What makes my heart sing? One thing that took me by surprise this afternoon, was hearing out of the blue from a very dear friend who still lives in Münster, NordRhein-Westfalen in Germany, where we both met whilst working back in 2009. Bless them, she messaged me as soon as she heard Melbourne was about to go into our 3rd Lockdown, and they wanted to see how I am. All of this whilst walking through the heavy snowfall on their way to work as the can’t get to their car.
True friendship has no time or location barriers. When I can eventually travel back to Münster, we will meet up again.
The frog mosaic in the picture at the top, is located at the lakes close to where I used to live. Walking around those lakes in the evening after work, made my heart sing during a very unhappy toxic period in my life. When this lockdown is over, I think I might make a trip back to those lakes after work to visit the place that once gave me so much comfort.
People commented this time last year, that I used the phrase “what makes your heart sing” when describing the things/actions that bring joy & happiness to your life.
In line with the theme of love & a certain celebration (that you may or may not partake in this weekend), why not make some time for self care & reflection, to think about what brings you joy & happiness in your career management (this includes our work and all other life roles). Having a strong sense of self-clarity / self-identity is important for life long career management.
Activities:
I’ve listed below some questions & activities that may help you reflect on ‘what makes your heart sing’
* Make a mural/collage board of what/who makes your heart sing (I’ll be working on this during lockdown)
* List 3 things that attracted you to your current role
* How do you currently enjoy yourself at work?
* Who have you, or do you really love working with?
* What qualities do these people have?
* Which of your qualities do you most enjoy using?
* Make a list of values you identify in your current role. Sort this list into the following columns: Love / Like / Tolerate / Dislike or Hate
* How do these values align with your personal values? Take it one step further & repeat for previous roles. Do you see a pattern of values appearing?
Are there other questions or activities people use to help identify what makes their heart sing?
These could also be adapted to use in other parts of your life
Identifying what makes your heart sing, can help to further develop and sustain actionable Hope during these challenging times.
At times like this I think of the words from Rogers & Hammerstein’s song ‘Cockeyed Optimist’ from South Pacific
‘When the skies are brighter canary yellow
I forget ev’ry cloud I’ve ever seen,
So they called me a cockeyed optimist
Immature and incurably green.
. . . . .
But I’m stuck like a dope
With a thing called hope,
And I can’t get it out of my heart!’
Have a great day x
Holistic Career Development Coaching 
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