Achievers of every field laud it as their fuel to success. The ones who don’t have it are annoyed at the lack. Some try to find it by changing careers. Some try to find it by giving their mind a major thinking exercise. And the ones who have it, prize it. We’re talking about a sought-after asset: passion.
Life without passion is a mere act of survival. A life of passion is an enjoyable adventure, that drives progress and motivation.
Maya Angelou, the famous writer, on the significance of passion: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do with some passion, some compassion, some style.”
Passion is good to have. But, what to do if you don’t have it? How do you find your passion in life when it seems too distant for your reach?
Here are three ways of finding your passion:
1. Allow room for the irrational
“We usually do only that which is purposeful, useful and rational. Everything you see is through the rational mind. But intuition, discovery, new knowledge go beyond the rational mind,” says Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Rationality snubs possibilities. To find your heart’s calling, you first need to silence the head talk. That does not mean you resign from your day job and attend to your mind’s whims! It means keeping some time and space for doing something without giving a thought to it. The process will open new doors for ideas and self-discovery.
2. Instil it
There is a little secret about a passion that many of us not know: it is that passion can be instilled in any task! You don’t necessarily have to find your dream job to feel passionate. Just do everything with 100 percent effort and enthusiasm. These two key ingredients are invoked by being entirely in the present moment! When the mind is not wandering and is in the present moment, it is naturally able to give itself to the task at hand.
The practice instills passion in you. When the fire of passion is lit, your enthusiasm for work also augments. When enthusiasm burgeons, so do passion. It is a continuous cycle.
Do your work with 100 percent effort. You will find your passion inside you!
3. Meditate to gain intuition, awareness & enthusiasm
While intuition tunes the mind to the heart’s calling, awareness of the present moment spark passion - for any activity.
Meditation is instrumental in nurturing all the three! It calms the mind and sharpens intuition. It heightens awareness and enthusiasm by connecting one with the source.
Based on inputs from faculty members, Prashant Lalchandani and Prajakti Deshmukh