This is a post from guest blogger Paula Harvey, author of Designing a Passionate Life
Designing a passionate life that is aligned with those passions is the secret to a life filled with joy and fulfillment. How to change from a passionless life to a life overflowing with passion begins with self-reflection of your life as it is today.
To start the self-reflection process, take the following personal inventory and find out how much passion you have in your life at this moment. How many of the following questions do you answer yes to?
- Has life become routine?
- Is the zest for life gone?
- Do you live for vacations and weekends?
- From all outside appearances, your life looks wonderful. Do you find yourself wondering why it isn’t fun anymore?
- Do you have to literally talk yourself into going to work?
If you answered yes to more than three of these questions then you may be suffering from passion deficit disorder. You have no passion anywhere in your life. You have fallen into a routine because it is comfortable, convenient, and safe. Bottom line, you’ve settled. Don’t beat yourself up, you’re not alone. In a 2005 Harris Interactive Study, 80% of Americans are not passionate about what they do for a living.
Having no passion for what you do in life overflows into all aspects of your life. You do not have the energy to contribute to your relationships and family. You lose interest in the hobbies that you used to love. Friends and family don’t find you ‘fun’ anymore and life feels hard, boring, and routine. It can affect your health. You become old before your time.
Well, the good news is that
it doesn’t have to be that way. You do have a choice and that choice is to start exploring what does energize you, what does get you excited about life. Find out what you’re passionate about and your life will take on a whole new level of energy, meaning and fulfillment.
3 Ways to Identify Your Passions
Before you begin the process of identifying your passions, I want you to put aside the voice inside of you saying “ya but” and live totally in the realm of possibility. During this process you are going to reconnect to those things that make you smile, energize you, and you are curious about.
Let the energy flow, get excited, and get connected to that energy. It is still there inside of you waiting to be expressed, let it come out. You are looking for the clues to your passions. Don’t worry about how to get there, right now simply connect to what gives you joy.
- Make a list of the things that you spend your free time doing or researching. What are the things you love to do, read about, or want to know about? What can’t you get enough information about?
- Revisit your childhood dreams. Do any of your childhood dreams still appeal to you? What aspects of your childhood dreams can you reconnect to? Write down the childhood dreams that still energize you.
- For one week, write down the things that you do well, the things that are ‘fun’ for you to do. Notice as you go through your work day, what you ‘like’ to do. Notice what you like about your job and write it down. If you don’t have a job, notice what does give you joy throughout your day.
Compile a list of all of the items that you have gathered over a week’s time. Let the list be as long as you like. Read each item on the list out loud and notice how it makes you feel inside. Do you feel lighter when you read it or do you feel heavier when you read it? Pay attention to the items that make you feel heavier, are they truly passions or things you think are passions? Start to cross off the items that don’t feel energizing to you. Use your list as the starting point for the possibilities of living a passion filled life.
I'm Paula Harvey, Certified Passion Test Facilitator and Life Transition Coach and I am passionate about empowering people to identify and align with their passions. I wonder what would happen if you were able to identify your passions and start living in alignment with your passions?
I offer tips and methods for living passionately on my blog. I’d like to invite you to receive my free Passion Deficit Disorder Report and find out why passion is so important in your life and what you can do about it. You can get your instant access at http://www.DesigningAPassionateLife.com.
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