Love is … simple!

A large amount of discussion in entrepreneur and business groups has been around the subject of love and passion in the workplace for what we do. Whilst I understand this is a very subjective matter, exactly what is love and how do we apply passion to our thinking and execute this in our daily work and everyday lives?

There simply is not a one-size-fits-all formula for discovering what you’re passionate about and then transitioning to a new or existing career. That being said, I have learned a few things about doing what you love for work—and this was the précis for my book Freedom After The Sharks.

I decided to interview a love expert and special friend in the subject matter, Jo March, and author of Love is Simple. After several cups of tea at the Terrace Room at The Meridian Hotel in Piccadilly – London, and much discussion sharing past and present experiences, Jo explained:

Why people should live in love and why we are not communicating and forging meaningful and unconditional relationships, love is simple right…?

Love is simple when we understand the true meaning of unconditional love. The kind of love that transforms and transcends us as human beings to a higher level of consciousness, in those moments when we truly love, we become alive, we feel passion, we feel life in every breath. Love is life, at the core of everything we do on this life path it is love that is the driving force.

I believe we are not forming unconditional relationships because of the environment we live in, the world of technology, the fast paced, instant access, immediate response world, we receive things immediately, therefore we expect everything instantly, we are conditioned to having it all “now”.

As with the greatest things in life, the magic only happens when things are given time to breathe, when thoughts are clear, when the mind is at peace. It is only in this environment that unconditional love can flourish. The magic ingredient to unconditional love is finding peace within your own mind; for when your mind is at peace others will be at peace. It is with this level of peace that bliss exists.

Listen to what your relationships are telling you: love and listening go hand in hand. To love unconditionally you must have the ability to listen to what another person is asking of you; not listening to what your emotions and desires are telling you, but really listening to what that person is asking of you. When we listen to what another requires above our own needs then we create trust, and we create understanding; when we understand things, the fear goes away. It is only then can we become selfless, allowing the time for love to flourish unconditionally.

For love is simple… if you just listen…

Jo’s interview was invaluable and if made me think of 3 very valuable points around love in the workplace and in key relationships:

1: Do what you love and the money will follow.

If there’s one thing that holds us back from pursuing our passions, it’s the fear of not being able to take care of ourselves. It’s what keeps us in unfulfilling jobs: the guaranteed salary that’s enough.

But this ignores the fact that succeeding in anything requires a great deal of work and uncertainty. Risk is always part of the equation. For everyone who has made a good living doing something they enjoy, there are countless other equally talented people who were not able to do it.

This does not mean we should not pursue our passions; it just means we’re more apt to feel satisfied doing it if we define success in terms beyond financial gain. That might mean we need to live on less. It might mean we need to balance our passion with other work.

Do what you love and enjoyment will follow. Do what you love and you will feel more fulfilled. Do what you love and the money will seem less relevant. These things I have found are true.

2: Leap and the net will appear.

Fear can be too much to  make a leap, especially when you have no idea where you’ll land or how. A lot of us get caught in the planning stage because we want to know with absolute certainty we won’t make a mistake we’ll one day regret.

So we wait, we gather information, we imagine all possible outcomes and plan to avoid negative ones, and generally anchor ourselves with good intentions that, sometimes, never lead to action.

Confidence is that we need to have faith that we won’t fall flat on our faces. But the reality is that we sometimes we will.

What’s important to realise is that we are strong enough to get back up if this happens, and we can do it knowing that every fall is valuable. Every time a net does not appear, we learn a little more about how to weave one for ourselves. We also learn to be comfortable in the drop, which, if we’re honest, is where we always live. Life is uncertain, whether we take large risks or not.

It’s not just the leaps that dictate our success; it’s our capacity for soaring through the unknown, and our willingness to learn from the landing.

3: Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

With any job or business, you often need to do things you would not choose to do.

But that’s not the only reason doing what you love can feel like work. There’s also the inevitability that most tasks feel different when they become things we need to do to earn. When the monetary compensation increases, suddenly the money becomes the motivation, and as a result, it feels less enjoyable.

I suspect this comes down to freedom: we tend to best enjoy the things we feel we’re doing entirely by choice. Since work, in any form, requires commitment that supersedes our moment-to-moment whims, we need to know going in that even the most enjoyable paths will have their ups and downs.

History has proven this is not universally true. Some of the most passionate, successful people are those who have sacrificed many of their needs to push toward one all-encompassing goal.

We all have different advantages, some based on good fortune and some based on choices we have previously made. We can only ever start from where we are. If we have the strength to play our hands, instead of questioning why we don’t hold different cards, then we can decide at any time to work toward doing what we love.

The important thing is to remember that so much is still possible. We all deserve to enjoy the way we spend our days. If we’re willing to dream, work hard, learn, and navigate uncertainty, we all have the potential to do it.

Jo’s book Love is Simple is available on Amazon.