Posts tagged Passions
Steps To Personal Success
Nov 29th
Many of us spend our days traveling from one high-pressure environment to another, “putting out fires” and dealing with issues, before we arrive at the end of the day and ask ourselves where all the time went. We live a rushed life that is determined by habits and conformity. In truth, we don’t really know how to measure whether we are being successful or not in real terms, even though we may often measure ourselves against the performance of our peers, close friends or family.
You may say that you do not have enough time to focus on the bigger picture, but simply need to make sure that you have enough money to put bread on the table, to look after your family and to take care of those often mundane chores that are part of your daily existence. You may wonder what is the secret of success, or even wonder what is the meaning of life. This is a phase that we all go through from time to time, yet sadly a majority of us do not take the necessary steps to achieve real success in life, in holistic terms.
If you want to take the first steps on this journey toward a brighter future, you need to assess certain critical success factors and make sure that you pursue them, doggedly. Unfortunately, there are many distractions and even more naysayers who will, subconsciously or not, try to pull you back.
The first thing that you need to do is to sit down and remind yourself what you are truly passionate about, whatever that may be and remind yourself why that passion exists in the first place. Commit to pursuing one or more of these passions with vigor. Make a list of reasons why you could be successful here and make a list of the potential distractions, as well. Set goals accompanied by specific conditions and time frame. Make these goals realistic, but infinitely achievable.
Dream of how successful you can be without limiting yourself. Think of everything you could do when you are successful in this way and how you could enrich not only your life, but the lives of everyone else around you. Remember that everything that we do, individually, affects a number of other people and this goes for negative actions as well as positive actions. Understand that by being successful, you will create a knock-on effect.
Always make sure that you have values attached to your goals by keeping your “why” present and that the interim goals are measured and themselves rewarded. Be happy and accept the fact that it may take some time to get to your ultimate position of success and that you will find “speed bumps” on the way. This is why it’s important to celebrate interim goals, to help you refocus on the bigger picture.
You have to believe. Your spiritual faith should certainly help you to understand that there is more to life than the mundane. It is well within our abilities as human beings to achieve whatever level of greatness we want to in our lives, but the longest journey begins with a single step.
Minding Those Out-Of-Control Passions
Nov 15th
We favour some things often beyond even our own known reason. We want others to know this joy that we’ve experienced – not thinking they’re different to us; confused are we when they wonder why we brought ‘this’ to them.
So much do we elevate these passions of ours at times and we truly wonder what’s wrong with people that they don’t feel the at least similarly – that they can’t hear a song with the same wonder we do, or get the same significance out of a quote or piece of news that just captured our attention.
Checking Our Passions
God gives us our very own identity such that others don’t have to agree with us in our passionate understanding of a thing. This is good for them and for us. There’s no pressure to conform. For ourselves, then, we’re blessed and privileged with a very personal view of the world that requires not one single other person’s agreement or approval.
The very fact that we can and do have our passions and we’re free to have them and express them however we like – within bounds of the law and morality – is an enormous liberty for all of us.
Sometimes, however, our passions go beyond where they should and they bend too far. We stand to lose our credibility and even friendships because our passion reaches an extreme level. Sometimes it gets beyond a joke and seriousness suddenly enters the equation.
Bringing in Some Needed Balance
None of us can subsist in life without much needed balance. When we’ve seriously lost our balance in one aspect of life and it surrounds a particular passion we’re commended for taking some time out to reflect.
Reflecting on balance is the exercise of wisdom and discernment over our lives. It’s helping us to determine where we’re at right now, based on the ‘evidence,’ and it’s also helping us navigate to safer, less conspicuous ground. None of us it would seem likes negative attention – not deep down.
At last this comes down firstly to awareness – being honest with ourselves – and then having the courage to act, which again will require the honesty of accountability to follow through on what we’ve agreed with ourselves.
Positive Passions
When we’re passionate about things in positive ways they lead us to inspirational ends; both for ourselves and others. These are passions that make a difference in our world, like the admirable passion or developing a skill that is finely honed.
It seems these passions can be ‘bent’ a long way and they still do not appear out of place. They just accentuate the candour of people’s admiration.
It is true insight to know the difference between those passions that impassion only us versus those that impassion the entire world.
Copyright (c) 2010 S. J. Wickham.
