Follow your Bliss and Sovereign

What brings you joy?  What lights you up?  If you were to “follow your bliss”, as Joseph Campbell said, what would you do?  Who would you be?  When I ask these questions, sometimes people say “well, that’s just fantasy!!” in a cynical way.  If that’s you, this blog is not for you.  If these questions touch a longing inside of you, a spark or flame that wants to burn brighter, then you might well find something interesting in what lies below.

What makes you, you?

This is the realm of Sovereign.  If you can discover this, on an on-going basis, you have the recipe for a beautiful and meaningful life, lived in freedom and joy.  It is a feel thing.  To check in, regularly, on whether what you are doing is aligned to your purpose and values.  Is this in service of what you have dedicate yourself to?

Even making your meals can be aligned to your purpose.  Perhaps you prepare the food with thoughts of how healthy and nutritious it is to give you energy for your work?  Maybe it is about caring for others?  You might think of the creativity of the food combinations or the beauty of the colours and the way the food is presented?  Maybe you are mindful of how you source the food and the care that offers to the environment?  Perhaps it’s a chance for cultivating connection and community?  Or an opportunity to pause, go inward and become still and rested?  Connecting to Sovereign throughout the day can be an inspiring practice.  Aligning to Sovereign can be a powerful reminder of what makes you, you.

Sovereign in Action

You can intellectualise it, but often that sets you on a path that is rigid, prescribed and dogmatic.  That is usually a course set by the head.  To be reached at all costs, regardless of the circumstances.  But life is more unpredictable than that.  2020, the year of Covid-19, has taught you that.  To remain on a journey of fulfilment, each person has to listen to that voice of inner leadership that guides you moment by moment, to go here at this time and there at that time.  And all along, staying true to what lights you up inside.

This Sovereign guidance comes up again and again for my coaching clients.  Understandably, there is a certain fear and apprehension that comes with engaging with this inner guidance.  It can feel irresponsible and unpredictable.  The question that keeps coming up is, “How do I balance this with my other commitments and responsibilities?”

Your sovereignty depends on following your bliss and living up to your responsibilities as an adult, parent, partner, member of society and salary earner.  This balance is Sovereign in action.

Follow your Bliss

So, what brings you joy?  What lights you up?  When I was a young man, just out of University, I had two great loves- martial arts and nature.  I wanted to dedicate my life to them.  During those early 20s years, I was committed to my martial arts training and thought I would try my hand at a career in science and research the animals that had fascinated me since I was a child- the sea mammals of the world.  It fulfilled my love of nature.

I went to The British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK, and was offered a research project on the life cycles of krill.  I knew instantly this was not for me and so my Sovereign took a stand for what felt right, and I asked if there were any projects focused on seals or whales.  Instantly, I was taken to the man who would become my supervisor, Ian Boyd, and for the next two and a half years I dedicated myself to the lives of Antarctic Fur Seals and Southern Elephant Seals in the Antarctic.  Though I loved the animals and found them fascinating, I realised in that short period that a career in scientific research was not the journey for me.

Changing Course 

It took me a few years to move out of science and establish a career in martial arts.  During my science career, I had continued my dedicated practice of martial arts and found myself in a position where I could teach, and I set up the Cambridge Dojo.  As soon as I could, I shifted career to martial arts and let science be a thing that fascinated, intrigued and delighted me from an amateur and joyful perspective.  It was a way to enjoy the awe of nature.

I immersed myself in martial arts.  It became my North Star.  Everything I did was dedicated to improving myself in that way- sleep, diet, learning, practice, rest, stretching, fitness, I read books about Japanese and martial arts history, I studied endlessly, and built a strong community of students over the next ten years.

Over time, my passion became more about the people than the martial arts.  That love of people expanded into life coaching and then into training and facilitation.  Martial arts had fuelled my love of the body and I carried that into my coaching and facilitation work.

As I have worked at what I loved doing and being, I have taken every opportunity to be in nature.  Local walks by the river and in woods, longer walks by the coast and areas like The Chilterns and The Lake District.  Foreign trips to the wilderness.

A Deeper Relationship

But my relationship with Sovereign was getting deeper.  I was learning that what underpinned this love of people and nature was connection- to myself, humanity and the world.  This was a spiritual connection that links who I am with the work I am doing, the people I am sharing my life with, the world I am creating and the difference I want to make to humanity.

In writing this, I can see the thread throughout my life that connects that fearful young man and what he was trying to do in the world, with the older version of myself that sees more of the tapestry I continue to create.  This has all come through staying connected to Sovereign and the purpose Sovereign is being a stand for.  Yes, I lost my way, I made diversions and mistakes.  But Sovereign keeps calling me to my bliss, acting as a North Star and orienting me to what is right for me in any given moment.  Connect with Sovereign and the guidance is there.

Over to You

What is your bliss?  Who are you being in life that brings you bliss?  How does that connect to your purpose and values?  Where have you been a stand for your passion and purpose?  I’d love to know and continue this conversation with you about Sovereign, purpose, passion and bliss.

Pass it on

What are you taking away with you from this post?  That insight- do you know a friend, family member or colleague that would benefit from the same insight?  If so, why not forward this post to them and let them know you are thinking of them?