Passion: What Makes Your Heart Sing?

In my last post, I discussed Passion and Desire.  I finished reading "The Passion Test" and finally identified my top 5 passions for the present time.  The authors have you list 10-15 of things that you are passionate about and then go through the list to narrow them down to your top 5.  I must say that this was a challenging process for me because I have been trying to put it in the right words and context.  Also I had the belief that it had to be permanent, but as I continued reading the book, the authors suggest that you review your passions every 6 months to see if they have changed,  Another suggestion the authors offer is that when you have to make a decision choose in the way of your passion. 

Currently my top 5 passions are the following:

When my life is ideal, I am ________________________________:

1. living authenically in all areas of my life....spiritually, mentally, physically and financially.
2. spending quality time with family and friends.
3. owning my own business creating multiple streams of income, flexibility in schedule and variety of task.
4. providing enlightment and empowerment to others on how to live their passion and be their authentic self.
5. traveling to different places teaching and learning information to share with others.

Choosing opportunities that will get me closer to my passions are revealing themselves on a daily basis.  As I intentionally pay attention without working hard to create these opportunities mean that they are lining up with God's will.  These things make my heart sing when I am moving forward.

Live intentional and in purpose as you identify your passions and make choices toward your passion.  What do you do that make your heart sing? Pay attention to the opportunities to move and live in your passion.

Passion and Desire

Over the course of the past two weeks, I have been reading a book titles The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood.  The authors get the reader to list 10-15 things that you believe are most important that would give you a life of joy, passion, and fulfillment by completing the following statement.

When my life is ideal, I am _____________________(starting with a verb).

The key is to narrow your list down to five statements that define it for you.  I have gone through several list to identify my list of passions and it has truly been a task.  Completing this task has brought clarity about who I am, what I want to be and have ( I will share my list later....).

The next point of enlightment came yesterday when I was reading a Daily Stimulant sent by Iyanla Vanzant.  I love to know the meaning of things like words, names, etc.  So in the message the word "desire" was given meaning..."de" - of  and "sire" - the Father.  This made me think more about my Passion List and the things that I desire of the Father.  I realize that passion and desire are different but can go hand and hand.

When my life is ideal, I am empowering others to live their best life.

I desire to live my best life authentically.

So my request of you is to complete the statement....

When my life is ideal, I am ___________________________.

Ask yourself, what do I desire "of the Father"?  (Psalms 37:4)

Authenticity and Passion

Last night, I was watching Oprah's Master Class.  Listening to her story and how she got to where she is was inspiring.  Oprah made the decision not to change who she was when others wanted her to fit a mold that was not authentic to her. I began thinking about what lesson would  I want to share with others from my life.  The lesson that I am learning is that you have to be who you are and to find your passion.  Authentic living is being true to yourself and fitting in your own space.  So many times we create our view of who we are through the expectations of others and find out later in life that it does not matter.  I remember hearing that life truly gets better in your 40's because you learn that the opinion of others is so not where it is.  How do you get to know who you are may be a question that you are asking? 

• What makes me happy?
• What brings me joy?
• What are my values?
• What are my strengths?
• What are my beliefs about life?
• What are you passionate about vocationally, spiritually, physically?

Finding your passion is about realizing what motivates you and gets you flowing.  I am passionate about teaching and learning. Asking myself the question of when my life ideal what am I doing. I list those things that bring me joy and fulfillment and see where I am getting those things in my life.  Now the question to myself is how can I live my passion everyday.  It is time to live passionately and authentically.