My Life of Changing Aspirations

Summary

The author reflects on a life defined by evolving aspirations, from teaching to fashion design, spiritual exploration, and writing, with a consistent thread of sharing knowledge and creativity.

Abstract

The author's journey begins with an early aspiration to teach, which is woven throughout their life. They recall teaching peers in childhood and later pivot to a career in fashion design, where they find success in creating doll clothes, custom designs, and a design and manufacturing business. A deep dive into spirituality in the 1980s leads to the realization of a universal oneness across religions. In the 1990s, the author's technical creativity in fashion technology is recognized through engineering design grants, eventually transitioning to a writing career, including books and contributions to Medium.com. The aspiration to teach resurfaces with the establishment of technical courses, mentorship, and community engagement through the Boston Fashion Industry Meetup. The author expresses gratitude for the inspiration provided by Darshak Rana, acknowledging the role of spirituality in sustaining their aspirations through life's changes and challenges.

Opinions

The author values the act of teaching and sharing knowledge as a core aspiration.
They view the process of experiencing and learning from life as paramount.
Aspirations are seen as entities that need time to develop and emerge, likened to butterflies from a cocoon.
The author emphasizes the importance of allowing aspirations to unfold one at a time for personal growth.
They hold a belief in the unity of spiritual disciplines, seeing them as expressions of a single universal source.
The author's journey suggests a conviction that creativity and technical innovation are integral to personal fulfillment.
They appreciate the role of mentors and community in nurturing aspirations and professional development.
The author acknowledges the impact of external events, like the pandemic, on the pursuit of aspirations but also the resilience provided by spiritual grounding.

They emerge and fly from the cocoon of mind and memory

Aspirations as butterflies — Pixabay

I came to this lifetime to experience and learn. When many aspirations come too many and too fast I have suffered, which is a great learning lesson to allow one at a time to take its form and fly. But many aspirations remain in the cocoon, until ready to fly again.

My first aspiration in kindergarten was to teach. I came home bubbling with learning that I had to share. Gathering some younger ones on my stairs I excitedly told them, and drew with chalk on the sidewalk, explaining that there was a body between the arms and the head! As I went on to other things in life, there was always an underlying aspiration to teach what I learn, especially from life.

My next greatest aspiration was to create, specifically in fashion clothing, and experimenting with the technical and technologies in fashion clothing. My first business was dolls clothes at age 14 — then onto custom creating for individual people — then onto creating and developing a successful design and manufacturing business for twenty years.

In the 1980s there was a growing aspiration of spirituality in my cocoon mind that took flight, and I researched every single religion and spiritual discipline. It was not to find one, but to finally discover that all of them were One Universal source, and this aspiration became a foundation for my life.

In the 1990s I learned there was much more in my cocoon mind that needed to be freed to fly. I went after and won a series of engineering design grants from the National Science Foundation, with my technical creativity and technology in the fashion industry. Gradually this faded as an aspiration when I could go no further, but it inspired a new aspiration of writing. I went on Medium.com, and also wrote three books. An important one was Past, Present, and Future: A Fashion Memoir of 70 Years of Design, Engineering, Education, Manufacturing and Technology.

The foundation aspiration for teaching begged to fly again. I set up technical courses in various schools and colleges, started the Boston Fashion Industry Meetup and took on many protégés in the 2000s. This was strong until the pandemic. But that great flying butterfly of spirituality has been an increasing support for the flight of my mind.

Thank you Darshak Rana for your prompt on Aspirations, and for continually inspiring me.