Do you know what ignites your passion? In this episode you will discover what sets the soul on fire! What would happen if you were to listen and allow your passion to take the wheel?
About the Host:
Jani Roberts is the Owner of Alignment Essentials, a health and wellness company spanning the fitness, self-improvement, and mindfulness spaces. She is the creator of the Warrior® Workout, Moving Meditations™, Inspirational Conversations™ and all of the Alignment Essentials programming content. In addition, Jani is an International best-selling author of the book, Navigating the Clickety-Clack, How to Live a Peace-Filled Life in a Seemingly Toxic World.
Jani has over 40 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She owned and operated a large gym franchise in Florida, as well as a boutique studio for several years where she specialized in health and wellness related services, products, preventative health education, personal training, small group fitness classes, private nutrition and health coaching.
She has literally trained hundreds of thousands of instructors around the world, and she was the featured choreographer and performer on numerous training DVDs. She has presented for dozens of large Health and Wellness brands such Nike, and Adidas. She holds several certifications through ACE, AFAA and NASM.
Jani travels extensively as a speaker and presenter sharing her Alignment Essentials wellness tools and helping people find more joy in their lives and is currently training at the Shamanic Institute of Healing.
Thanks for listening!
Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.
Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!
Subscribe to the podcast
If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.
Leave us an Apple Podcasts review
Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.
What? Life isn't supposed to suck. Get out of here. Life is supposed to be good for me? I don't think so. Truth? Did you know that you have the power to create your own reality? True? Did you know that you can live the life that you've always desired? Holy? That's right. And that's why we're here. Are you ready? Unless you're on Joy overload, you've come to the right place, it's time to get out of your own way and start creating more of what you want, and less of what you don't end up with the excuses. I'm your host, Jani Roberts, let's do this.
Jani Roberts:Welcome back, everybody, happy to be here, looking forward to this time that we're going to have together really excited about what's happening as we move into this time of year. You could be listening to this at any time, but right now we're in spring. And it just ignites everything the fire in my soul is rockin How about you just getting outside, fresh air, cut grass, all of it good stuff. And it really boosted my energy. And it's, I feel more enthusiastic. There's that feeling of excitement that happens. Maybe I'm tapping into my childhood there. Who knows. But it's just that feeling of something new. Feels good. Feels really good. And I started to think about passion. And what I'm passionate about doing, who I'm passionate about being around. Yeah, what makes me and those gastic? What, what fires me up. And you know, these days, it doesn't take much. A little bit of love goes a whole long way. But, you know, it's a tricky thing. Sometimes people will say, what's your passion in life? And I don't know, I've talked about that myself. But I at this point, my life, I find it kind of funny. Because I'm just passionate about life, not just I am passionate about life. And that's enough, passionate about just the experience, and how I can max it out, I can really get everything out of it in a really balanced way. Not too much. Not too little, little, just just right there in that sweet spot. Yep. So you know, having a whole romance with life itself, how does that sound to you? I used to be pissed off at it a lot. And I used to be frustrated with it a lot. So for me, it feels really, really good. You know, the Latin verb, it means to suffer or to endure. And it also reflects having patients. That doesn't sound like a lot of fun. To me, that sounds like a lot of work. And I know life takes effort. You know, don't get me wrong. We talk about this all the time, but it shouldn't be a struggle. I'm not going for it. And, again, are we going to do some of that? Yes. But if I'm doing it most of the time, I'm not cool with that, are you? I would say hell no, I don't think so. Most of the time, we want to be in a good feeling place. Feeling really passionate about our lives and, and what we're doing with our time here, it's really, really fun. Knowing that we're never gonna get it done. That's one of our big teachings in our course, is like, you know, you can't get it wrong and never gonna get it done. It's like when you start learning about anything you realize, the more you learn, the less you know, it just keeps expanding. To me, that's the best part. That's the juicy part. So we've got a lot of passion around a lot of different things, don't we? Maybe take a minute and jot down for yourself, what are you most passionate about? Give me your top five. And if you are using your phone or you've got a pen and paper, whatever. And you you have to take a really long pause.
