“When you are grateful – when you can see what you have – you unlock blessings to flow in your life.”
Suze Orman.
Have you ever lost track of time? When did that happen? What were you doing? Digging into these questions will tell you more about yourself. These personal journal prompts can make you think and identify your personal interests and help you learn more about yourself.
Why would someone want to know about that, anyway? It has to do with the flow. You may say someone is flowing (in the zone) when they lose track of time. For them, only what they have at hand exists. While in that state of being, we are present, fully alive, and connected.
Most of the time, people feel flow during a hobby. So, to feel the flow, you must do something you like. To be more specific, the actions have to align with your inner reality or, in other words, function as a means to express who you are.
Someone with a cheerful personality will enjoy meeting with friends more than listening to a conference on ethics. Indeed, there’s some alignment between activities you like in your free time and your personal traits.
How can that be possible? And how can you use this information to strengthen relationships in other aspects of your life? To answer these questions, you want to explore how your hobbies can add to your personal development.
Hobbies and personal development
When we listen to the word hobby, we immediately think about fun experiences, whereas work suggests tedious activities. “But that’s not true for everyone”, I hear. Indeed, you may enjoy spending a lot of time on your work or personal project.
What’s the difference between both cases? When you do activities that let you express who you are, you engage naturally with them. You feel the “I can’t get enough of this” sensation.
For someone in a tiresome job, hobbies become an escape to relieve stress and spend a good time with loved ones. Experiencing this situation also tells a lot about what you like/dislike. It can help you understand what brings you joy and help evaluate life changes.
If you enjoy your working time, you can tell you are speaking out your heart. In this case, your challenge will be balancing time. You also want to spend it with your loved ones.
Whatever the situation, thinking about your hobbies or personal interests brings you opportunities for personal development. When you consider a new hobby, you want to find the time for it.
As a result, you have to think about your schedule and, hopefully, think about how you feel about doing them or not.
Why do people follow hobbies?
Because they want, they can, or someone told them so. Most people with a hobby don’t even know they have a hobby. They did it once, felt good, and repeated it until it became a habit.
Some might have read about hobbies on the web, or a friend suggested they participate together in an activity. No matter how we start it, a particular activity becomes a hobby when such an action makes you feel great. You want to feel that way again, so you repeat it.
The good feelings coming from hobbies come from the expression of the inner reality. When we do something connected to our heart, we get surrounded by a sort of capsule where time stops. The bliss you feel while experiencing this can’t be described in words.
That can happen at any time with a wide of activities. Some people have felt this while contemplating the sky, reading, crafting, knitting, and other activities.
Then, why do people follow hobbies? To express themselves, speak their heart, and show who they are. Since you air your inner self through hobbies, paying attention to the activities you usually do will tell you more about yourself. Personal journal prompts help to explore them.
Personal journal prompts
Why do we like/dislike certain things over others? Each of us comes with an exclusive scale of values we use to choose the activities we engage with or the experiences we look forward to.
Explore yours and think about how they describe you by using these questions:
- What activities do I usually do to move away from an unpleasant emotion?
- What simple activities bring joy to my life?
- What are my favorite hobbies? What does that say about me?
- Which situations make me feel relaxed and tuned?
- What aspects of my life satisfy me?
- What objects or places do I like? Why is that? Which personal traits am I mirroring in those objects or places?
- What parts of my life am I surprised by the most? Why?
- What advice would I share with my younger self? What advice would I want to receive from my future self?
- What do I do when I feel discouraged?
- What actions am I willing to accomplish for excellence?
- Which are the main three obstacles preventing me from reaching my personal goals?
- Do my goals reflect my deepest desires in life?
- What quick actions can get my personal project started?
Final words
Certainly, expressing who you are is the only way to experience the flow in life. While some people get it from hobbies, others create a business around what they enjoy and love. Getting there may seem like a long journey, but it is a highly rewarding experience. If you want to understand how you can tap into the transformative power of your gifts, that is, connect with your inner self and use that connection as a drive to create a business, join me in a complimentary call to discuss this, or send me a message.