Discover Your Passion
posted in World of Work |So you’ve surrounded yourself with Mentors, Champions and Encouragers; you have reframed your view of failure; and you have decided to make a decision about your career – you want a change. What’s next?
Discover your passion.
Passions are an interesting thing. They can move us emotionally, excite us about taking action and ignite a blaze in our souls that is inextinguishable. But, many of us claim not to know what our passions are.
Phooey! (Do people still use that word today?) I argue that we know what our passions are, but we have spent so much time telling ourselves that we can do nothing about them we have squelched our ability to hear them. We have, in essence, buried them alive.
We must make it a priority to rediscover our passions and allow them to breathe life into our daily lives.
Take a weekend away, or a day or even a few hours. Go someplace where the minutiae of daily life will not interfere. Ask yourself questions like: When do you feel the happiest? What angers you the most? What gets you the most excited? If resources were unlimited, where would you go? What would you do? What tasks do you enjoy doing most? Which ones do you like least? If you could communicate one truth to the next generation what would it be? When you die, how do you want to be remembered?
Give yourself permission to dream and feel again. Listen to your heart without filtering the responses.
If you need a tool to help you get going, one of my current favorite books is Inside Every Woman (sorry men – however, the tools are good for you too)) by Vickie Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD.
In her book, Milazzo talks extensively about unleashing our power as women and the Feminine Forces that lead to new levels of personal and professional growth. Milazzo provides exercises, via thought provoking questions, which open our hearts and minds to much we have buried deep inside.
In her first chapter, simply titled Fire, Milazzo walks through: connecting with your early interests; acknowledging your current interests; going inside, listening and choosing your action; rejecting whatever you’re not passionate about; and foreseeing the reality of your passion. With each she provides steps to brainstorming that will lead to insightful answers. (Visit the Inside Every Woman website at www.insideeverywoman.com.)
We are each created in a unique way, with unique passions that should be driving us. And until we free these passions and allow them to move us, true fulfillment will not be ours. Make the time now to rediscover what your passions are. Don’t put it off until the timing is better. There will always be distractions in life, but you owe it to yourself – and those around you – to be the best person you can be. This is a crucial step in Choosing a Better Life.