Passion – what ignites you, excites you, fires you up?

I referred to passion when discussing strengths.  Often the things we are passionate about also link into our strengths and give us a good indication as to our higher purpose.  We all love doing things we are good at. We feel enthusiastic and excited about opportunities to use our strengths.  Finding your passion is a whole lot more than just identifying your strengths, however.  Identifying your passion requires a completely different set of questions.

Here are 7 passion clues for you:

SMILE – what puts a smile on your face?  What makes you really happy?

TALK – what do you love to talk about?  Ask your friends which topics seem to switch you on and put that gleam in your eye.  Sometimes they can see reactions of which you are unaware.

READ – what’s your favourite section in the bookstore?  The first magazine you pick up at the newsagent?  What do you spend time reading on the internet?

EASY – as I mentioned above, we all love doing things we are good at and find easy.  What tasks do you find effortless?

CREATIVE –     what makes you creative?  Is there something where you are always coming up with new ideas or finding different and better ways of doing things?

FREE – if you didn’t need to earn a living, what would you do with your time?  What would you do simply for the love of it?

DREAMS – We start off in life with dreams (hopes/wishes/desires) but somewhere along the way we give up on them and settle for a mediocre life.  Often our early dreams are indicators of our true life purpose.  Revisit your old dreams to find if there is still a spark of desire there.

I found this list of 27 questions to help you find your passion and live on purpose really helpful.  The list was compiled by Scott Dinsmore and is used with his permission.  You will also find lots of other really great information on Scott’s web site:  http://liveyourlegend.net.  Scott believes that the world would be an altogether different place if we all did work that actually matters to us. His site has all kinds of practical tools, actions and experiments for understanding yourself, finding your purpose and living it.  Don’t think it is not possible for you to make a living doing what you love. Others have turned their passion for skateboarding, drawing, or collecting into full fledged careers.

At the end of your life you don’t want to feel regret about things you did not do.  Life is really not meant to be just a daily grind that leaves us feeling unfulfilled.  Take the time to find your passion, and then pursue ways you can live it.  Connecting to your higher purpose takes your life to a whole new level.

Leave a comment below and let me know – what’s your passion?

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