The first thing that I ask a client who wants to create an extraordinary life is “What’s your purpose? That is, why are you here on this planet?”   Some of them will tell me that they’re here to make a difference, to love, to be a healing force, or to help others.  Most of them simply don’t know.  Here’s the thing – if you aren’t sure why you’re here and where you’re going, you’re never going to create an amazing life….plain and simple.   Without a vision for your life, it’s like driving with your eyes closed:  you’re never sure if and when you’ll arrive at your destination and you’re certainly going to get banged up along the way. 

Nobody’s got the key to why you are here, except you.  Sure, some of your loved ones may think that they know where you should be heading and what’s best for you.   You’ll get plenty of feedback on what you should be, especially from mass media.   You’re probably already getting way too many messages from TV, the movies, radio, internet, magazines, etc.  AHHHH – thanks, but no thanks!

If you really want to tap into your life’s purpose, it’s very very simple, if not easy: think about what you love to do most.  Your passions point to your purpose and are its rocket fuel.   Ask yourself, “What do I love to do so much that I lose track of time…literally lose myself?”  Most people can come up with at least one or two areas.   If you’re stuck, try a technique that Ellen Whitehurst, founder of The Empowered Lifestyle, suggests:  remember what you loved to do as a child.  Me?  I loved reading, writing, and listening to my friends.  These passions underlay my purpose of being an inspirational coach.

Your purpose is the key to a fulfilling life.  So it’s worth your investing at least one hour a week to reflect upon and clarify it.  Try journaling about it, using the visioning tool that I learned from Rev. Michael Beckwith:  Ask yourself these kinds of questions:  “What’s the highest and best for my life?  What does it look like, feel like, sound like, smell like, even taste like?”  Take time to allow the answers to come forth, freely and uncensored.   Consider forming a visioning team that conducts this inquiry as a group.  This is powerful stuff!

One of my clients confidently told me that she certainly did have a vision for her life, thank you very much!   “Can you describe it?” I asked.   She actually could not, except to say that it involves her having more time and money.  I suggested that she purchase a journal and spend at least one hour each week describing her higher purpose.   Vision boards and treasure mapping are other tools to help clarify your purpose. 

These resources, coupled with the many many excellent books, videos, movies, and articles, leave you with absolutely….no valid excuses to not clarify what you want to create in your life.  It’s been said that the people perish without a vision (Proverbs).  You may not die without a vision, but here’s what I do know – your life will be much fuller and satisfying when you get clear on your purpose and when you keep it front and center.

Here are some of my favorite books on the subject:

Marsha Sinetar’s Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow:  Discovering Your Right Livelihood

Bob Griffith’s Do What You Love for the Rest of Your Life

Barbara Sher’s Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Love

Henriette Anne Klauser’s Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It

Your 3-part challenge for this month: 

• Create a 1-2 sentence summary of your life’s vision. 
• Spend 1 hour each week creatively expressing this vision (e.g., journaling, painting, singing, etc.).
• Share your vision with at least 3 people whom you trust.

Brian Peters is a respected and well-known travel blogger who keeps
travelers informed about the least expensive ways to travel around the
world.  He is the author of the e-book, No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling Around the World – Even in an Economic Downturn. Peters’ blog, NoDebtWorldTravel.com, was recently recognized by BootsNAll Travel as one of the “Best Round-the-World Travel Blogs”
for 2009.  We interviewed him earlier this month: check out what he has to say about expressing his Passions!

SO: What’s your definition of “passion”?  

Passion is what you THINK about day and night, an idea or concept that drives you forward, inspires you, gives you hope.

 Passion is when you would do ANYTHING to have a particular action or objective achieved.

 SO: What are your biggest passions for serving others, and how are you expressing them (also include hobbies and volunteering)?  

After losing my job, I decided to travel around the world. When I got back I had so many questions from friends and family about how to do it, I decided to put it into an e-book. Then I decided to add audio and video to help those who learn in different ways.

 Guest blogging, conducting interviews and other ways of getting the message out that travel does not have to be expensive and it is not just for ‘other people.’ People sometimes have such a inferior feeling of themselves compared to other people. We need to help each other break out of our mostly self imposed PRISONS by encouraging others and showing our successes to prove it can be done.

SO: Your biggest challenge(s) in leaping into your passions for serving others, and how you have addressed them?  

The biggest problem is passion may not immediately show a way to translate into putting food in your mouth and keeping a roof over your head. Pursuing your passion often means you need to leave a large organization to focus specifically on your passion.

