Reflection on life
Our world is composed of a myriad of parts, sometimes colliding at one point only to fragment away at another. To create a meaningful life full of vigor, passion, and purpose, you’ll have to ‘do’ something. Part of creating is the doing. You’ll have to try something different, difficult, or daring. Experience is essential! You need to figure out what you actually like and don’t like. The power is the process.
Remember the movie, The Runaway Bride, starring Julia Robert and Richard Gere? She portrayed a woman who ran away 3 times from different men on her wedding day. She fell in love with Richard, a reporter, and planned to marry him after he last epic end to a relationship. However, she ran away at the wedding. Heartbroken, he left the small town and she retreated to her apartment. She began to experiment. He had said something to her that she didn’t realize until the wedding: She would take on whatever it is her partner loved. She had not discovered for herself what she loved.
She went on to try different eggs: poached, scrambled, over easy, etc. She decided what she loved to do, and when she went to meet him at his apartment she brought him a pair of running shoes: She wasn’t scared of losing herself anymore.
Our lives are much like the movie, we copy others, and we think it’s what we like. We dream of owning a business, but then we work for others and get stuck in debt so we can’t branch out and try something new. We repeat the same process like a guru, even though we long for change. We feel powerless to make a difference.
. . .
Life’s natural passion motivator
A natural cycle occurs when you enjoy something. The curiosity of exploration develops your inner critic. Your brain wants to know more once you get interested in something. When you find satisfaction and are pleased, your brain releases happy chemicals to propel you to do the activity again.
Repeating the activity builds momentum. Soon, you are actively seeking times to explore your new found passion. Cycles like this build our meaningful life. They keep us coming back for more in a healthy, focused way.
When you find something you like to do — whether for yourself or for another person or for someone’s business, whether you’re getting paid for it or not — it’s a good indicator you’ve found a heartfelt passion.
It’s equally important to figure out what things you don’t like. Opportunities may pop up that sound amazing, but once you spend time on it you realize that it’s not at all what you’d hoped.
A reminder here: You can, at any time opt out of anything you begin if it doesn’t sit well with you. However, be mindful your opt out button isn’t used regularly to get you out of uncomfortable change or growth.
Natural skill or talent also has to be taken into consideration. If you can find something that you truly LOVE to do and are also NATURALLY skilled at, you may have found something special. The intersection of desire and talent is typically where you find the thing that you’re most passionate about.
. . .
Photo by Mohammad Danish from Pexels
Action: Here are three questions, with the last one fully-loaded:
- Look at the areas/activities identified yesterday (things you do well, which give you energy, make you lose track of time). Have you put them to the test long enough to know if they’re passing interests or long-term ones? A genuine passion-filled meaningful purpose ensures the value of your interest. You find it is sustainable. You’ll believe it is when you keep repeating the activity or action.
- Would doing those activities as a career be exciting or satisfying for you? Or would it take all the fun out it? This requires a consideration of what every day routines would look like. For example, you may enjoy baking pies, but baking dozens under the stress of deadlines might ruin the joy.
- After you have found a few areas of interest, ask yourself a powerful question: Why is this important to you?
- After you get an answer, ponder for a few moments and ask the another question: Why did you find the specific activity important?
- Who will benefit from this activity?
- What makes you feel excited about it? Why do you get excited? I
- If you ask yourself the question “why” seven times you’ll hit a spot of ah-ha where you brain lights up. Your core value, the core reason for what you meaningful or purpose filled passion is will reveal itself.
Rather than to shy away from digging deeper, go the distance. Play full out. Give your all to the questions and see what answers come up for you. The empowerment you’ll discover builds your momentum and motivation to dig deeper.
As we go along, we’ll look at how recurring themes help uncover passions, and how patterns in your life can make or break the meaning we hold dear. You’ll discover some deeper resources for change.
Remember: The power is in the process!
~Just a thought by Pamela
The article is part of a course, which will be published on Mastermind, 2021.
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This post was previously published on Change Your Mind Change Your Life.
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