Many guests seem to envy Nicola and me living our dreams at Harmony Dawn and ask how we did it. My youngest daughter, Hana, who just opened Café Shu (www.cafeshu.com), is living hers and doing surprisingly well in a short time… which is my inspiration for this blog. My thoughts hereunder are from personal experience – my own and those with whom I have been privileged to interact with on deeper levels.

• The first, obvious step is to discover or recognize your passion. To me, a passion is much stronger than a whimsy, passing fancy or a vague impression like, “That would be cool”. It is felt in your Heart and Core and tends to stay with you. In my case, around the age of 20, several circumstances including a near fatal car crash, led me to the discovery of Eastern philosophy (especially Buddhism), Insight Meditation and the Chinese martial arts…which all soon became my “passion”. I couldn’t imagine living without these being major elements in my life….and have not subsequently lived without them!
• Finding and trusting your passion. For me, the only way to true, doubtless clarity of heart and mind is through (skillful) meditation. Your “great inspiration” may be ill-founded or perhaps the “real deal”. It’s not easy to recognize the crucial, often subtle, difference. If you do not know what your passion is, then it may take patient, open-ended inquiry.
• Even if you think you know what your passion is, Life’s challenges often cause grave doubt and discouragement. I gave up a “solid and secure” career as a Chartered Accountant to be a mind-body teacher with lesser social status and poor financial prospects, since most of my potential market didn’t understand what I was trying to teach!...I knew that, but did it anyway, paying the conventional costs. My daughter, Hana, gave up her pursuit to be a Medical Doctor (with all that societal kudos) to pursue her passion for Food, not only as sensual gratification but as a way to profound, mind-body Health. My eldest daughter, Shuwen, has pursued her dream to be a Teacher, despite a learning disability that Experts and Psychologists thought would make that impossible. It’s been a long and discouraging (sometimes insulting) slog for her, but she is now qualified to be a primary school Teacher in Canada and America! Shuwei, my middle daughter, has still not fully recognized her passion…which may well be the rare ability to speak to and connect people of disparate backgrounds, from the very highest to the very lowest.
• The expression of your passion may entail changes in detail and manifestation. In late 1984, I launched myself as a traditional teacher of Insight Meditation, Taijiquan, Qigong and the Chinese Internal martial arts. I have had success in the sense of many students and popular, media accolades, but for me, more importantly, several senior students/ teachers who have embodied the mind-body traditions I teach. In 2005, 20 years later, changing circumstances and new inspirations caused me to build and run the off-grid, sustainable energy, Harmony Dawn retreat (www.harmonydawn.com), which demonstrates in a physical and energetic manner, many of the mind-body principles I have been teaching for years.
• A last comment. If you are living a life that is very different from the life you really want to lead – your Passion - it is probably consuming an inordinate and perhaps debilitating amount of your life energy in fundamental Conflict!