Finding My (your) Passion

According to Adam Leipzig in his Malibu TedTalk – to find your passion, you need to ask 5 questions:

1.  Who are you?
2.  What do you do?
3. Who do you do it for?
4. What do they need?
5. How does what you do impact them?

I think I’ve answered these questions (in my own style) in previous entries. And I believe I’ve also mentioned reading the book I Can See Clearly Now by Dr. Wayne Dyer.  Am up to almost 38.20% of the book done. I know I know – moving very slowly.  But even at this stage – the book is simply wonderful.  Giving me a lot of insights into my own search for meaning and purpose.  Also learning things about Psychology or Counselling that I didn’t know before.  And here I was thinking I know a lot.  But the reality is the more we learn the more we come to know how little we know. So much more to learn.

I wonder, like with Wayne, perhaps my own being here in NZ is because it has something BIG to teach me.  No – not perhaps.  For sure there is something big for me to learn here.  How I came to the program that I am in.  Doesn’t even sound like something that fits me.  International Development? What is that?  All I know of it – when I came across it – was that it has something to do with development of people/communities/societies.  Is that me? Mmmm .. not really. But it could be.  In fact when I first stumbled upon the course it was named Developmental Studies.  I thought it was Developmental Psychology.  So – might fit me.  After all, Developmental Psychology is one of several areas of Psychology that interests me.  But as I read more about it, it wasn’t Developmental Psychology after all.

Then I thought – well still sounds kinda interesting.  I have, from time to time, been drawn to some social causes that seem to tug pretty hard on my heart.  But I never knew what to do with it or how to go about making a difference in a community much more in a society.  During my stint in the role of Student Affairs – I also got interested in beyond community engagement but also the entrepreneurial aspect of running such programs.  Also, looking back – my short stint with an NGO in Malaysia also made me realize that far too many NGOs or (not for profit organizations) have the mindset of constantly approaching people with a “alms bowl” asking for donation and support.  I am well aware far too many people cringe when they see another “beggar” coming to them.  Even then I believed, if you want to ask something from others – you must also be willing to give.  In fact, the giving preceeds the taking.  After all, isn’t there a saying that goes: it is more blessed to give than to receive?

And so within the workings of an NGO – there must be the component of giving to the people we encounter – that encompass both the target population we choose to serve (as our defined cause) as well as those people we ask to join us in support of our cause.  So when people donate – be it their ideas, their time, their energy or their money – we must ensure they too are blessed with our presence in their lives. That means we bring to them something that is useful and beneficial to them and not just be there to ask and take.

From this stems the idea of social entrepreneurship.  As we endeavour to walk the path we have chosen and to serve the population of our choice (whatever the cause be it in finding a cure for cancer, or helping those with AIDS, or providing a means to live for the refugees all around the globe or whatever), we must ensure that we have a means to support our cause; that is to be self-sustaining.  The program must be able to move forward with or without the constant drive to go out and ask for donations alone. We need also to be mindful we do not become producers of people who are constantly dependent on society’s handouts. The people we serve, whatever their challenges are (illnesses, financial constraints, physical limitations, etc) are people; they are human beings.  And with that, they – like the rest of us – would want to know that they too have a place on this earth.  They too have a purpose and are not burden to society.  They too want a sense of identity to be proud of – to feel they have something to contribute to the well-being of the rest of the world.  They have dignity. They seek to have a sense of self-worth.

My background in both Sociology and Psychology seemed to fit in well with the program I have signed up for. And while I haven’t formally gotten into it, I am sure (I know it) that I will find a purpose within that.  This is where my heart has been pulling me these past years.  Perhaps my stepping into that NGO was to prepare me for this.  My return to the University and taking up the role in Student Affairs too were all steps towards this “destiny” although I didn’t know it at that time.

So – today, I am one step closer to unravelling the “mystery” of why I am here in NZ enrolled in a program I know little about.

That’s it for today.  Stay tuned and help me discover my “destiny” if you will.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavour to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”  - Henry D. Thoreau.

Peace,
Syl