Passion has been on my mind lately. I should say in my heart since that is the location of passion. The passion I feel for color, nature, clients, my book coming into the world, my life, my business, my mentors, and each of you.
Passion is how we feel our purpose. Yes, you DO have a purpose. But let me tell you what I read about John James Audubon before I say more about this. If you are not familiar with him, he was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. (1785-1851)
Recently I found a new book in our local library that has all of Audubon’s prints of birds in it. The book is huge! I checked it out because I love birds and also because I paint birds in my paintings and wanted to study how he portrayed them.
In the introduction to this massive book, I read: “His near total focus on birds led to several business failures and to hardships for his family, but he (and his equally undaunted wife Lucy) always found a way to get by and his passion and total commitment shines through in his letters and journal entries. Writing about his time in Louisville, KY around 1810 when he was supposed to be helping a business partner run a dry goods store, he said, ‘I shot, I drew, I looked on Nature only, my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not.’”
When I read this passage I must admit I burst into tears. I felt the absolute courage it took for Audubon to follow his passion. I also thought about the world without his amazing work. Then I thought about all of the people who go to work day in and day out, with no passion at all and never ask, “How can I change this?”
Passion is the key to unlocking your gifts, your purpose. It’s not that hard to find it when you are committed to living your soul’s calling. Commitment is a key though. And those of you who ARE committed know that you are. You feel it. You have felt it since you were young.
Think of all the amazing manifestations that will not happen in our world if people were afraid to step outside the box of their programming about how to be safe and secure. Audubon’s drawings and all of the Audubon Societies around the world wouldn’t exist! He put passion and purpose first.
I’m not saying quit your ‘day job’. But I’m saying you have a choice about following your passion, about discovering it, knowing it, and acting in alignment with it, step by step.
Look and see for yourself if your life is passionate or not. If not, what is the focus you maintain that blocks your passion from rising up? Is it your job? Your habits of thought? Your associations?
You have a choice in each moment about where you place your focus. And where you place your focus will either move you closer to your passion or further away from it.
Here are the first two steps of a process from my Passion and Purpose Program
(Step 1) Ask: “What am I focused on right now?”
(Step 2) Ask: “Does this focus take me towards my passion or away from it?”
Click here to download the PDF with all 5 steps. Use it as a practice, especially when you are feeling stuck in the heaviness of focusing on ‘what you don’t want’!
If you are one of those people who says, “I don’t know what my passion or purpose is!” then I have one piece of advice: SLOW DOWN! You must slow down to feel and listen and tune in to your Spirit. And your Spirit always knows.
Finally, because this fits so well into this topic: The last line of the famous novel “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis is, “I have never done the thing that I wanted to in all my life.”
Don’t let this be you!
