Passion: Fire In Your Soul
Do you ever feel like your passion could be bigger? Do you feel like there's something else that you should be doing?
When this feeling strikes, it can often leave us questioning our purpose in life. In the end, is it worth the struggle when the path of career success means sacrificing some of our passion, creativity and overall happiness?
Passion: Fire In Your Soul is an essay exploring what passion really means to us as humans and how we can achieve higher levels of mastery without sacrificing our humanity. It'll also look at why focusing on personal fulfillment leads to true happiness and if chasing after money is worth it in the long run.
I've written and published Passion on my blog for the past seven years now. It's one of my favorites because it touches on one of the most painful parts about being a human being - our perception of fulfillment.
Our perception of fulfillment often gets tied up to how much money we make, how much recognition we get, how many people like us and whether or not we have a prestigious title behind our name. The reality is that the more time we spend chasing after these things and getting caught up in the illusion they create, the further away from true fulfillment we get.
Many people suffer from the feeling that they are here on earth with a higher purpose and that their life will feel pointless unless they find it. This results in a lot of unnecessary suffering because we end up thinking that fulfillment and purpose come after attaining success instead of before.
Understanding your passion means understanding what you love to do, what you'd be so good at that everybody would pay you to do it and why. It means finding your true purpose in life, something that only comes from within. Once you know your passion, once you've already found the piece of yourself to give to the world, you'll never need external validation for fulfillment again.
What is your passion? Do you know?
To know, you have to find it from within. This is not a simple task, but it's something that must be done in order to live the life you were meant for.
Once you discover your passion, once you bring your true self into the world and dedicate yourself to it, is when you will see the biggest reward - true happiness. Your passion will become your purpose and you'll never need anything else.
There's nothing else in the world that I would rather do than work at Collective Brewing Project. I love making beer, talking about beer and sharing our story with the world. On top of that, there are great people who are dedicated to our mission - bringing more craft beer to more people.
I've been able to grow a lot in my profession over the last five years because I am passionate about what that profession entails. My passion is exactly what makes me grow every day and it's a big part of why I'm so good at what I do.
I have been fortunate enough to work with a lot of awesome people over the years and I would be hard-pressed to pick one out as my true passion. I've had opportunities to do some cool things that I'm not so passionate about but I wouldn't want to do them.
What is your passion?
Here are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves when asking ourselves this question:
1. What would you say is my biggest strength? Your biggest weakness? Your greatest skill?
2. What is one area of life that you are not proficient in or feel luke warm towards?
3. What are some of your personal goals or aspirations?
4. What is one thing that you want to achieve in the next year? Five years? Ten years?
5. What do you love doing so much that you just can't stop doing it?
6. Do you enjoy what you do on a day to day basis or are you simply going through the motions?
7. What have been some of your greatest accomplishments over the last year (no matter how small)? Discuss any goal that has been accomplished and share your reflections with others connected with this goal. (It doesn't have to be work related.)
8. What do you feel passionate about in general?
9. What do you feel passionate about in your line of work or career?
10. What is your definition of passion?
11. Think back to some of the best times in your life. What were some of the most memorable experiences that you can still recall vividly today?
12. What was one moment where you felt a strong sense of fulfillment?
13. When has the pursuit of passion led to pain or struggle? Why do you think this happened and what did it teach you about yourself and life in general?
14. Discuss a time when your passion changed and how this change affected your life and perspective.
15. Discuss a time when you had to fight for your passion.
16. Discuss a time when you had to compromise your passion in order to make ends meet.
17. Discuss a time when you felt unfulfilled or unhappy because of your pursuit of passion.
18. What is one thing you've done because it was important to you or meant something to you? (This doesn't have to be work related)
19. How has pursuing this piece of yourself changed the way that you live life? (For example, what changes have occurred in relationships, the way that you view life and others, etc.)
20. Discuss a time when you played to your strengths in order to gain success.
21. What does it mean for you to pursue your passion?
22. What is true passion?
23. What role do you believe money plays in attaining passion?
24. Where does passion come from in you? Discuss the process and the journey of how it develops over time and how it was created or changed by life experiences or other events.
25. How does passion differ for you compared to what others may consider passion?
26. What would happen if you were to find your passion today?
27. Do you think that a person can be passionate about anything they choose?
28. How much of a role do friends and family play in helping you to find your passion? How much of a role do they play in helping you to live according to your passions?
29. What is the difference between loving what you do and being passionate about it?
30. What can we learn by reflecting upon those times when we felt most fulfilled in life and why were those times so fulfilling?
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Conclusion
The concept of passion is a difficult one to define but doing so can help you find your purpose in life. If you want to learn more about the role that passion plays, try reading "Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love" by Paul D. MacCready and Dan Ariely. Another great book on the subject is "Authentic Happiness" by Shawn Achor.
I decided to blog about this topic because I know that many people struggle with it. So many people feel like they have passions but don't know what it is or why that's important for them in their lives or career path.