http://www.lindsaycook.net/articles/finding-your-passion/
Lindsay Cook Open Minds
Psychological Coaching – Business, Sport, & Life
Finding your Passion
NZSCAH Conference Lecture
PASSION
It’s an emotional word.
What is passion exactly?
The Dictionary describes it as – Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling – such as love or hate – a strong feeling about a subject or person, usually of intense desire and attraction.
Passion is a force—sometimes an uncontrollable force—that infuses our life with meaning, joy, even anger. Passion catches our attention, brings commitment and determination, but one thing can be sure – it causes us to act. However if passion is guided by the wrong motives it can be quite dangerous. But when guided by the desire to help people lead bigger, richer, fuller lives, passion has the potential to help create a better world. Passion is the fire that burns within us. Passion enables us to go places others are afraid to go, to try things others are afraid to do, and to be the kind of people others are afraid to be! Passion creates the energy and drive required to do what others think is impossible.
Finding your passion unlocks prosperity and abundance.
What exactly is, your Passion?
A recent survey established that about 75% of people do not enjoy the work they do.
This is very sad when you consider that work consumes so much of our lives.
As Clinical Hypnotherapists it is assumed that we have a passion already, as that is why we spent time training and chose to be in this profession in the first place. However as you already undoubtedly know, the area of hypnotherapy is vast and some of us may find the choices of specialisation a little bewildering. I hear you say – but I want to help everyone! And that’s great, but each of us possesses unique and special gifts and talents and we each have natural inclinations towards certain subjects that can lead us towards specialising in one area or another. Every one of you has your own specific mission in life. It cannot be replaced by something else, nor can someone else do it for you. Each and every one of you is unique, and this uniqueness is your guide. Start by simply believing in yourself. Trust it and let it lead you.
Remind yourself that you possess a powerful subconscious mind that guides you. Make sure you use it – everyday – and ask it to bring you the answers you are looking for. Open your mind to options and possibilities. Dare to dream. There are no boundaries except those that exist in your mind. See it in your mind – and do it! Very often it’s a lack of self-confidence that keeps us stuck. As Hypnotherapists we have plenty of tools at our fingertips to remedy this one. Learn to know yourself. Find out who you really are. Knowing yourself is being yourself – finding your real talents and putting them to use. Use what you know and apply it to help yourself too. Make it a daily commitment to help yourself to be the best you can be. Make this your first priority, and soon you will see that your perspectives change.
Do what you love and the money will follow.
What??? Did I say money? Oh that brought you back to reality!
“People whose whole objective is making money, usually don’t,” says Jerry White, professor of entrepreneurial studies at the University of Toronto in Canada. He should know. He’s made it his business to study successful entrepreneurs and to teach others their winning ways, and the one message that came through loud and clear in his research was: Find a product or service you can believe in passionately, because without this you will not succeed.
In western society, we are ruled by money. The problem is, this leads many people to seek making money first, instead of what makes them happy. I have read countless stories about corporate professionals for example, leaving their highly paid positions to follow what they really love. There is a reason for that.
I truly believe that if you follow what you are passionate about without thinking about whether it will make you rich or not, you will end up being successful.
Doing what you have a passion for brings out your best, and this leads to greatness. Greatness leads to success.
Think for a moment about something that you would just love to do, even if you were not getting paid.
What is it that makes you really happy? What takes your heart? Whatever it is that makes you smile, and makes you happy when you encounter it, this is a sign of something you are passionate about. Happiness and passion walk hand in hand. So following what makes you truly happy is a wonderful way to figuring out what you were put on Earth for. Think about something that you do or that perhaps you used to do that brings total peace to you when you do it. Peace is happiness, and happiness is passion.
What do you like to talk about most of the time?
I like to talk about horses and horse related topics – that gets me excited and passionate. Ask your friends what makes your eyes light up. Inject enthusiasm into each and every action of each and every day. Become passionate about yourself, then you can start to get passionate about other things. Live in a state of gratitude. See the fullness of life all around you. Small things lead to big.
Start with practicing good self-care – slowing down, nurturing your spirit – know yourself. Acknowledging the good that is already in our lives is the foundation for abundance. The source of abundance is part of who you are.
What do you find easy?
Usually, something we find easy will be related to what we are passionate about. Say you are naturally good at tennis, you find the game easy, and this makes it much more fun for you, and therefore you are keen to go and play tennis more often. Fun leads to happiness and happiness is synonymous with passion. So assess everything that you do, whatever it is that you find really easy and fun, this may very well be your passion. And never think that anything is a bit out there or seems silly. Don’t listen to negative doubters or people who are trying to hold you back. You can be successful out of anything you are passionate about.
Now of course, without taking action, all this becomes a huge waste, so that is why it is important to follow what we are passionate about.
What makes you unafraid of failure?
