One thing i promised i would never do, is be the person in the train, car or bus with a frustrated, long face going to work. That face that is, tired, over-it, run-down, low in energy all because you were dragging yourself to work. Have you noticed the faces around you on the way to work? Are they mostly the faces that I’ve just described? Faces of just, ‘getting by’.

The opposite of  ‘getting by’ is Passion.

Passion

What’s passion? A desire, a want of something so strong that nothing else will do or can replace it till you taste the sweetness of it.

Existing

What’s existing? Taking up space. Having attitude. Being pulled by whatever force is around.

The most common question that people ask to ‘hopefully’ find out what their passion/purpose is “What do you think i should do”? or ” What do you think im good at”? The challenge with that question is that you’re asking someone else to look within you. You have experienced life differently to any other human. Put 2 people in the same situation, both people will interpret things differently.

Do you like something that your friend or partner doesn’t? Of course there is. Thats life. Take a simplistic example. Some may like a thing, like coffee. Some like it, some love it, some hate it, some find it bearable etc. One item and many different experiences and opinions are generated from it. So asking someone else the fleeting question about what you should do, will not always feed your passion. It might quench a momentary thirst, but not satisfy your hunger.

Alternatively, at times, thinking quietly in your mind and asking yourself, “What am i good at”? or “what should i do with my life” are such overwhelming questions the brain ususally replies ” I don’t know”. So you ask yourself again, hoping that your brain will come up with a potential answer to that question. But again, it answers “I don’t know” .

Your mind might whipser an idea, but then all the negatives follow e.g.  i dont have the time, im too old, too young, dont have the money, that will take too long….and the list goes on and on about all the reasons you shouldn’t do it, until you just surrender to the bad whispers and forget about the idea altogether.

What do you think im good at? Let me ask you a question, can you measure ‘good’?

Think about it.

Good to me might be very different to what another person preceives as being good. For example, if i say Jan is a good person, what do i mean by ‘good’?  By ‘good’ do i mean Jan is friendly or honest or trusting or all of the above? If i said Jan is a friendly person, that makes more sense to my brain and to anyone else because  friendly can be measured – it’s a much more specific description than the word ‘good’. You, on the other hand may or may not think Jan as a friendly person but we know what we are measuring or evaluating based on friendliness – something specific – not general like the word ‘good’.

So for passion to bubble up from within you, you need to ask different questions. Questions along the lines of:

“If i had to pick 2 activities that i like, which of the 2 do i get the most enjoyment from”?

“What do i enjoy doing, but scares me a little bit”?

“What kind of lifestyle do i want to lead”?

“What skills do i have”? (Dont just consider your skill at your current or previous job. Think of your hobbies, what you did as a child, what skill would you like to have)

“Which of those skills would i like to persue the most”?

From there we move to: “Are there any skills or characteristics e.g courage, that i need to have?”

If i didnt get financially paid and passion and contribution was the only currency for everyone  – what would i want to do?

Dont wait for the perfect answer. There isn’t one. You’ve waited a long time for the perfect answer. In our mortal relm there is no such thing as perfection.

Erase the thought.

Go with the answer that makes you feel excited, maybe even makes your heart plunge. That feeling is the birth of passion.

Courage

For passion to exist, courage has to be the propeller behind it. Therefore, passion and courage go together. You can have passion, but without courage it becomes a longing – something that’s consistently on a wish list – the illusion just excites you. You can have courage but without passion you can end up doing alot, without purpose.

Within you, you know what gets your creative you in a state of flow.

What did that just mean? You know your passion – something that you graviate to above all else. The only reason you may not be convinced, is because it takes courage to make a decision to pinpoint your passion and deliver it. By the way, its really okay for your passion to change. As you grow with life, so too will your passion – allow it expand to where you’re comfortable.

You may never know (like everyone else) why you have been given the gift of life. To really live, and not just take up space – you have a Gift/purpose that has been designated to you, to use it and contribute back to yourself, community, society or world.

This is the thing: Feeling alive and coming from a state of flow comes from delivering your passion which grows to understanding and living your life’s purpose/Gift. That there, is when you feel alive. When you feel alive you notice the wind blowing your hair, the sun on your skin, the value of your health because you are in a state of flow delivering your Gift/purpose. For that to happen, you need to decide; do i go from job to job or do i decide to grab my passion – and that comes from having courage.

Your passion is connected to your level of courage.

For anyone to execute on their passion, they need a loudspeaker to call on courage (the loudspeaker that drowns all the other speakers in your head).

For example if your passion is public speaking, you will only get as passionate or excited about public speaking as your courage will allow you to be. Think about yourself, is there an area of your life you could have had a different result if you had had more courage in your ability? So if someone is passionate about public speaking and has just enough courage to get the ball rolling – what happens when the ball gets stuck, or there is a hill or it only rolls 2cm.

On the other hand, if you are passionate about public speaking and you work on your courage everyday (like other routine things i.e. brushing your teeth) courage becomes habit. So when courage is habitually being boosted and the ball gets rolling, its going to be on high speed. So the probability is alot higher for the ball to push through any place it may get stuck and even if it  did get stuck or face a hill there will be enough courage to find other ways to get that ball to where it needs to be. It would be unlikely to sigh and say ‘oh well i tried’ (and have that tired, long face on the way to work).

Just know you have a Gift/purpose, your courage will determine how much of it you will use and if you will use it. Next time you hear “what am i good at” you are really hearing the person ask “do you think i can do it” (‘it’, being anything you feel you lack the courage to do).

At the Golden Globe awards a few years ago, Barbra Streisand received the Cecil B. Demille Award, which is an award saluting the lifetime achievement in motion pictures. To paraphrase part of her acceptance  speech, she said that someone had asked her if they should be an actor, and she replied that if you have to ask, then the answer is no.

She said, the only reason you would choose that life for yourself is because you feel passion for it, because you have no other choice.

Simply, you have found your passion when nothing else will do.

Courage gives voice to your passion.

It took courage for Walt Disney to create Disney World.

It took courage for a single man named Ghandhi to have enough courage to get the British out of his country.

It takes courage to live outside a scripted life.

It takes courage to decide to have courage and follow through with it.

What stops you from identifying or pinpointing your passion? What stiffens your courage? Who or what are you thinking about when you think of your passion? What resources to do have to gain courage? What can you do to feed your courage? To keep your teeth healthy , you brush them daily, how will you keep your courage in super health? Ambience makes a difference, what kind of environment heightens your courage? What kind of environment constricts your courage? Are the people you hang out with energetic or tired people? Are you a tired person? What needs to happen for that to change?

Final Point:

Passion + Courage  =  your Gift ready to unbox

Grab your passion, upsize your courage.

Onwards and Upwards.

Rita.