Decide On Joy

Where's the Fire

• Jim Covault

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Jim:

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Decide on Joy, a podcast coming to you from Harmony Spiritual Center in Fort Worth, Texas. My name is Jim Alt.

Pjae:

Yeah. So my name is Reverend Dr. PJ Stanley. Thank you so much for being here today.

Jim:

This episode is titled, where's the Fire? It's coming off of. PJ's Sunday message fairly recently when we're recording this a bit less recently by the time you hear it probably, but it was about let loose your inner fire and then that. Subsequent question was, what if you don't know where that is? What, I don't mean literally in your body where that is, but

Pjae:

like what sets you on fire? Yes. Yes. What, what,

Jim:

what, what is your Yes. If you, if you don't feel like you have contact with that.

Pjae:

Yeah. And so, so let me, lemme get clear about the actual question. Are you asking about like what. What excites you, sets your soul on fire? Or where is the fire of the spiritual fire within you? Like how do you know when Spirit is speaking to you? Which, which fire are we speaking of? Probably

Jim:

it's the first, but, okay. But could be to both. Either could, could we?

Pjae:

Okay. So one of the, the things that I harp on, go back to, I probably talk about ad nauseum, is about you knowing who you are, like what matters to you. Because I think that that is the, the key to what sets you on fire when you know, for instance, what sets me on fire, what, what, what excites me? And when I'm talk, that's the kind of fire I'm talking about. What excites me is really knowing, I know for myself, and you know this, so you need to know this for yourself. Whatever it is that you know for sure that we are connected. That we all human beings are connected. That we are, each of us individualized expressions of a spiritual being, of the spiritual being. So we're connected in that way. We are brothers and sisters in that way. So what that does for me, recognizing that what it does for me is everyone that I meet, I know that we are related, that we are all human beings. Going through this experience of life and trying to figure it out. And so I have, so when I look at people like that, and that's the fire that I see, for me, that excites me is it makes me know that I'm connected to you. So I cannot treat you as if I don't know you, as if I don't know, or recognize your, the things that you're going through because I'm going through them too. Not the same things that you were going through, but, but that's what life is. Life is about all the experiences that we go through and each one of us. It may have the same kind of experience, but we won't experience it the same way. So that's what sets my soul on fire. What keeps me going, who's who I want to be all the time, and I'm upset when I don't show up. Remembering who I am, who you are, and that we're connected because that, that, that, that tells me how to treat you.

Jim:

Right. Right. Certainly a good recommendation. But the inner fire might be different for different people, correct?

Pjae:

Correct. I'm saying what that's Yes, exactly. Yes. That's

Jim:

yours. That's mine. Right. Say you're a professional football player, perhaps.

Pjae:

Correct.

Jim:

You have a different Right. Inner fire. Right. Or if you're a, I don't know, a stamp collector, if that's the, if that still exists.

Pjae:

Exactly.

Jim:

If that's what, so the, the trick is. If you don't know. Yes. If you say, if you hear, let loose your inner fire, and you're saying, I didn't,

Pjae:

I don't know

Jim:

where, where is, where is that? How do I let it loose? Exactly. And how, how do you locate it? How do you connect with, how do you fi figure it out with it, connect

Pjae:

with it. And one of the, one of the things that I know is that part of the, well, the, the issue with your inner fire, it's just such a natural thing for you. It's how you automatically show up that you don't recognize it's fire. You, you don't recognize that. And so that's one of the clues.

Jim:

Yes. And you might have been discouraged from acknowledging it. You

Pjae:

may have been, you may have been. Because maybe someone that's around you that has authority over you, a parent, a teacher, whatever, discouraged that. And I'm just trying to think.'cause one of the things that my father did a lot, he was a joker, but I didn't realize he was joking until much later. But he would always, when I would be singing and I didn't realize that singing, singing, really, I, I'll sing in the car, I'll, it just, and I don't even know that I'm singing it just, it's just something. In fact, I've had people say, what, what are you singing about? And I'm thinking, oh, am I singing? So I just, I sing a lot. Well, my father would say stuff like do you know Down by the Riverside? And I would say, no, I don't know. That song goes well. It's go down by the Riverside and sing. So essentially he was telling me, leave you. You don't sound good. Get outta the house. You know? And I didn't realize that He was just kidding. He was, he was. I actually thinks, thought that I was a good singer, but I never thought I was because of those kind of comments that I would get from different people. But it was my fire. I would sing. Everywhere. It just, it just, right, so it's, I think, again, we're talking about clues. This is how we figure out what it is we have to think, and this is our whole life. I think the experiences of things that we do again and again, whether it's something we do again and again that doesn't have good results, tells us, Hey, maybe that's not for you. Or, we do things again and again because it makes us happy, it brings us joy. These are clues as to what your fire actually is. What. What's yours to do? And when I say that's part of what I'm talking about when I why I think it's important or we actually, I think in, in, in new thought, why it's important for you to recognize what your fire is. Because it's what you're here to do. It's gonna bring you your greatest joy, and it's gonna bring joy to the people around you because you do it so well. It is so much who you are and what you're here to do. So it's really important that you figure that out as quickly as possible.

Jim:

Do we think that it's always the same?

