Taped next to my computer screen is a quote I came across from www.TodaysGift@Hazelden.info “I didn’t really have a plan for a career, but I learned how to run our business quite successfully one day at a time.” – Joann Reed
There can be joyful excitement in the decision to squeeze the thrill out of every minute that comes to us. If we are practiced in living just one day at a time, we’ll not find this difficult. With practice, we’ll realize that living more slowly actually extends our lives because we’re able to truly experience each of the moments. Learning this at any age, is a gift.
I have been a caterer in the Washington DC and Northern Virginia community for over 33 years. I fell into this catering gig. I wanted to be a working musician. I was a bartender at a restaurant in Old Town Alexandria VA and the owner was having trouble with his dessert supplier. He knew I enjoyed cooking and asked if I could help him try out an idea. So I started baking 8 Sweet Potato Pecan Pies per week. In a year I was doing all of the restaurant’s desserts. In two years I was supplying multiple restaurants. Several years later people started to ask me to cater parties. I was unhappy trying to pursue a music career. My first marriage was coming apart. I made a turn in the road. It wasn’t without anxiety. “Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace within the storm”.
This morning I came across an excellent post from a soon to be released book from Rob Bell.
“The Japanese have a word for what gets you out of bed in the morning: they call it your ikigai. Your ikigai is that sense you have when you wake up that this day matters, that there are new experiences to be had, that you have work to do, a contribution to make.
Sometimes this is referred to as your calling, other times your vocation, your destiny, your path. Your ikigai is your reason for being.
We are always in the endless process of figuring out our ikigai.
Your ikigai is a web of work and family and play and how you spend your time,
what you give your energies to, what you say “yes” to,
what you say “no” to,
what new challenges you take on,
things that come your way that you never wanted or planned for or know what to do with—
your ikigai is a work in progress because you are a work in progress.
Knowing your ikigai, then, takes patience, and insight,
and courage,
and honesty.
You try lots of different things. You volunteer, you sign up, you take a class, you do an internship, you get the training, you shadow someone around for a day who does something that intrigues you. You follow your curiosity. You watch for things that grab your attention. this is much easier when you’re younger and have less financial pressure and fewer others depending on you, but it’s true no matter how old you are.
Some people find their ikigai by asking, What do I love to do?
Listen to your life..
Some things you do for you.
You do them because it gives you great satisfaction and it puts a smile on your face and that’s it.
And that’s fine.
It’s not just fine, it’s necessary. It makes you a better person, it fills your soul, it opens you up to life in its fullness.
So don’t apologize for it, enjoy it.
You may love doing or creating or making or organizing something, but that’s different from it being your job. If music was my job, I’d hate it. What often happens is that we love doing a particular thing and so our next thought is, I should do this for my job.
Here’s the problem with that impulse: Getting a paycheck for doing that thing you love may actually ruin it.”
Ruth and her 12-String Guitar
I play 12-string guitar with a group in my church, Spiritwind. I love playing with these folks and we bring a small amount of inspiration to a congregation each Sunday morning. I don’t get a paycheck, and I don’t have to deal with the business of making music.
I also love cooking and creating events. I also learned how to run my business quite successfully one day at a time. I believe both of these passions are part of my own personal ikigai.