Jani Roberts:This is a good podcast for you to listen to. I'm thinking right? You attracted this because if it takes you a long time to think of anything that you're passionate about, there's a big gap there. Yeah, it's time to have some fun. It's time to relax and enjoy more. Kick this chest to the curb. For sure. So we think about passion we think about love, right? Let's say we're talking about the love between a mother and a child. Passion has no role in that relationship. I don't know. See, we have a very interesting definition of passion. We all do. We all have our own version. So you can be really passionate about being a mom. Absolutely. And you could not be absolutely, it's not for everybody. Yeah, it's kind of a hard job, isn't it? And we like to think of added from the ad perspective is we think of it as generating passion for us. So if I have a really healthy relationship with my mom, and she's passionate about her life, that's going to generate some passion for me. And it might even generate passion for me about being a mom. Because my mom is basically a content and happy mom bumps in the road, we know. But mostly, that's what I'm experiencing. If that's not what I experienced as a child, if it was the opposite, then that's going to be tricky, right, there's going to be some unlearning to do, they're for sure. So go ahead, do that. Jot that down 2345 things. And if they come really easily, you have a lot to be grateful for. Yeah, sit in appreciation with those things. For a few moments, smile, feel it, love it, experience it, be in it, be in your now with it. And if you're on the other side of that, and that paper is blank, you just can't can't really think of anything right now. That's just where you are in your life. Just know, we've all been there. All the time. We're going through it all the time, nobody's alone in that. Sometimes we've got to just sift and sort right and try a lot of different things before we know before we can figure out what direction it is that we want to go, you know, move toward, this is really key. And we've got to be chill about it just got to relax a little bit. That relaxation part can be tricky, too. So, you know, a lot of people would say, this idea that I could generate passion or feeling of just enthusiasm for myself to another human being. Some could say that's ridiculous, you have to create that for yourself. But I would say hey, how about when you go to a concert, and you're sitting there, and those entertainers are so passionate about what they're doing. And you're not necessarily that passionate about what they're doing. But it is just bringing you so much joy and enthusiasm and you find yourself being inspired, right being just not I want to say motivated, because that's a tricky word. But being in love, being in love with the energy of that music or performance, whatever it might be. That's, that's magical. And that, of course, is why we're drawn to that. Because we feel so good in it. It's awakening us to what we are passionate about. So let's say for example, I don't consider myself an artist, I could still think about what really brings me joy that I do, what my gift is. And if I don't know yet what that gift is, or I feel like my gift. I'm burned out on one and I'm looking at a new one. That's cool, because this is going to generate stimulate inspiration. And you can tap into that energy and allow that passion to ignite within you. Yeah, really, really fun. Really fun. Some people may think that leaning too far into passion, can lead to obsession. It's interesting, interesting perspective, possibly guess to some degree, it depends on your personality, what kind of vibe you carry.
