What do you yearn for? Our souls yearn for the things that make us most happy. Some of the words that describe yearning is to crave, long for, want very much. What do you really yearn for?
This has changed for me over the years and right now my soul seems to be yearning for time to slow down and let go of constant action and accomplishment. It feels great not to be so scheduled that I can take extra time after a training to stop by a store to check out the deals. Or I can spend extra long conversing with a friend because I’m not rushed to do the next thing.
Often times the work that we do provides us with what our souls are craving for. Or our work can do the exact opposite, it can give us the craving for other work that we hope one day we can do. Whichever the case is for you, take the time to really ask what your spirit is yearning for.
The daily devotional and journal that I’m reading is called God Calling. One of the recent entries shared how God wishes we yearned for Him, just like we yearn to take in fresh air on a beautiful sunny day. This really hits home for me living in MN as we’ve had a streak of “warm weather” (around 40 degrees) and everyone has been outside yearning for the day when all the snow will be melted. Being outside more this week than I have this past month, has created that burning desire for spring to arrive. So the same can be with our spirit. Our spirit inside of us longs to be heard, given a breath of fresh air.
How to listen to your yearnings
So I’ve been trying to breathe more and give my spirit the chance to come alive again. How do you do this you might be asking? I’m trying to figure out the same thing! All I know is that I’m taking the time to slow down, be more quiet and just listen to the yearnings that come my way. So far what I’m hearing is that my spirit is yearning for simple and easy.
One example is the “self love” date that I mentioned I would be checking in on from last week’s entry X is for eXtra special. I craved to have some time for myself doing what I loved in whatever way it unfolded. While my day consisted of volunteering, praying, writing, reading, shopping and connecting with loved ones, I especially enjoyed just spending the day without any expectations or deadlines.
Another example is that I tend to over prepare when it comes to my trainings. I’ll bring a bunch of props, books, and other resources to share. I’ll spend extra time working on my PowerPoint presentations. I’ll time out my agenda to make sure that I cover everything. I’ll get to the training an hour beforehand so I can set up the room and be totally ready before any of my participants arrive.
Listening to my spirit, I was getting the sense to make this training I had today more light and simple. It was telling me that I didn’t need to bring all this extra stuff and take all this extra time to get ready. I just needed to TRUST that I knew this material and to let it unfold as it needed to during the class. So today’s training went great and it felt so easy. I was there only 20 minutes before it started, brought only 4 books/props and only used 2 of them. I remained open to the flow of the class and let the energy of the 32 participants drive where the class should go. I spent more time discussing some aspects than I thought and other times I covered areas I didn’t intend on covering. I had a man who worked at the help desk in my class, so he helped when there was a computer issue and I didn’t have to stress about that. It was so fun, easy and effective. Having had this experience of it being easy and light makes me want to have more of these opportunities. However, when I’ve approached my work like I mentioned before, it was not the case. It felt heavy and a lot of work.
Again, what are you really yearning for? We would love to hear from you!
p.s. I actually thought all week that I would be writing that y is for yielding. Yet when I started writing, I didn’t feel the yearning or ideas flow. Right then, yearning came to me and I started writing about that. It can be that easy, if you take the time to go within so you can let your spirit guide the way.
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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.
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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.