What Are You Passionate About?

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“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” -

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hagel.

You may have spent your life committed to your work, committed to your family, and committed to your way of life. But you may also be reaching a place where you start to wonder what’s next?

You’ve heard the expression ‘follow your passion’, but you may wonder what that means.

For some, it’s the expectation of some great adventure, for others it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. For many others, it feels like a foreign country. A place you once longed to visit and somehow lost the map that would lead you there.

Passion can mean losing your head, losing control emotionally or physically. It can also be something that gets you out of bed in the morning and makes it a must do, can’t live without it. It's a rush to fulfill a dream or a purpose that make a difference. Passion can make you feel that every day is a gift and you are excited to be participating in it.

When I was growing up my mother admonished me to ‘not get carried away with myself.” She believed that you kept your passions under control because if you didn’t you would get into trouble. I have to tell you, that’s been almost impossible throughout my entire life.

I have always wanted to experience life fully, and in the early days I managed to allow my passions to lead me down the wrong roads. In time, I discovered what my true passions were and found joy and delight in writing, singing, cooking and traveling. My passion for people development has driven my desire to be the best I can be in my professional life. It has encouraged me to keep learning and develop mastery in my chosen subject.

Passion is not rational. It’s pure emotion. You can’t explain passion except by the actions it inspires. Passion can be wild and exciting. Or it can be a quiet dedication to something that sets you on fire when you think about it.

I coined an acronym for the word PASSION and it describes the seven stages of making meaningful change in life to achieve your desires.

1. PERMISSION. Give yourself permission to move beyond the limitations and fear that keep you in a negative state of mind. You don’t need permission from anyone to live the life you want to live so stop checking in with others to see if that’s ok. Give yourself permission to create whatever you want without concerns about how it will be received. Give yourself permission to try new things, new directions and make decisions that serve you and bring out the passion you have for life.
2. ACTION. Make a plan to act on your passions. Think about what you need to make your passions tangible. What resources do you have? What resources do you need? Where do you get in your own way? Who do you need to help you achieve your desires. Write it out. Make a list and keep moving through it. Set yourself some deadlines and develop the discipline to carry out the actions every day. Through consistent actions you will achieve beyond what you think is possible.
3. STRENGTH. When you take action you discover your true strength. Your strength is your ability to overcome insecurity, anxiety, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence. Your inner strength is what helps you become more resilient. Your strength encourages you to go further, to think bigger, to take more risks. You are much stronger than you think.
4. SUPPORT. None of us gets where we want to go alone. We need support to keep going. We need support to learn, to grow, to achieve the things we want.. Working with someone directly to address the challenges, and set new goals is key to expansion.
5. INSPIRATION. There are many ways to be inspired. Teachers, coaches, books, podcasts, videos and more offer inspiration. Think of people you admire. People you have worked with, lived with, been associated with. It doesn’t have to be people. It can be the natural world. We can be inspired by the giants of the redwood forest. The extraordinary life under the sea. There are many ways to be and feel inspired if we look for it.
6. OWN IT. Developing confidence takes time, and learning to believe in you, in your talents, your skills, your ability to connect, is what will make the difference. When you start to understand who you are, what matters to you, and how you want to be in the world, you must take ownership of all that you are, and be confident enough to present it to the world without concern for what others think. You are a unique being and it’s remarkably freeing when you can claim that.
7. NURTURING. Learn how to nurture yourself. We are a driven society, always in competition with someone, something or our self. Self-care becomes an important part of following your passion. We need to become aware of the habits that serve and don’t serve our well-being. We need to set clear boundaries for ourselves so we don’t overuse our energy in service to others and forget about our own needs. We need to be mindful of the language we use on ourselves and learn to be more compassionate and kinder to self. This is the gift we give to ourselves. ?

"PASSION is critical to creating a happier life." – Gretchen Rubin

We need passion to spark our desires and bring them to life. We need passion to generate enthusiasm to push through our biggest obstacles and overcome the most difficult of circumstances. We need passion to make a difference in the world.

?Passion is contagious. It inspires people to work together. It motivates others to learn more. It encourages more risk taking. It teaches us how to expand our thinking, our behavior and our ability to do things differently. In short, it brings out the best in us.

If you're ready to bring out the best in you please visit my website for more information on how we can work together.

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