Sometimes Becoming Healthy
Means Following Your Passion

 By Margaret Enloe Vivian

When you ask author, lecturer, and acupuncturist Keith Varnum who taught him the most valuable lessons in his life, he says, “Mr. Rogers and Julia Child.”   

As a young aspiring filmmaker, Varnum worked for public television on the sets of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and Julia Childs’ cooking programs. He developed an admiration for the way Fred Rogers communicated, not just with children but with adults, too.  

“Fred Rogers taught me how to communicate in the most profound and affecting way—heart to heart, soul to soul,” Varnum said. “He modeled how to do so with clarity, love and integrity.” But Varnum admitted, “This connection was something I used to hide. Mister Rogers was not very cool to 21 year olds.”

Julia Childs taught Varnum about the strength of following your dream. In the years when Mrs. Childs started out, women did not chef professionally, or have their own TV shows. Most notably, it was taboo for an American to teach French cuisine. When she was once asked, “What made you think you could do this?” Mrs. Childs is said to have replied, “Well, I just loved it!” Varnum asserts that it was her love or passion for her work that carried her through any adversity she faced. 

In his early years as an acupuncturist, Varnum found that “it was hard to help people maintain health and happiness when they went to a job five days a week that they didn’t enjoy.” So he started talking more with clients to help them create lives that were fulfilling, rather than frustrating and stressful. “As I helped people find a life and livelihood that they liked, their mental, physical, and emotional illnesses or woes cleared up,” Varnum said. “I decided this was more central for me as a healer—to help people get better jobs and improve their relationships, to make basic changes in their lives.” 

This is where the lessons from Rogers and Child came into play. Rogers’ heart-to-heart way of communicating helped Varnum make deeper, more meaningful connections as he talked with his acupuncture clients. Soon he discovered that coaching people through the difficult points in their lives was his Julia Child-like passion.  

Today, Varnum is following his life’s passion, encouraging people to find their dreams and gifts and follow them. He calls this finding your “soul agreement.” Internationally known author and lecturer Carolyn Myss calls it your “sacred contract.” Varnum says that his soul agreement “tricked” him into working with Fred Rogers and Julia Child many years ago so that he could have the skills to do what he does today.  

“Everywhere in this world, in the movies, books, articles and other media, you see people saying that they know they’re here for a reason,” Varnum said. “A soul agreement is just a label for talking about each person’s purpose in this world,” and that purpose may look different for every person, Varnum explained, but the simplified version is that each person has something unique to offer society. 

“People get stuck, unhappy, have low physical energy, feel frustrated and/or unfulfilled because they are not expressing their point of view, their unique gifts, their creativity, their spirit or whatever else you want to call it,” he said. “Understanding your soul agreement is really about finding out the depth and degree that you really DO have choice and freedom in your life. You can adapt your life in a way that is fun and right for you.” 

Most of us try to adapt to the world around us. This can suppress creativity and personal expression.  “We think that we have to do this,” Varnum stated, “but freedom and choice means adapting the world to OUR dreams or hopes. It doesn’t mean breaking the rules. It’s transcending them with responsibility, passion, spirit, and good intention.”  

A woman in one of his programs years ago did just that. She knew that she was supposed to design and make clothing, but her job in a sweatshop left her bored and unhappy. After working with Varnum to see that she had choices, she decided to make changes by approaching her boss with her ideas. The employer gave her a section of the factory to do her designing. Several years and steps later, she became a successful clothes designer who loved her work, providing stylish clothing to full-figured women. 

So how DO you find your life’s purpose? “If you think of a time in your life when things were going really ‘right,’ you draw from that experience and bring it into the current situation,” Varnum replied.  “There are wonderful clues throughout your life as to what your soul agreement is. You can find it under the surface of labels, categories or job descriptions. There is a common thread or theme to the way you’ve affected and interacted with people, jobs and the world; common qualities that you’ve exhibited, even in childhood. The key is to discover and develop these qualities, because when we’re adults, we’re supposed to start using them.”  

Margaret Enloe Vivian was former Program Director for Evergreen Cove Holistic Learning Center in Easton, MD - www.evergreencove.org.  She now is a Grassroots Coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, www.cbf.org.