How to discover your Passions and how that will lead you to your Purpose

We can coast through life without a coherent reason for being. With a niggly feeling that there is something else to life, feeling a bit stuck and unmotivated. Life can drift unless we know what brings us joy and we have meaning and Purpose.

Finding Purpose has been a life's work for me, and in the process, I discovered my Purpose in helping people find theirs.

So, let's explore how to find Passions and how that leads to Purpose.

Natural Talents and Skills

Firstly, let's look at natural talents and skills. It's helpful to understand these because, usually, we enjoy using them. And most importantly, our Purpose will come from what we enjoy.

 Talent is a natural ability such as communication, a creative mind, or being born with perfect pitch.

Skills are learnt through practice—for instance, computer coding or gardening. Someone could become a good communicator but didn't start life with this as a natural talent.

In summary, you are born with talent, while skills are learnt.

To find out what your natural talents are, take the time to consider these questions:

• When you were a child, what did you enjoy playing at? Or love to do?

• Write about the 3 most satisfying things you have ever done.

• What are others always asking you to do because it's assumed that you do it best?

• What do you enjoy learning about? Is it something technical, e.g. excel, or more philosophical, like why the earth is round, or practical, e.g. how to grow vegetables?

Finding out what we love is about what calls us, our passions, and the delight and excitement of being involved with something. It's what makes the soul sing.

Name something in your life right now that does this for you.

And passion can range from eager interest to being beside yourself with excitement. You don't have to be at the 'beside yourself' excitement end. Being eagerly interested is just fine. It depends on your personality and how you express passion. So do take the pressure off yourself if you think you are supposed to be profoundly passionate about something.

How do I find my Passions?

Your body will always tell you if you are pursuing the right passions. It's like having an in-built GPS. Its signals are communicated in bodily sensations and your feelings, telling you when you are headed away from or toward your Purpose. Passions come from our inner being. It's who we are, what we enjoy doing and what we do when we are our most authentic selves. Some of the messages we get when we are doing something we enjoy are feeling -

• Positive

• Joyful

• We're enthusiastic about them

• It comes naturally

• Talk a lot about them

• Feel satisfied and relaxed when doing them and

• Things just happen at the right time.

For example, travel, making art, fishing, gardening, reading, interior design, building, designing a marketing campaign, creating a successful business, etc.

So, our bodies and feelings tell us when we are living well.

But if we aren't living our passions, we can feel:

• Frustrated or annoyed

• Have low energy

• Struggle to concentrate

• Unmotivated

• Stuck

• Anxious

And at the extreme, could get quite sick.

To find your Passions start NOTICING. Noticing is the key to where your energy goes. What lights you up, or when do you get excited, interested, engaged, talk quickly or want to tell others something? Maybe it's something you’re obsessed with?

Here are some questions to help:

• What makes you happy?

• What situations get you excited? Describe who you are with and what you are doing.

• When do you feel you are expressing your true self?

• What feeds you?

• What inspires you?

• What would you do with a day off, no schedule, or things you must do? (And you don't need to sleep)

What can also help is asking friends or family who know you well what they think you enjoy.

Here's another way to find your passions or interests - take a moment and list everything you enjoy, from sitting in the sun's warmth to driving fast cars. Everyday things, work things, people things, and weird things. List them all.

Now consider those things on the list that you would like to get more involved with (paid or unpaid) and give you satisfaction. Not the excitement of buying a new car or going on holiday. A quiet inner feeling or sense of joy. Something in which you could make a difference.

Trust yourself by listening to what your body tells you. Learning to use this awareness to find your Purpose is one of the most powerful things you can do on this journey.

You can live a fulfilled, happy life. It might mean sacrifices, it might mean less or more money. But finding Purpose will largely depend on the action you take to uncover where joy comes from. And, of course, from joy, there is love! 😊