When we do what we are passionate about, we have total confidence in our abilities. This makes us not worry about failing, because in our mind, how can we fail when we do what we love? Doing what you love is success in itself, so failure is like impossibility. So in effect we are just living – existing – being – and successful at the same time.
There is a common misconception that taking risks is … well, risky. But the truth is that taking risks is no more risky than playing it safe, or maintaining the status quo. In fact, often by failing to move forward and make changes in different areas of our lives, we open ourselves up to the possibility of stagnation and falling behind.
It’s all perception. How we see ourselves, our lives, our world, our relationships, determines how we make decisions and choices. And often our perceptions of reality do not match the truth of reality.
Another common misconception that many people have is that life just happens to us without cause or reason. People who think in terms of good luck and bad luck are obscuring the truth, because they separate events from their causes. When we say that someone has had bad luck, we relieve that person of any responsibility for what has happened. When we say that someone has had good luck, we deny that person credit for the effort and choices they have made that undoubtedly have led to the positive outcome.
A. J. Foyt, 5 time winner of the Indianapolis 500 says, “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.”
There is very little “luck” in our lives as we understand the term. Synchronicity yes, but luck isolated from cause and effect, no.
When we choose to take a risk, we do so anticipating a positive outcome. We don’t know for certain what the outcome will be, but we weigh up all the options. Every decision we make has risks. Even the decision to do nothing has risks. Often we don’t make changes in our life because we are satisfied with what is happening. Why change, we reason, when things are fine? It’s a valid point. Even people who are unhappy with their life situation often resist change. The rationale being, “Better the devil I know than the devil I don’t know.” I might be unhappy, but maybe a change will make me even more unhappy. At least this unhappiness I can handle.” This kind of resignation comes from a distrust of life.
What can we do about that? The answer is simple. Relax and accept that this is life. You can never have 100% certainty about the outcomes of your decisions. Hopefully you use your logic and your intuition, trusting both equally. Trusting synchronicity. Trusting life.
Are you a risk taker? If your answer is sometimes, that is good. If your answer is always, then perhaps sometimes it may pay to be a little more conservative. If your answer is never, then you need to shake things up by taking some risks.
Calculated risk taking, along with trusting your logic and intuition, is smart and proactive. Life demands that we take risks. Not all the time. Not in every situation, but where we need to see change, growth and movement. Often it is the most prudent thing we can do.
Regret.
We all have dreams, and sometimes, life pushes us in different directions, and next thing we know, we are miles away from those dreams. If you were at the end of your life, what would you regret not having done? What would you have liked to do, that you didn’t get the chance to? Have a think about those questions for there is nothing worse than arriving at the end of the journey and having regrets. This is why finding your passion, and following it is so important. Live your life so that you have no regrets.
Yes at times, it can be scary, and you can have doubts, but the key is to pay attention to that gut feeling, because it is usually right. Knowing that it leads somewhere is good enough reason to keep at it.
What does success really mean to you?
There are people in my life who are inspirational role models for me. When we model ourselves after people who have achieved great things, we tend to take on their characteristics, their strengths and determination, their way. Soon their success leads to our success, and in the process we better ourselves. Role modelling is an effective and powerful step in achieving success because it gives us inspiration and courage to keep striving, even through tough times and challenging circumstances. We all need to know that what we’re trying to accomplish can in fact be achieved. And this is what our heroes can do for us – they can prove to us that our goals are not impossible.
If you are a new graduate the choices and options available to you in the field of hypnotherapy may be overwhelming. Or even if you are not a new graduate you may be thinking that you need shake things up a little. We are fortunate in our industry to have so much choice! Under the Clinical Hypnotherapy category there are things such as people’s everyday problems ranging from the more simple general confidence and motivation, weight management, to addictive behaviours, sexual problems, children’s issues, domestic violence, substance abuse.
Then there’s the Applied Hypnotherapy area — the Medical side of that – surgery, childbirth, chronic pain relief. Sport. Police Forensics. We can even break out into other realms such as more specialised Business or Life Coaching.
But if you apply the principles I mentioned earlier it will be easier for you to identify more clearly your life’s purpose.
Choosing to be a Hypnotherapist in the first instance says something very important about you as an individual. We are all at differing stages of our personal self-development, and it is important that we continue to grow too.
Choosing to be in the present will make sure that quality and power flow into your work. Connect to your inner, primary purpose, so that deeper meaning flows into what you do. Be true to life by being true to your inner purpose. As you become present and thereby total in what you do, your actions become charged with spiritual power. Take one step at a time in the direction of your inner purpose and give it your fullest attention.
What you think about, dwell upon, focus on makes an imprint on the subconscious level. So our reality is only manifestation of our thoughts.
Life is filled with choices and opportunities, so follow your heart, your instinct. Find something you can be passionate about and devote yourself to it. This is where your personal fulfillment as well as your contribution to the world lies.
Follow your dream. Trust your instincts. Find that something you can believe in passionately and give it your all. Do what you love.
Thank you.
