Last week I saw an ad about an evening lecture at our local food co-op. It was called “Collaging Your Top Five Passions!” and it was being offered by Belle, Sharry Teague, and Sheila Filan. I wasn’t able to attend the evening, but I was inspired to do the things on my own, so I wrote out my top five passions and a list of 10 simple statements beginning, “When life is ideal I am…” And then I made this collage to reflect what I had written. A few days later I googled “The Passion Test” and took the Passion Test Profile Questionnaire, which was really fun and revealing. (The Passion Test by visionaries Chris Attwood and Janet Bray Attwood.)

I’ll share what I wrote, and maybe you will be inspired to do a bit of writing yourself… If so, please feel free to share your passions in the comments section below this article!

Teja’s Top Five Passions

1. Vegan Organic Food

2. Chanting the Names and other sadhana (spiritual practices), and leading sadhana circles

3. Barefoot dancing on the earth to live drumming by a Fire burning ~ healing self, earth, stars, and worlds through that magic

4. Reiki healing to self, to others, to this Sacred Earth, and to all the beings in all the worlds (including the space beings!)

5. Teja Blogging (including creative photographing)

Teja’s Ten Statements of an ideal life

1. When life is ideal, I am comfortably warm/hot – i.e. the weather is at least 85 degrees.

2. When life is ideal, I am reading and writing creatively each day. (Teja Blog!)

3. When life is ideal, I am exercizing each day.

4. When life is ideal, I am shipping out hundreds or even thousands of books each week.

5. When life is ideal, I am invited regularly to lead Radiance Rising Retreats all over the country and world.

6. When life is ideal, I am managing a vegan café with healing arts studio: educating people about vegan diets and giving Reiki energy healing sessions.

7. When life is ideal, I am leading Radiance Rising Circles in a variety of settings, with different groups. (i.e., at-risk youths, veterans, prisoners.)

8. When life is ideal, I am traveling away from Ashland frequently.

9. When life is ideal, I am chanting the Names daily with my harmonium.

10. When life is ideal, I am spending a lot of healing time on Maui (i.e. this December! ~ attending the retreat with Ram Dass and Krishna Das!)

With so much Gratitude for this process of collaging my passions, I send Reiki healing energies out to all the beings in all the worlds.

May all beings experience the healing energies that come from intimately knowing and living their passions.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s passions collage taken by Teja Shankara. Images used in collage are by unknown artists. My apologies for not being able to give them credit here. (The exceptions to that not-knowing are: photo of veggies taken by Teja Shankara, and images from Teja’s business card – the card was designed by Gaelyn Larrick.)