Jani Roberts:Some people feel like when you bring that word up, they're just banging their head against the wall with that. But I think that we could all agree that passion is essential. Otherwise, why would we be banging our head against the wall. But we don't need to feel as though Hey, I don't have anything that I just live for die for eat, breathe, sleep it all day long all the time. I don't have that doesn't mean we don't have any passion. It just looks very different for each of us. I think most of us go through periods of time where we're very passionate about certain things, it moves around, but it is definitely connected to what drives us to manifest what we want to manifest our skills, discover our talents, whether it be gardening or being a parent, or, you know, being a realtor, being whatever, activist, you know, whatever it is that really it ignites that within us. I know you know what I'm talking about. And again, if you haven't experienced that, you may feel a pull toward it. Or you may feel Hey, you know what, I'm really passionate about being slow and steady in my life. I'm really passionate about being chill, and not getting too wrapped up in any one thing. That too is passion. So we just want to be cautious, right? We don't want to be stepping into other people's expectation. Well, you don't have a career you're not career minded. It, like what are you doing with your life kind of bullshit. That's really nobody else's business. That's our business. It really is everybody's got to find their own way. Right, make their own way. And it's our each of us have that individual journey. So let's take a look at harmonious passion. This is what's considered a good type. You know, it's in its most distinctive feature, good type of passion that you know, whatever you're passionate about, it's because you believe in the having of it, it will bring you more joy, and you don't feel conflicted at all about what you're doing. It's something that you, you just simply desire it, the activity that you're engaged in is, is really healthy for you. It's, it's really connected to who you are on a soul level. And every time you engage in that activity, it's something that makes you feel really, really good about yourself. It's like a wow moment, every time. And you you can feel that alignment, right, when you're in that activity, that that is just really juicy. That is really good feeling. Whereas when we get into, well, let's back up a second, just sit it back, because that was just yummy. That that whole vibe, right? So again, if you're, if you're listening to this podcast, you know, like, I just don't, I don't have any of that. I dare you to really reflect on your joyful moments throughout the day, where they sit, we all go through periods of time where we don't have a lot of that. But when you do have, when did they happen? Maybe when you're with your kids, maybe when you're not with your kids, I have no judgment around that we all need our time alone. Maybe it's when you're playing your guitar, you pick you know, you pick up whatever instrument it is you love. Take a seat at the piano. You chill as you sit outside and enjoy Mother Earth and do whatever you do, right? Create something, just take it all in. We've talked about the really big job of doing nothing and how important doing nothing is and how doing absolutely nothing is absolutely doing something. The most important, something quieting that mind, okay. And then we've got that obsessive passion. And this would be referred to as not such a healthy alternative. This is where we get obsessive. Alright, it's really just about achievement, perhaps about other people seeing us that idea of recognition. And don't get me wrong, we all enjoy recognition. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? We just want it to be healthy, like it to feel good and not become obsessed about that. Yeah, because with this obsessive, obsessive passion, it's, it's like proving yourself, you know, or proving to either other people or to you. It's not necessarily about the pleasure of the moment.
Jani Roberts:Or it's all about what is going to get you in as that thing you want. So maybe you're still in that mode of I can't be happy until I have the fill in the blank. Car relationship home. Second home third home fifth car, I don't know, you know, you just can't. I can't get no satisfaction kind of thing here. Right? So when we get really obsessive like that, it's um, I just, I'm feeling empty. I'm feeling like there's something missing, there's a piece of me that it's just not content. So it's more of an uncontrollable, obsessed obsession. I don't want to say it's an uncontrollable obsession. I was gonna say, obsessive process, but it really isn't a process. It's instant. It happens quickly. I want more. I want more. I want more. I want more. Yeah. And if I don't get it, I'm pissed. And then I become even more obsessed to get it. So what do you do with that? Especially when you can't let go of it? And maybe you feel like if you don't prove it to yourself, then you're not going to be able to get you know further. And you're trying to climb that ladder. Back in the day we used to call it you know, climbing the corporate ladder. I think a lot of people have since tried to jump off that ladder but you get you get what I'm saying doubts creeping in. Fear creeping in. Yeah, can't relax, can enjoy. Can't go on holiday. Got to stay here. Gotta work harder. Gotta get it done. Gotta make it happen. Yeah, I'm obsessed. So have you ever been a workaholic or whatever how Like relationship a Holic certification education, oh, like, whatever have you. I definitely think I have. I didn't know it at the time, I didn't realize that I was missing the ride, I was missing so much that was so much greater than I realized. Because I was just obsessed with my work. I loved it that much, I really did. And I enjoyed it. But I was definitely out of balance. And that's what we're talking about here finding that happy medium. That's where the contentment comes in. That's where we ease out of that obsession. And into that relaxed, really harmonious feeling of passion. Where you just You're so chill, so chill. How many people have you known, that are completely obsessed with a relationship, a job, what have you and they can't function socially? You never see them out. You never see them doing anything that's fun or relaxing. Or they just make shit up and post it. And you know, it's not real. Because you know, they're working 24/7 or doing whatever it is that they do. These are addictions, right? Passion and addiction. Hmm. How far is that gap between those two emotions? It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. So whether it's career, or hobby, whether it's connected to survival, like you know, paying your bills, or survival, like enjoying your life, we got to find some balance around our passion. In Chi Gong, they talk about having too much desire in your life. And how that doesn't go well how we can burn ourselves out. This Dow is philosophy of too much of anything is not good, is very interesting. Because we can get so overly excited about something that we just can't take a breath, not even long enough to enjoy it. I mean, I've definitely experienced times in my life where everything technically financially workwise was going so well. But I had no life. Trying to squeeze a vacation in was really hard. And it was never long enough, I would never gave myself the time that I really needed to rebalance, right, to get that in young imbalance, so that I could be more productive and be more present, be in a better place feel more harmonious in my life.
