Ron Tustin - Passion? What Passion?

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For baby boomers and others wanting to make changes.

"Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion." - Hegel.

One of the favourite questions that coaches like to ask you is “What is your passion?”   A lot of this thinking stems from the popular thinking around the Law of Attraction that has led people to believe that they can create whatever kind of life they want. But this only really works for people who are clear about their passions and are living them!

But many of us are NOT clear!

What if you are one of the many people who feel completely disconnected from their sense of passion? What if, when asked to describe your "ideal life" or "vision", you don't even know where to begin?

First, we need to know that this "disconnection" from our sense of passion is often a form of resistance. Quite often, we stop paying attention to our passions early in life when our education and upbringing has tended to lead us down a path where we have had no real input.

We may have been told "that’s okay for a hobby but not a way to make a real living" or something similar. So we should not be surprised that we say we do not know what our passion is.  

For some of us it may be just too painful to live with a sense of yearning to do something we believe we cannot do, so we create a story that we "don't know what your passions are."

I feel “numb”

We don’t necessarily do this intentionally. It is simply a kind of emotional defense mechanism. So instead of feeling "bad", we have chosen to feel "numb."

Clearly, there is no real power in feeling numb. We can't attract anything with numb, except more numb. And too many of us are going through life numb to our sense of passion, robbing ourselves and others of the gift that we are to the world.

This idea that we don't know our passion is an idea that we need to be willing to give up if we want a more fulfilling and satisfying life.

Ways to find our passion

Here are a few things to think about to help us tap into a lost sense of passion:

1. What do you daydream about? When your mind "goes off", there's a reason it goes where it goes. Many times our daydreams are our subconscious mind giving us a taste of what could be.

2. What would you do all day if you could do ANYTHING and money was not an issue for you at all? This is a very common question used to help people tap into their passions, because if you can truly generate the feeling of being freed up financially, you clear the way for yourself to think about what you'd really like to do. But if you think about all this in terms of "will it make me money", you are cheating yourself.

Some of us are likely to answer "Nothing! I would just do nothing all day." And that is a totally fair answer, and if this is your reply I suggest you do a lot of visualization around a day filled with doing nothing, and see how those visions naturally evolve. They'll lead you to your passion...

3. What or who inspires you? If you can't immediately get a sense of your own passion, or put a label on it, think about what or who in the world inspires you...and why.

You can learn a lot about yourself by looking at how you interpret people and situations. If someone inspires you because of what they are up to in the world, could that tell you more than a little something about what YOU might want to be up to in the world?

If you're inspired by some kind of creative expression like art, music, film, or theatre, what exactly about the experience is inspiring you? If a film or painting inspires you, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will become an artist. But it may open a door to the essence of who you are.

Next time you feel inspired by anything or anyone, ask yourself why you are inspired. What part of yourself is being activated in this moment? What action - however large or small - do you feel called to take?

I am sure there are some very interesting and expensive courses you can attend to tap into your passion, but these few questions - if honestly answered - will give you very deep insight into what you're about.

"Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions." - Benjamin Disraeli

Ron Tustin
Revive and Thrive Coaching
Read Ron's Blog
www.reviveandthrivecoaching.com
info@rtc.org.nz
Ph 0800 003679
 
Motivating baby boomers to see the world with fresh eyes.

Published 16th Feb 2010

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