 Let’s be clear. There is no security when you’re working for someone else, whether it is a large corporation or a private family run business.

 Everyone wonders, “How can I make money doing this?” Because as much as we love our passions, you’ve got to eat. The ideal life situation would be to make money from what we love.

SO: Your experience of “prosperity,” as you define it, in making the leap? 

The prosperity of time and opportunity. I lost my job and received a severance package. As opposed to picking up the want ads, I decided to pick up a plane ticket. I didn’t know when I would get another chance like this.

 At that moment that was prosperity. I felt like the richest man in the world. I had the time AND the opportunity to fulfill a life long dream.

 SO: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in making the leap?

That it is not as scary as it appears. You’ll plan but at some point you need to make a leap and have faith in yourself and your abilities to make your dreams come true. I always felt that if someone else did it, I can do it too.

 The other thing is that when you make a leap, other opportunities appear. Because you are stretching yourself, meeting new people, taking on new skills and projects, a whole new universe of OPTIONS becomes yours. Now you can be proactive, choosing what you want, as opposed to being reactive and letting the world exert its force on you.

SO: What’s your support system look like; how did you create it?

First my family is my most immediate support system. Without their love and encouragement I could have never done any of this.

 The other important support system are the other travel bloggers and entrepreneurs doing the same things I am doing. Having that in common with other people keeps me motivated and encourages me to move forward. Writing a book and being a blogger means I work by myself. But I can connect with people anytime and all over the world with the use of the Internet. Technology like Twitter, Facebook, email and Skype mean I don’t have to be alone unless I want to be alone.

 Communities of like-minded people are online everywhere, can encourage, support and keep you accountable. I searched out these groups and became a contributing member. What I contributed I have received in turn.

SO: What wisdom do you have for someone who’s scared/discouraged about their own leap?

Every day you are dying!

Every day you are dying!

It’s morbid, but it is the truth. Every day we are all approaching the end of our lives. What will you regret? What will you wished you had done? Most people never said, “I wish I had worked in the office more.”

Understand that for anything we want to do or learn, there is a website, magazine, book, e-book, blog, podcast, online class or school for whatever we want to learn. The only thing that holds us back is our own fears. Our personal prisons, as I like to call them.

 SO: What’s your next big milestone?

 My next big milestone is releasing my own e-book package on round the world travel. After that, creating income so that I can travel indefinitely or live anywhere I want in the world without being tied to a particular location

 Thanks and Happy Passioneering Brian!

Making a Difference: The Role of Realism, Perseverance and Requiring Less

By Donna W. Hill

http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Song written by Donna about Passions (Click here)

Making a difference means challenging assumptions and expectations. To endure while bucking the tide requires Realism, perseverance and the ability to thrive with less support than others require.

Realism is embracing the negative and the positive. If we wear rose-colored glasses, we miss the things that are calling out for change, the places where we can truly make a difference. If we only see those places of lack, we miss the foundations upon which change can and must be made.

My quest is to challenge assumptions about what it means to be blind. Decades of technological innovation have enabled some blind people to excel in careers never dreamed possible like engineering, chemistry and auto mechanics. Nonetheless, unemployment remains stuck at seventy percent, Braille literacy has fallen to ten percent and society seems comfortable supporting most blind adults through government programs.

My weapon in the struggle is my ability to write about the people in the trenches who are slugging it out against low expectations and apathy. I challenge myself to be a better writer and a better editor.

The odds are against making much progress. Nonetheless, I proceed, because I know that there are many talented blind Americans who want to contribute to society and are turned away before being given a fair chance or an equal education.

I also know that Braille has inestimable value. I was one of those legally blind kids who was supposed to act sighted, even though it meant I read so slowly, that, had I wanted to finish my homework, I would have had time for nothing else., I had constant headaches from having to get so close to the book. Audio learning, which I began in college, is not literacy. Listening was what humans did before the written word. It took decades to repair the holes in my education.

When I began this journey several years ago, I would have never dreamed that the New York Times would feature a blind Wall Street executive calling for Braille’s abolishment! Nonetheless, it happened. Who am I to argue with someone who has achieved so much using no Braille whatsoever? Her secret is that she has assistants to read to her and to take her dictations and put them into English. Most of us don’t have funding for such luxuries, and many who do bristle at the thought of being so dependent. Nonetheless, that article was a springboard for discussions among blind people as well as for me to use in my writing.

