Photo by scfiasco

Over at Awake at the Wheel this morning, writer Jonathan Fields has an excellent post on the topic of intentional living. He quotes Harold Whitman’s famous line, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I couldn’t agree more.

In fact, chasing the desires of your heart is a huge component of my coaching philosophy. Living an Xtreme Life means pursuing the things that make you come alive and therefore enjoying life to its fullest, rather than wandering through each day without direction or purpose and ending up wondering why life isn’t more satisfying.

Sure, we all want more money, a better house, greater resources for our kids, but none of those things can give us the satisfaction that we crave deep down inside. There has been considerable research lately that supports the basic premise of Fields’ essay – that only by doing what we love can we find the satisfaction and enjoyment of life that we seek on a daily basis. Figure out what you love to do and then make decide how to make money doing it, not the other way around.

Jonathan asks his readers a question I often ask my coaching clients – what makes you come alive? What captivates you? What can make you forget about the world around you, can grab every ounce of your attention?

I did this exercise myself recently. I divided it into the activities I like to do and the subjects I love to get involved in. (Jonathan breaks them into activities/processes and topics/content – call it what you want.)

Here’s my list:

Activities: writing, creating, singing, music, dance, the outdoors, public speaking and teaching, coaching

Subjects: writing, faith, intentional living, coaching, animals (especially wolves), nature in general, myths and legends

So, what makes you come alive? What fires you up? And how you can incorporate more of that in your life?

Feel free to share you answers in the comments section…