, for after all, isn't love always the guiding force in myth and legend, the very source of strength for hero and heroine alike?

Feel free to email me at blackbelt@blackbeltphilosopher.com with questions and comments!