Jani Roberts:We need to think about this. It's really important. Sometimes artists feel like their way on the other side, where they care so little about money or how they live or they just have to paint. I mentioned this a bit earlier. And if you can imagine that, if you've never been in it, it feels as though you're being tortured. I can definitely attest to that. It's really uncomfortable. Really, really uncomfortable. I think it's why a lot a lot of artists leave early, right, they transition out early, they just like this has been awesome. Peace out. I can't handle it's just too intense. I don't know. But I think it's possible. And then, you know, if something goes wrong, and we're in that obsessive mode, we lose it, right, like physically. And it can start to affect us on a cellular level. We're really beating ourselves up for a lot of different perspectives just coming at ourselves. And there's a lot of pressure when we do that. We're bringing a lot of it on ourselves. But you know, sometimes when we are in a work environment, and we don't necessarily own it, or even if we do, the more we do, the more people expect, right? I met this quota Oh, then you could do a higher quota. Well, that was high enough. You know, I'd like to have a break. No, you did that you can do more. I know. I can see you're competitive. And it just, it's like a domino effect. It's, it's a little nuts. It's a little nuts. So let's take a deep breath. And let's revisit our passion. What is it all about guys? What is it all about for you? It's important to know this, because this is a short ride. One minute we're here One minute we're not. Are we having a good time? Most of the time? I don't know You tell me. I've been to When the work, I'm definitely feeling way more joy than anything else these days. So, so far, so good. And I know if I keep doing the work, it works. So I'm in, I'm in. I can't unknow what I know now, right? I'm not gonna go back there. But I'm over here. And I got no judgment about back there. It was all good. It was divine, as it should be. So I could figure it out. How about you? What do you think? If you're really empty minded here, if you're like, Man, I don't even know I don't think I've ever been passionate about anything except my family. Well, that's, you know, that's a big deal. We're not going to play that down. Relationships are everything. But maybe it's time to make a list about what really gets you excited. Forget about how much education or experience you have around it, just look at it, write it down and feel it, let's say, playing basketball. I did it when I was in high school. I loved it. Every time I think about it, it's fun. So what's stopping you from shooting some hoops every night, or a couple times a week even. Here's the deal. You want to stimulate things that you at one time felt passionate about, because that's going to create momentum. And it's going to help to really unveil the possibilities of things to be passionate about now. Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. But you know, I used to ride horses. It was so cool. I felt so free and I loved being in the woods. Just start doing things randomly. Whatever it was, I went to school for this I didn't like it then I wonder now maybe I should have coulda woulda just to get a little bit doesn't mean you have to switch careers. All of this right is going to stimulate it. And sometimes we get so in our heads. I don't have time. I can't I can't I'll suck at it now and I wasn't really that good at it, then bla bla bla bla, get out of your head. Right get into your heart. That's where all the passion comes from. Anyway, you've got this, you know, no one brings the energy to the planet. You do no one, no one has the gifts you do and no one can do the things that you can do. And that's just the bottom line. DNA man. No one. So why not check it out? Why don't take a look. Get more into your now is worth it. You're worth it. I want to know what you're doing. I want to know what you're stirring up. I want to know where your passion lies. Put it out there, share it with the world. It makes a difference. We're waiting for you. And with that I'm out this week guys. Be passionate throughout the week. I look forward to seeing you next time. Take care much love peace.