“Hope is the light. Kindness is the glow. Generosity is the heat. Love is the warmth. You are the SPARK.”
A month or so ago I bought some postcards from a shop on Etsy to send out to people. I was trying to figure actions I could take to give a little positive cheering up to people during COVID19. This was on one of the postcards. One of the words that spoke to me was the word spark. Spark has many definitions. A small, fiery particle, something that ignites. Spark is the beginning of many, many actions, relationships, experiences in our lives.
Seems like a good day to talk about spark.
When I reflect upon my relationships, the work I do, the interests and passions I hold near and dear to my heart at some point, some where, there was a spark. That aha moment where a feeling clicked inside of me that brought interest and curiosity. Emotions like joy, happiness, mental stimulation and a loss of time all rolled into one. When I feel a spark I have found something that I am jazzed about. My attention is captured, even if it is a split second.
See the thing with a spark is that is it just a spark. To get a spark to burst into a flame it requires work, dedication, compromise, tenacity and passion. One of my clients is a musician. He plays guitar, sings and writes his own music. He LOVES it. He is pursuing his dream, his goal, of playing and singing to become his career. For right now he also has a full time job (it is just a job for him) while he pursues music. The majority of the people in his life have told him he won’t go far, to give it up on his music. For him, when he is playing and singing he calls it “being in the pocket”. A time where there is no time, when his spirit and soul are jamming together bringing him joy and satisfaction. He feels at one with himself. His spark which occurred many years ago has become a long burning flame because he has been tending to it, stoking it, helping it to keep glowing in his life.
Sometimes where a spark, an aha moment, has occurred somewhere, someone, even us, can douse the spark with a big old bucket of water. I feel like for too many of us, too often, when we feel a spark and a sense of excitement we quickly talk ourselves out of why it won’t work, whether it’s a romantic relationship or a passion we want to pursue. Sometimes, for some of us, that spark will continue to keep sparking. trying to get our attention. Yet as Franklin Roosevelt said
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
If you had told me ten years ago I would be writing this blog, putting finishing touches on a book I wrote, writing a monthly column for a magazine, having a website I am working on, posting on instagram, twitter, facebook and on a weekly basis having a postcard project where I send postcards to random names out of the phonebook I would have said that is a ridiculous idea. That would have been crazy talk. Yet when I go through papers from years ago the spark I am pursuing now kept coming up in various ways in my life. As much as I was dousing that spark, it kept coming back, like the magic relighting birthday candle. You blow that candle out and it relights itself again and again.
Pursuing what I am pursuing is work. I have taken courses on websites, writing, running your own business, I read articles, books, and more. I am working on improving my writing skills. I have an amazing mentor who helps to guide me. There are actions steps I take because this is important to me. My spark has lit a burning flame in my soul. I have “head talks” which would make a funny “TED talk” where one part of me will say “you don’t have to do this, this is crazy, quit” and my other part will say “you can do this, keep going, this is important to you”. I limit who I tell about my projects because I quickly learned there were some water throwing, spark dousing people in my life that were NOT supportive. I have enough fears on my own so I learned to choose who I shared this spark journey with. Sharing part of me, being vulnerable to people I do not know is scary and mighty uncomfortable. Yet pursuing this dream overrides all of my fears and uncertainties so I keep moving forward, step by step. The more I take action, the stronger the flame inside glows. I feel more settled and happy.
What is your spark? There can be more that one. It is passions or a person that make you stop in your tracks? We are the ONLY people who hold us back. Yep us. Remarkable, incredible person you are important. You matter. What is your spark that keeps coming around? Listen to what it is telling you. You are worthy pursuing it.
May your spark be with you💜
Photo by Hayden Scott on Unsplash
