Sailing. Reading. Biking. Sewing. Cooking. Singing. Golfing. Everyone has something other than work and tending to home responsibilities that they love to do. nnThink of your favorite pastime, but not quickly—slow down and really put yourself in the moment of teeing off on an ideal course, or hitting that high note, or adding just the right touch of oregano. nnAre you there? Do you feel the rush of endorphins flooding your system as you imagine doing something that brings you joy? If you’re like me, you lose track of time, you wish the experience would go on forever, and you have the feeling that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be.nnThere’s a reason for this feeling of contentment that accompanies participating in your hobby. It’s an amazing secret that your pastime has been keeping for you.nnHow I Learned My Pastime’s SecretnnIn 1994 I left my corporate job to enter the freelance jungle. I tried several different things. I succeeded at a few and I failed at a few before landing in the coaching profession in 1997. My business started off with a bang, and I was satisfied with my career choice. It allowed me to use almost all of my skills and talents. It provided me with my social circle. It met all of my needs. I couldn’t have chosen something more perfect.nnBut there was a problem. I had this little niggling in the back of my mind. nn“Isn’t there more?” a disembodied voice would ask.nnOn more than one occasion I investigated the question. I took career assessments, discussed options with my coach, changed my target market, added new products, and even took some side jobs to “try on” a different profession. No matter what I did to change the way I made my income, the voice kept asking the same question.nnAfter a few years I just stopped listening. I was happy as a coach.nnThen something profound happened. I belonged to a writing critique group of four women, and we had traveled to several conferences together and had even held our own retreat. At these events we had taken pictures. I decided that a nice gift would be to make a scrapbook for each person. Since I’d never scrapbooked in my life, I’m not even sure where the idea came from, but it sounded like a good one.nnAlthough my parents owned two art galleries when I was growing up and I had minored in art in college, I hadn’t spent any time in my adult life doing art that wasn’t on the computer as part of my short-lived job as a graphic designer. However, I knew the hiatus from creating with my hands and using my artistic talent was over when I spent three plus hours in the craft store selecting the items I needed and oohing and aaahing over many others. If asked, I would’ve sworn I’d been there less than an hour. I emerged feeling refreshed. nnOver the next three months I spent every available moment working on the scrapbooks. I hadn’t realized what I was getting into when I decided to create not one, but four identical scrapbooks. It was a lot of work, and I loved every minute of it.nnSomething else happened also. The voice was silent.nnWhen I had completed the gift-making project, I felt a little sadness that I wouldn’t be scrapbooking anymore, but I shoved that feeling aside and returned to my rewarding coaching work of helping other people. I even used my creativity to design a new logo.nn“Isn’t there more?” the voice asked. It was back. And it wanted to tell me the secret.nnI semi-ignored the incessant questioning for a few months, until one day, while journaling, I realized the voice had disappeared during the time I was scrapbooking. This phenomenon fascinated me. Scrapbooking wasn’t something I could do to make a living. It was a hobby—a pastime, like golf or hiking or writing poetry.nnThat was when the secret was revealed to me. nnPastimes stem from your values, and therefore pursuing them reconnects you with your innermost self and brings you fulfillment. The question “is there more?” was really asking “is there more than just feeling satisfied?” The answer is yes—there is feeling fulfilled.nnMy career provides huge amounts of satisfaction, and the pastime provides fulfillment. They are both necessary for living a balanced life. I now spend at least one full day a week scrapbooking, and I’m voice-free.nnNeeds and ValuesnnEveryone has a set of core needs and core values within them. All humans share Maslov’s hierarchy of needs for food, water, and shelter, but after that, everyone has a set of core emotional needs unique to him or her. Psychologists usually connect these items back to needs that weren’t met during the formative stages. They can include things like attention, acknowledgment, safety, security, and guarantees. Most people choose partners or careers that meet these needs.nnYour personal core values are different from cultural, religious, or even family values, although there can be some crossover. These three to five primary values per person are items you must have in your life in order to feel fulfilled. You can have what you want and need but still not feel fulfilled because your values aren’t represented strongly enough in your life.nnValues can be anything from accomplishment and control to teaching and serenity. They are unique from individual to individual.nHearing Your SecretnnTo determine what values reside in your pastime, you’ll need to explore why you enjoy it. For me, scrapbooking is about interacting kinesthetically and bringing many different components—the photographs, title, frames, paper, embellishments, journaling—into a cohesive and attractive creation. Therefore creation, collaboration, beauty, building, designing, and assembling could all be possible values revealed by my hobby.nnWhen I read the list aloud, two stand out: creating and designing. Since I have the ability to be creative in my career and creativity is a trait I possess, I determined that designing is the value that is revealed by my love of scrapbooking. I confirmed this by recalling other times I was able to design and how I felt. A few years ago, when I was designing the interior for my home, I felt the same sense of fulfillment.nnLet’s take another popular hobby to see the secret it could be revealing. Golf is a widely played sport that people engage in for different reasons. Some of the values golf could represent are precision, nature, skill, solitude, socializing, competition, and challenge. If you will only play on the best courses with the most expensive equipment, it could also reveal values of prestige and wealth.nnNow take your favorite pastime. What is it about for you? Why is it enjoyable? What possible values could it represent? Make a list of possible values, then read them aloud and choose the ones that resonate with you. Next, confirm them by recalling other times that value was represented in your life. How did you feel?nnNo matter what your pastime, it has a secret to tell you about your innermost self. Lean in and listen to reveal your core values and provide the pathway to fulfillment.nn** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life”, visit
http://www.selfgrowth.com/greatways2.html.