Fortune Cookies & Fireworks

As you know, CAPTURED BY THE DRAGON (book 3 – Black Sky Dragons) is officially released today, and I hope all of you get a chance to read it very soon.

You’ll immediately discover that its theme revolves around the Chinese New Year of the Dragon (I did take liberties with the Chinese calendar—so forgive me) with its main location being Chinatown in San Francisco, California. This is a very colorful event filled with food and fireworks and lots of fun and family.

When writing stories, I often immerse myself in the themes in various ways. For this book, I ate an awful lot of Chinese (well, Americanized Chinese) food. So I’ve been cracking open the fortune cookies like crazy and reading their tiny messages. Of course, I put as much stock into them as I do the Magic Eight Ball, but it’s still fun to see what you get.

Yesterday, our local shopping centers have finally reopened to the public after this awful pandemic, and it was great to be out and about amongst the people again. As usual, I stopped at my favorite Chinese restaurant and ordered honey-walnut shrimp, orange chicken and white sticky rice with soy sauce.

And of course, I finished everything off with green tea and my yummy fortune cookie. Its message?

FOLLOW YOUR HEART WHEREVER IT LEADS YOU.

Hmm. Not bad actually.

Yes, of course that could be generalized advice to everyone on the planet, but it still touched me in a significant way. Because for so many years I had moved in a direction that wasn’t my heart’s desire and wasn’t my passion for life.

Life many times forces us to do that. I myself had detoured to a career by necessity that I had vowed as a very young adult never to pursue. In the end, I looked at my forced path and wondered how I even got there. Then more importantly, why I was still on it.

So…I took a giant leap of faith to follow my heart and pursue my passion (writing), and I am so glad I did. I left my soul-sucking, demeaning job and am now walking the career path I always dreamed of and was always meant to travel. It gets me up in the morning and bring life and color and fireworks into every one of my days.

I understand (believe me, I do) that not everyone is able to make that choice for various reasons. But I do believe you can still pursue that one thing that gets you up in the morning, that lights your day and explodes your night in a colorful fireworks display. You may not be able to do it full time, but every minute spent at the passion you are truly meant for breathes new life into your being. It’s as vital to you as oxygen.

So “follow your heart wherever it leads you”, and you will not only find your bliss, but your soul too.