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| "Passion drives us to unimaginable places by helping us overcome unimaginable resistance" |
Passion touches the depth of the soul and speaks to the spirit. Passion can be so profound that trying to explain the feeling is like trying to speak a foreign language. Although once felt, the need for explanation fades away and the experience takes precedence.
It wasn't until I met my wife that I discovered the true meaning of "passion", in more ways than one. Up until that point, I had no "fire", there was no purpose, very little meaning to what I did and how I did it. I went through the motions and very slowly, I was getting no where in a hurry!
I had always been afraid of the "fire" because I didn't want to get "burned", so I was always very careful as to not let the spark fly. I stayed away from pushing and taking risks because previous results had taught me that failure was not pleasant. I had not realized, at that point, that each failure was a learning experience.
Fast forward 20 years.
Slowly I began to discover and fully enjoy newly discovered passions. A new fire was added with the birth of each daughter, and later that of my grandson. Amazing how how hot those burn today. I also developed a passion for all things right. In my personal life as well as my professional one. I found that these two merged nicely and when they did everything seemed to fall into place. And with these experiences adding up one on top of the other, I ventured into a world I had feared for a lifetime. The world of physical fitness, and an unprecedented passion followed. It's been well documented throughout this blog.
According to surveys (you know there are surveys for everything), about 75% of the population do not know what their true passion is. Clearly, not everyone seems to be doing what they were meant to do, but finding out what drives you is not as simple as it sounds. It may come naturally for some but most of the time you have to ask yourself questions in order to pinpoint exactly what you were born to do. But what questions should you ask?
These are only suggestions, but it's a good place to start:
* What puts a smile on your face?
Happiness and Passion go hand in hand. So finding out what puts a smile on your face is paramount to finding out what you were put on this earth to do.
* What do you find fun to do?
Usually what we find that puts a smile on our face, we find fun to do. Fun leads to happiness, happiness leads to passion.
* What sparks your creativity, curiosity and imagination?
Think of something you like to do where you find yourself expanding your horizon, always coming up with new,different and exciting ideas relating to the subject.
* What would you do for free?
What do you look forward to do regardless of whether there's monetary compensation or not. Doing what you have a passion for brings out your best, and this leads to greatness, and greatness leads to success.
* What do you like to talk about?
What topic makes you brighten up? changes your entire behavior? Sometimes the topic of conversation may not be as clear to you as it is to others. If in doubt, ask friends what it is that you like to talk about, what topic changes your attitude when is brought up.
* What makes you unafraid of failure?
When we do what we are passionate about, we have total confidence in our abilities. Period. Think of something you do or want to do, no matter what. How can we fail when we do what we love? Doing what you love is a success in itself.
* What would you regret not having tried?
We all have dreams but somehow life pushes us in different directions. If you were at the end of your journey, what would you regret not having pursued?
Passion is yours to experience and revel in it, even if it causes you to scrape your knees every now and then. Passion is within you. It is yours to discover and master...But remember that passion will not be fully unleashed unless what you're doing, or want to do, is in alignment with who you are.
So, what drives you? What sets your belly on fire? Share your story with us by commenting on this post.
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I will discuss "risk" on the next post in the series "Position Yourself For Success." Until then, I ask that you please visit this blog's facebook page and click "like".