Pjae:

Hard to say. I think. I think that you, so I'm, I'm just going by my own experiences and experiences of other people that I know. Singing was a, was the big, was the first fire, and it was major for me. But then after that, it ended up being, I liked acting, act, acting was, and I didn't actually pursue it. But I loved it. I loved being on stage. I loved being around people. I loved being around people. That was another one that came up later. Another thing that came up later was, I like to write about my experiences and I have a really good writing voice. I didn't realize that. So that sets me on fire just to sit down and create characters from my own experiences, but they're fictional characters. I love it. So I think, and, and it sounds like I'm talking about, well, it could be that you're, that what your fire is is also your gift. And gifts. I think that we have more than one gift. I believe that we, we, we tend to think that there's one, one major gift that we have that we should use, but I don't think that's how the universe works, because I believe the universe is abundant. And so we are all gifted with more than one gift. And it doesn't necessarily show up as a gift to you at the beginning. Mm-hmm. You know, it is just over time you recognize, oh man, I, I really like that, that brings me joy. I can do that when no one else is around. Just for me. And then when you let someone else in on it, you sing for someone else or you give them a piece of your writing or whatever, and they go, oh my gosh, this is really good. You begin to see, oh, oh, I do have a gift of that. What I find is really interesting, Jim, is how we can see gifts in other people but not in ourselves. Mm-hmm. You know, it's so easy to say, why aren't you working with that? Why aren't you doing that? And they're saying, what do you mean?

Jim:

Right. So, that's one thing if you're, say a teenager or you're 25 or whatever, if you're significantly older, as I think many listeners to this podcast might be.

Pjae:

Yes.

Jim:

Is it too late?

Pjae:

Good. Such a great question. And I, and I, and I really, I'm glad you asked that. And I don't, this is a cliche answer. But I will, I'll give you some more things about it. It's never too late. I think as long as you are breathing and capable of moving around and doing some things there, there's, I'll go back to another story. I, I can't even remember what it was, how long ago it was, but my husband wanted us to go to travel to Vietnam. And I absolutely had no interest in, I just no interest whatsoever. I, I just saw it as,'cause my father was a vet, a veteran, and I just saw it as a war torn country that people wouldn't like us. You know, why would I, they would, they don't like Americans. But he insisted. He was a vet as well. He wanted to go. And so I said, all right, all right, let's just, we'll go for 30 days. Well, we ended up being there for five years. I got there and absolutely loved it. I loved the people. I loved their love for their country, the food, there was so much going on, and I never thought at that age, I was 40, 40 when we went there, that I would wanna travel, that I wanna travel to Asia, to a foreign country and meet foreign people. There are more. So now at this age, I'm not gonna say what my age is, but it's significantly older than 40. I'm wanting to, and I'm divorced now. I wanna travel on my own. There's places that I wanna go see. So it has expanded my, my view of life. And that was because someone that I loved and trusted said, let's do this. And I couldn't understand why he wanted to, but I, I trusted and I wanted to do something for him. So expanded my idea of what, what life could look like. So travel is now a part of it. Learning a new language is a part of the fun. And, and because we live in, and I don't know who the list where the listeners are, but it doesn't matter what, what county or or city you're in or even state. There's, there's all these senior programs I'm giving myself away. I'm a senior. That, that, that I love to get involved in to just see, well, how does that work? What are you guys doing over there? Mm-hmm. And so there's never, I don't think it's as long as you're interested, as long as you're alive to keep staying more alive. You just get involved in new things, new adventures. There's so much to do here.

Jim:

And certainly there are, I mean, I don't have a name on the tip of my tongue, but there certainly are kind of major authors who didn't start writing until they were in their fifties or sixties.

Pjae:

Exactly. Correct. Because I think, and I think one of the things is when you're 50 or 60 or 70, whatever it is you have, so. By that time, you have a lot of life experiences that you could write about. And what I love about writing is particularly fiction, is you could take a situation that didn't necessarily turn out well and make it turn out well in your story. You become the hero. There you go. Right? Yeah. So it's a chance of change your story. I hadn't thought of that. Yes. I love it. Love it. So

Jim:

that's not, not an impulse I have. Yeah. I just don't,

Pjae:

yeah.

Jim:

It's not my inner fire. Gotcha.

Pjae:

But what you, you know, you, I know I get

Jim:

it, but I don't, it's not Yeah.

Pjae:

And I know you do, but I know that you have introduced me to to, in the areas here in Fort Worth while this different theater thing that goes on. Mm-hmm. Theater seems to be something that you love. And, and you're always sharing with me new shows. Oh, did you know, did you notice that show on in, on the Brit box? It was great stuff. So you're always introducing me to those kinds of things, and they're wonderful, wonderful things. So I think that's a part of your interest is, is, you know, theater.

Jim:

Yes. It's, I really, well, we don't have to go down that path, but it's an interesting thing when. That has been what, you know, if someone says, what is your inner fire? That would've been what I would've said for, you know, quite a long time. Right. And then it isn't exactly. Not by my choice.

Pjae:

Okay. Right, because life does change. Yeah. So life changes.

Jim:

Yeah. So it's, it's an then you have to reconsider that whole thing. You do.

Pjae:

You do. And, and what I know, what I, what I believe and know from in my heart is that we are creatives. We are, we, we, we, the, the spiritual divine part of us is creative. That means we are a two. And so if something stops for you, for whatever reason, you're fin it's, it's run its course. Some things have run, run its course, and that's okay in our lives. But we could always ask, okay, what's next? And we just begin to look around you, just, you, you've, you've been discussing with me. I think, I think it's anime. Mm-hmm. And, and there is a, the I guess I think the, the museum of.

Jim:

It's the Museum of Modern. Yeah. Modern

Pjae:

Art has, is, is is getting ready to have something wonderful. Yeah, I

Jim:

just saw that did Yeah, me too. I just saw

Pjae:

that because of you, it kicked up my interest. I'm gonna go see this, what he's always talking about. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So, you know just having people around you that are doing different things and you can say, well, what's that you're doing? Why are you doing that? What's it, you know? And just it's about staying interested in life. It begins to recreate another fire for you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Jim:

That, that might be a good place to stop. Although I think it is. I think it's may be kind of short this time, but No, I think it's pretty long. It's a good place to stop. Yeah. And thanks for joining us and we will see you next time. Yes, we will.

I.