I work with people every day who are eager to improve themselves. My area of expertise is fitness and nutrition, but I don't think that's always the direct path to someone's ultimate happiness.
I think the fastest, most direct way to achieve anything in life it to identify, follow, and ultimately live your passion.
I think the fastest, most direct way to achieve anything in life it to identify, follow, and ultimately live your passion.
Passion can carry different connotations for different individuals. We can make it simple enough. Your passion is that thing that makes your day worth living. No matter what happens, you find at least a few minutes to think about, focus on and do that one thing that you are passionate about. The problem with most people is when they think about their passion while not LIVING their passion, they are in a place of lack and scarcity around their passion. In other words, they are frustrated and unhappy because they think they have to do without the one thing that they are passionate about. This kind of thinking can wreak havoc on your soul and create a terrible direction for your future self to follow. So lets take a few steps to get back on track using the above example of a person looking to improve their fitness and more specifically, their body composition.
Identify Your Passion
Chances are if they are in my office asking for help, they aren't passionate about exercise and fitness. I have a few athletes that come through my office but the majority of them are just looking to get back on track and shed a few pounds. Therefore, we need to find the passion. We can use fitness to help that person live for their passion, that's the easy part. If this person was truly passionate about life, no part of their experience would be negative. This includes the physical body. If this person can identify their passion and define what makes them ultimately happy, then fitness, nutrition, and everything else will play a supporting role in helping that person live their passion. It truly doesn't matter what the passion is. The main goal for step one is identifying it. You don't have to pry too hard they will be more than excited to tell you all about it!
Follow Your Passion
This is the step that most people get tripped up on. Your passion drives you. It either drives your success or drives you crazy thinking about it! Once you identify your passion and make it crystal clear in your mind, it will keep coming up. It will give you nudges. Some will be subtle and some will very obvious. Your only role in achieving your ultimate goals is to take action on these nudges. Some call this inspired action. I think that's the perfect way to describe it. If it feels like too much work, the inspiration isn't there and your energy is best spent elsewhere. But when your passion comes up, pay attention to it. Once you take a few small steps toward your passion, the path will unfold before you and more and more opportunities will come up. For each new nudge that is given to you, you must give thanks for it. This will assure you continue to get them! As a disclaimer, drastic and very large action is fine if it is inspired. However, there's no reason to quit your job and rush out to chase your dreams. In most cases, leaving the security of a job or relationship creates stress and fear and can stop the flow inspired thoughts coming to you. Take small but constant action towards your passion. There is great joy in this process.
Living Your Passion
The third and final step is all anyone ever wants. It's living your passion. While living your passion, you are happy. You are in a loving and accepting place. You let things come to you and love your life. Since you are in are giving off such great energy, those around you enjoy your company. In fact, the happier you are with your passion, the more you share it in many forms! It truly is a great place and one everyone should experience. This by no means implies that will not have negative situations that arise. Make sure they do not distract you from your passion. It is what you are living for. What you are meant to do. It is what God, the universe, The Divine, or whatever you chose to address it as, wants for you. In fact, it was yours all along, and that's why you have always have a strong desire to chase it!
To sum it up, we can find happiness in chasing and living our passion. But the absolute truth is the process works in completely the opposite order. The happier you are NOW the more opportunities you have to live your passion. Lets finish with our hypothetical client from earlier (you thought I forgot didn't you!) Let's say this person's ultimate goal is attract a mate. This is why that person is seeking advice on fitness and weight loss. Therefore, their level of deservingness is tied to their physical appearance and they believe by changing that one variable, they will become confident and attract the mate of their dreams. Their passion may be to settle down with the perfect mate, have a family and enjoy all the wonderful feelings of love and growing old with someone. What a great feeling! So if you get down to the passion, none of that has anything to do with fitness or exercise! However, by taking small steps towards achieving personal goals in fitness this personal can start to build confidence and therefore deem themselves worthy of such a life! In this scenario, the person will use fitness and exercise to build confidence and clarity in regards to their passion. Each trip to the gym, or pound of body lost creates a chain reaction of passionately inspired action which leads them to a life of passion.