Passion Project or Purpose Project?

Tammy wearing her crafted jewelry

What do you do when your Passion Project takes over your Purpose Project?!

With a full time personal training practice, creating my latest app product—The Art of Posture—has been a slow build. My time is always mortgaged out to clients. At least that’s what I tell myself.

What makes me question my time excuse is that, since I started making jewelry and envisioning an Etsy store, I find time to make jewelry. Mostly weekends, but occasionally during the week I also indulge!

I tell myself, I “should” only indulge in my Passion of making jewelry on weekends, and during the week all free time “should” be committed to my Purpose in creating my app!

But these “mental shoulds”depressed my creativity in both directions with joyless rules.

So I asked myself, how can I create time to have it all?
I love my vocation around mind body fitness and posture, as well as my avocation, around crafting jewelry and beading.
Is this an either / or situation?

Then, when working with a client on posture, I was reminded that the body always shows us the way. When standing still, she was able to adopt a relaxed, centered, square skeletal frame; but, when engaged in movement she couldn’t maintain it.

We discussed how:
• The weight of her body (bones) and outside resistance (dumbbells) are a grounding force, not a burden.
• I suggested that she drop into her bones’ weight to feel more grounded when in motion.
• Aligning the skeleton by elongating her muscles centered her in her alignment (mind & body), but when she used muscle tension it diffused her alignment.
• I suggested that she focus on muscle quality, rather than movement size and speed, to maintain her alignment in motion.
She agreed that the fear of not being good enough led her toward tension and an urgency to be better than her best; while the Centered Grace she was now experiencing, using a more relaxed elongated muscle quality, felt timeless and meaningful.

There she was, having overslept, with bed-head hair, no caffeine or food, still feeling physically exhausted from her previous day’s monster walk, looking more sophisticated, confident and beautiful than I’d ever seen her.

And, as long as she maintained this grounded, elongated posture, she maintained her confidence.

This Centered Grace I’m talking about transforms time and space, offering a lightness of being to emerge. We become our best by extending ourselves into space, rather than muscling ourselves through space.

I walked away realizing I wasn’t following my own advice!

The WEIGHT of my Passion and Purpose Projects were both being thwarted by my fear of not being enough to do them both. But, when I relaxed about what I “should” have done already, the projects regained their meaning. And, time stood still.

I felt aligned again.

The QUALITY of my attention when aligning with these projects is what centers my creativity, not the number of minutes I have. It’s amazing how time can expand when I’m grounded and relaxed.

I feel joyful again.

Each video, script and lesson plan brings me closer to launching The Art of Posture. Every necklace, bracelet and earring made brings me closer to launching my Etsy store. Small steps strung together creates a successful journey.

Aligning with these projects starts with embodying Centered Grace. The rest will naturally unfold with the joy-filled passion and purpose I have for these projects.

Time is simply a space. The quality of that space is ours to create.

Start a conversation HERE about your Time Management for your Passion or Purpose Projects!