Designing a Passionate Life

How to Stop the ANTS

Designing a passionate life requires that you recognize and kill the ANTS that invade your life. I was watching public television the other night and Dr. Daniel Amen was giving a talk called "Change Your Mind - Change Your Body". He is a physician and psychiatrist who has done a lot of research on the brain/body connection. It was an absolutely fascinating topic about how our brains are of different types and that once you figure out your brain type, it's easier to loose weight.

How To Create Your Purpose Statement

Designing a passionate life includes a clear understanding of your purpose. When you live with passion and purpose your life becomes fun and fulfilling. I believe that your passions are the clues to your purpose. Use your passions to lead you to your purpose. When you know what you are passionate about it's easier to get clear about your purpose. Your passions and purpose both arise from your heart. It's important to go within when doing this exercise.

2009 Completion and 2010 Creation

Designing a passionate life includes acknowledging yourself and what you've completed. By doing this you create space for new things to appear in your life. The end of the year is a perfect time to do this. I have provided a exercise for you to do just that. Use this exercise to acknowledge what you have completed in 2009 and state what you want to create in 2010.
 
2009 Acknowledgement
This exercise serves:

• to remind you of what you've accomplished and created
• to recognize and acknowledge what you have learned
• to re-evaluate the vision of what you desire or want
• to recognize what you can let go of

Enjoy this process. Recognize and acknowledge what you have accomplished. Immerse yourself in the energy of creation and be very clear about what you want to create. This process is a work in progress, as is all of our lives. We're never done. Think big and have fun doing this exercise. Get connected to the energy of your passions.

Part I - Completion 2009
What did you create in 2009? Make a list of what you created in your personal life this year. For each item on your list, answer the following questions.

• What have I accomplished by creating this?
• What energized me or filled me up by creating this?
• What drained my energy?
• What have I learned in this process? (In what ways did I grow from this?)
• What can I let go of? (What am I done with learning and ready to let go of)

Part II - Creation 2010
Ask yourself the following questions for the new year:

• When you imagine having lived a passion filled life at the end of 2010, what is different from your life today?
• List 3 to 5 things that if you create them, will move you towards living a passionate life in 2010.
• List the things you want to complete.

Repeat this process for the following areas of your life:
Business
Spiritual
Physical
Other?

What are you passionate about right now that will propel you forward into the act of creation in the year to come? What are you doing to live a passionate life? Sign up for my free Passion Deficit Disorder (PDD) report and find out what you can do about it.

 

What is Success?

Designing a passionate life requires that you define what success means to you. As I work with people I find that many have ideas about what success looks like based on the culture they live in, family beliefs, or listening to other outside influences. All of these outside influences can cause you to put unnecessary pressure on yourself. What society or other people see as successful may not be how you define it at all. Therefore, in your eyes you may feel like a "failure". It's time to question your ideas about what success means to you.

Saying Thank You

Designing a passionate life includes gratitude. Since we are in the week for Thanksgiving here in the United States I thought it would be appropriate to talk about gratitude.  I do believe that living in gratitude is key to living a passionate life because gratitude is saying 'yes' to your life. It opens you up to the possibilities and the energy flow of action and abundance. I don't think we celebrate gratitude just one time a year and then we're done with it. It's a way of life, of opening and letting Source flow through you.

What Does Love Look Like?

Designing a passionate life includes giving and receiving love. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what love looks like and I was blown away and humbled by a video that I saw for the first time today. This video has been around for two years so you may have seen it but it's worth another watch.

It is the story of a father's love for his son. It shows us that when you are passionate about something that comes from your heart, you will find a way and it will happen. One action step at a time. The accomplishments of father and son are incredible and I'm sure they took a lot of planning, hard work, and passion. I can't even begin to imagine the obstacles that they confronted and worked through. 

I don't need to say more. Watch and witness what Love looks like. Click the link below to view the video.

What Love Looks Like

Stopping the Hiccups

Designing a passionate life includes stopping the hiccups. Let me explain. I'm talking about the actual physical hiccups that you can get and what I'm calling the hiccups of life. Stay with me here. I will connect the dots. I got the hiccups today and I expressed my frustration with having them to a friend of mine. My friend's face lit up and he said, as people often do when you have the hiccups, "I have the perfect solution and it really works, just try it!" I don't know how many times I've heard different solutions for stopping the hiccups but I humored him and listened. What he said resonated with me and I knew it would work and I wanted to prove it to myself.

How to Stay Inspired

Designing a passionate life includes living from inspiration. I'd like to define inspiration before I talk more about it.  Inspiration is acting or moving either your intellect or emotions. I see working from inspiration different than working from motivation. Motivation is defined as a need or desire to take action. To me inspiration comes from a place of power, creativity, and connection from deep inside of you and you feel the desire to take action. To me, inspiration is a lighter energy than motivation. Motivation feels like "willing or forcing" myself to take action rather than being moved to take action. Both inspiration and motivation move you forward but from a different type of energy. Right now, I'm focused on inspiration.

Developing Daily Practices

Designing a passionate life includes developing daily practices that move you towards your life vision. After you are clear about your passions, you need to take action towards living your passions. The actions come with the clarity of vision. You also need to develop daily practices that become habits that strengthen you and continue to move you towards living your passions.

Living Your Full Potential

Designing a passionate life includes discovering and living your potential. I'm sure you've heard this before but I want to focus on this from an internal point of view. Many times when this topic is discussed it is measured by the external accomplishments of people. I think this is important but it's not the only measure of living your full potential.