Today’s guest blogger is Elaine Bailey. Elaine is an international business and life coach who lives in Yorkshire, England. More about Elaine below.

 

“Our deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic selves. We must learn to respect them, we must learn to listen.”
– Sarah Ban Breathnach

Passion, for me has a spiritual nature because it comes from deep within. Passion is a driving force that surges from the inside out. Sometimes I can feel it buzzing in every cell of my body and I feel so wide awake.

Passion provides an abundance of clarity and energy that you need to be successful.

It is demonstrated in different ways. Passion can be vibrant and energetic, such as a senior manager striving for success and pushing the boundaries to get things done. It can also be expressed in a peaceful and calming way:  the passion of an overseas manager at The Donkey Sanctuary administering support and education to save the lives of donkeys around the world.

I’m sure you’ve met passionate people who can’t wait for the day to begin. They’re focused and full of energy. They love their work because this is their purpose and what they were meant to do. They are doing things they love. I believe that they are following their heart and enjoying the journey as it unfolds. Every day is fun. This is what makes them successful from the inside out.

Passion brings many benefits:

• We have clarity, focus and clear direction.
• We can make better decisions.
• We can get more done in less time.
• We are attractive. Success breeds success – more people want to be associated with us.
• We become leaders of our passion and engage others along the journey.

We spend approximately one third of our life at work. CIPD and Gallop polls say that approximately a third of us are not happy in our jobs.

One third of your life is a long to time to be unhappy. You ALWAYS have another choice.

Why not follow your passion?

So how can you find out how to make a living doing the things that you love? Firstly you have to identify what you love doing. This is often where people give up because they don’t know how to find their passion. It can take time to explore and we want all the answers now!

Here are a few questions to get you thinking…

1. How much do I love what I’m currently doing?
2. If I had the choice to do anything I wanted to do what would it be?
3. Why would I be happy doing this?
4. How would it make me feel each day?

Pay attention to your insides…

If you’re still not sure what your passions are, then become your own private detective and use the following to help you investigate your thinking, feeling and intuition. Keep a Passion journal to help you focus your attention. Learn to recognize what you are actually passionate about. What situations actually bring out your passions?

Here are a few prompts to help you:

1. When are you really happy?
2. What engages you (time passes so quickly here because you’re so fully engaged in the moment)?
3. What brings you joy?
4. What makes you laugh and smile most?
5. When do you feel appreciated?
6. When do you feel the most connected to yourself and others?
7. What are you doing?
8. Where are you doing it?

Reflect on your daily experiences inside and outside of work. These are all indicators of when you are the happiest and where you’d enjoy spending your time.

This practice can really help you to get in tune with YOU.

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Elaine Bailey is an international business and life coach as well as a learning and development consultant for large corporations. She is also an international motivational speaker, whose topics include “Business or Busy-ness? Four Ways to Get Your Life Back on Purpose” as well as president and founder of Elaine Bailey International Ltd, a company devoted to coaching busy and successful women and men into their best lives and Living On Purpose.