If I don’t stay grounded in reality, I could easily fall into the trap of believing that my efforts are pointless. In order to persevere, to continue to be an advocate at the highest level of my abilities, I must set aside my need for immediate gratification. Certainly, things happen that encourage me, and people express their appreciation. I admit that I need that. I know, however, that I am capable of proceeding with a lower than average amount of re enforcement

If you or someone you know would like weekly passioneering inspirations, based upon the wisdom of hundreds of Passioneers™ around the world, please let us know at passioneers@yahoo.com.  No cost. No spams. Below is our first Passioneering Tip for 2010, and we’ll be sharing these every week to subscribers on Tuesday mornings.  Happy Passioneering!

Weekly Passioneering Tips for Those in Vibrant Service

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Passioneering Tip #1

If you want to serve even more vibrantly and prosperously in the world, then dream a bigger dream. Passioneers dwell in the world of infinite possibilities!

 Quote

“The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than to cast off your own limitations and to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.” (Brian Tracy)

Affirmation

Today I boldly unleash a bigger life in service to others, easily and gracefully, without worrying about the “how”. My courage and willingness are more than enough.

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Thank you for being in service and for sharing the message of infinite possibilities.  

Happy Passioneering,

Sue Oliver, The Passions and Possibilities Project

We recently interviewed Terry Kohl about her Passions & Possibilities™.   She’s the creative founder and inspirational author of  http://www.LostYourJobNowWhat.com, and you can read more about her at http://www.TerryKohl.com.  Here’s what she had to say on the topic: 

SO: What’s your definition of “passion”?  

Passion is what motivates me to become all that I can be. Passion inspires, knows no boundaries or limits, and fuels my heart and soul with joyful energy. When I am “in passion” I am alive.

SO: What are your biggest passions for serving others, and how are you expressing them (also include hobbies and volunteering)?  

I want to inspire people to live in the now, for that is all there is. Right now we always have everything we need. It’s diving into the past or jumping into the future that takes us away from our purpose in life. There is nothing but right now, and when you practice that art of allowing NOW to be all there is, so much joy and relief is experienced! I also:

• Write a monthly What If newsletter

• Put on Playshops (not WORKshops) designed around my What If newsletter series

• Provide a daily Facebook and Twitter encouragement

• Am author of Lost Your Job? Now What!

• Help those out of work find their passion, not just a job

• Am a well-known tealeaf reader who guides by empowering

SO: Your biggest challenge(s) in leaping into your passions for serving others, and how you have addressed them?  

I truly have had no challenges. My service to others is all about shining my light and helping others to do the same. I have found that when you are living on purpose, “challenge” is not an experience you need to accept.

SO: Your experience of “prosperity,” as you define it, in making the leap? 

Prosperity knows that you have all that you want at any given moment. When we live as if we have it all, we then send out those vibrations that attract what we want. My favorite saying about this is, “Believing is seeing,” which is the exact opposite of what we were taught to experience. When we believe, our mind races to find things to support that belief. If we believe we lack, then we will see nothing but lack. If we believe we are prosperous, we see that manifest in all areas of our life.

SO: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in making the leap?

To trust my inner guidance system. We are all vibrational beings and have our emotions (inner guidance system) to thank for letting us know how we are doing at any moment in time. If we are feeling negatively about something we are not in alignment with our higher selves. When we feel joy, love, PASSION, we are one with our Source which can only express those higher emotions. My daily constant is to find whatever thoughts I can for passionately feeling joy and love.

SO: What’s your support system look like; how did you create it?

Well, my support system is me, and while I have many who appreciate and support my offerings and seek my services, I am my own wellspring of support. If you count on the support of others (and do not get me wrong I appreciate support) then you must also be swayed by those who do not support you. We are not here to gain the acceptance of anyone else. Whatever light you shine and whoever it touches is all that matters.

SO: What wisdom do you have for someone who’s scared/discouraged about their own leap?

We have choices in life and isn’t that a delicious knowing! We can choose to leap or we can choose not to. There is no right or wrong, only in the doing (of either) will we know if we are vibrating with our higher self. If not leaping feels good, then there is no reason to leap. Fear is only False Experiences Appearing Real.

SO: What’s your next big milestone?

I do not set goals. I follow the energy of my day and do what feels good and joyful. As simple as that may sound, it is of the highest order. When we are “in the flow” of life, all is well.

 Thanks and Happy Passioneering Terry!