Can you love a good party and be spiritual to boot?

Hey Kat, welcome on board Biznik.Have a eventful and productive time here on Biznik...

Hi Kat:

I live right near the old Cat's Eye cafe and have seen what you have done to the place. Welcome to Biznik. It is a terrific place to network.

i've noticed that by the time many ideas of merit hit the main stream..they become like Budweiser..once a famous style of Pilsner with incredible hops..now a bland piss flavored, water down, substance i won't even call beer..

it's up to us as indies to love what we do passionately enough to manifest our passion to others. that way we can give them the real thing..

that's the advantage we have over the big conglomerates.. we can deliver the real deal and come lots closer to satisfying said hunger..course, a real challenge we have is getting others in our culture to slow down and fully appreciate what we are offering..we have to encourage them to savor it.

Hi Kat. I wonder how much of marketing to people's deeper thirsts has to do with being able to answer whether we can be successful in business, love parties, find the connections we're looking for, make time for savoring the "real deal", and increase one's sense of integrity-in-freedom?? I think it all fits just fine.

Seems like a lot of monastery/convent based spirituality has a strong focus on purity and renunciation and serenity. While that's great for the type of folks most attracted to it, it seems to me that almost everyone is interested in inspiration--some people find their inspiration in serenity, some don't or just aren't able to feel it saliently and profoundly without a great deal of support or development.

As people really develop a consistent sense of their own inspiration--"as indies [who] love what we do passionately enough to manifest our passion to others" in Justin's words--familiarity with inspiration seems to create the conscious space for a more open or subtle appreciation of serenity-as-spirituality. As a point of focus or emphasis before subtlety, playfulness may come first for most people, then developing a sense of meaningful vocation and relating, then maybe serenity too. The serenity may be available right from the beginning, but people's tastes develop, yeah? I think we learn to play to people's thirsts by developing all of ours. Who doesn't like to dance? (I can't say I know any neo-tantrics, though.)

Justin hit an important point I think. How do we bring passion into it? That sense of personally connected meaning counts--otherwise the spirituality doesn't have much guts or character, and it ends up not being as inspiring as it truly can be even if it is genuinely venerable or pure.

I don't know that we need to or do create the passion, but you may mean something specific and different with third chakra fire? (I think my answer fits chakra language, but it's maybe a little nonspecific.)

For me personally, I'm at a point in my life where appreciation, socializing, and developing a balanced and clear sense of myself as a professional is important. So I'm working on how beginning a business fits with a good romantic relationship instead of just stealing time away. I'd think that freeing and applying this passion is similar to integrating different chakras as well as differentiating and crystallizing my appreciation for each unique type of energy represented by different chakras or different people I know or different pursuits I enjoy.

In coaching situations, it involves a lot of laughter and an initial sense of humility. (Sorry for talking about humility--it often seems stupid and falsely proud to do so) How does my passion and expertise apply to a client's experience? Part of appreciating my self, history, and limitations seems to involve highlighting client's strengths and aspirations, then building. That does two things. It increases or highlights a client's sense of "personal competence" and value while allowing the two of us to avoid walking over and over ground they have already covered well.

Rather than trying to create or increase passion, for me, it's about uncovering passion and directing it in an intentional way. Quality over quantity. Sometimes that means I think about and choose what I want to happen, and sometimes I intend to go with or relax into whatever flow is right there. I like being mindful intentionally, getting mindfulness to stream, but some clients just want to remove obvious obstacles and go about their lives. That's cool. We're more fun to be around when we're happy. Some people don't really want to connect it all together, they're just more there in the moment without effort. I like the differences. I like what connecting it all allows, too, so I do a lot of mental work other people find unpleasant. (Am I giving long, abstract answers that aren't as salient as stories?)

The short answer is that I recognize the more transcendent possibilities without trying to prefer them or push them across. Ha, ha, ha! I still probably deal more in the transcendent stuff than in partying! But I recognize a bad beer when I run into one.