Every day I wake up and the first thought I have is, "What is there that makes it worth getting out of bed today?"
Fortunately, there are so many wonderful things that I have happening in my life that are related to my passion that it is a pleasure to get out of bed.
However, when I was depressed following the birth of my fourth child, daily I struggled to think of one thing that motivated me to get out of that bed. All my thoughts were negative. It was as though I had no fuel left in my tank and no spark in my ignition system.
Fortunately, something happened to me that changed my life and I will never be that person again. What happened to me was that I connected with my passion - people! And that passion for people energised me and changed my life.
Passion, as described in the Encarta dictionary, means 'intense or overpowering emotion' or 'intense enthusiasm' and is closely related to the word 'zeal' which means 'energetic and unflagging enthusiasm'
I connected with the energising force of passion and my life has never been the same since.
So how do we tap into that 'intense or overpowering emotion that causes us to have intense, energetic and unflagging enthusiasm'?
By connecting with what it is that lights our candle. What is it that makes us happy, that gives us a buzz, that we can connect our thoughts to as a creative energy?
There are many beliefs about the power of thoughts and I do believe that thoughts are creative, after all, doesn't an artist visualise the painting before they paint? If we are passionate about our lives, we live life to the full and experience the full gamut of emotions and experiences.
I see that passion has four purposes in our life:
- It pressures us to pursue our destiny - there is this urge that keeps trying to move us towards our passion.
- It points us in the right direction - like a compass, it leads us towards our destiny.
- It energises us to perform tasks - like the fuel in our tanks it energises us for the journey.
- It propels us to be successful - like the spark plugs in our engine, passion starts the reaction that motivates us to be successful in attaining our destiny and goals.
I guess when you think about girl/guy relationships and that type of passion you can see that these four principles are true. Passion pressures us in our relationships to desire intimacy, it attracts us to the other person, it energises us to engage in a relationship and it moves our relationships forward. Where there is no passion, a relationship is missing an energising ingredient and so it is with our lives. Where we have nothing that we are passionate about, we are half living life.
Today, connect with your passion. If you are doing a job that you don't enjoy because you feel you have to, I say, think again! You spend so much time working in life that it is such a waste to not be actively involved in something that you love doing.
I have always been passionate about my work and that has produced results in my work situations, with incredible opportunities coming my way. But I have been lucky to early identify what works for me, what lights my candle and to focus my energies in those areas.
Spend some time getting to know yourself, then connect with your passion. Like a light bulb going into a powered light socket, your life will start to glow if you do!
