'Your Why'

Oscar made a Drama Wheel!

When I read Jay Shetty’s Book, ‘Think Like a Monk’ last year, I was particularly taken by one area of the story. That of ‘finding your Dharma’.

Dharma is a Sanskrit word and can be taken to mean your purpose, or your calling, or your why. Jay talks about the intersection between passion, skills and usefulness. When you find it, you’ll know because you’ll essentially be in your sweet spot. Things will go and feel right for you.

You may think you’ve found it when actually you’re kidding yourself and its something completely different. Jay himself thought that leading a life of service in the Ashram with other Monks was his. He later finds ‘his purpose’ is to tell his story and that he has a real gift for doing so. His Dharma is story telling (I guess to people like me who pass these on further).

This book was a real driver for me calling my own website findingyourpassion.co.uk. It really resonated with me. For years I’ve been telling people (particularly the students I teach) that they have the choice to work on and with something they are passionate about. There is no reason to choose mediocrity, or a job you hate. It felt right to bring the idea of Dharma and Passion together.

Although I thought about this many times (and named my website accordingly) I never actually put pen to paper on the subject, so why now?

Last week, my six year old, Oscar returned from school talking about a ‘Drama Wheel’. Perplexed at first, Lizz and I asked deeper questions but we still struggled to understand what he was talking about. When he finally drew his ‘Drama wheel’ for us we soon realised that he’d not meant drama at all. He meant Dharma! 😂

Oscar’s ‘Drama Wheel - 2021’

Here’s the actual version of that wheel:

How cool is that!?! Oscar is learning about Budism at the age of 6. I found out about it at 42! When I asked Oscar what this wheel is about, he tells me, ‘It’s to have a good life Daddy’.

So thank you Oscar, you’ve finally got me to write the post I’d wanted to for six months. I look forward to hearing more about Budism and what you’re learning at school so I can journal it here for my readers :)

So is there a point to this article? A Business reason for writing it? I think so.

After 20 years of working in my business I’ve found my Dharma and much like Jay’s its about teaching, passing on knowledge in my space and being seen as a thought leader. That’s what I get up for each morning. That’s what I get excited about and that’s what will drive me for the next 20-30 years. I hope by writing this, I might spur you to think about yours and if you’ve not found it, start you on that journey. It feels amazing when you get there.

If you’re interested in finding your Dharma there is a good article here that you can read, it explains it much better than I ever could.