Episode 35 : Part 4 - Finding your passion: Searching for the holy grail?

Letters to my kids: A suicide survivor's lessons and advice for life

Episode 35 : Part 4 - Finding your passion: Searching for the holy grail?

Music: “Just A Blip” by Andy G. Cohen From the Free Music Archive Released under a Creative Commons Attribution International License

www.oprah.com/supersoulsunday/the-secret-to-finding-your-passion-hint-its-not-what-you-think_1

- The last thing you want to do is live an unfulfilled, passionless life. A life where you hate your work, take the stress of a crappy job home with you each day, and bide your time until you can retire and be free of the monotony. Avoid the following seven mistakes when trying to find your passions:

- Assuming Passions are Reserved for Experts. Who comes to mind when you think of somebody who has a passionate career? If you’re a sports fan, maybe you think of a professional athlete. If you’re a literature buff, maybe you think of a great writer. If you’re a tech nerd, maybe you think of Steve Jobs. It’s true that we’re more likely to enjoy doing something we’re good at, but nobody is born an expert at something, so don’t write off the interests that excite you even if you’re a novice.

"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark." -Henri Frederic Amiel

- Overlooking Your Biggest Fans. Real quick: name one of your best friend’s passions. Your friend may never have told you that the thing you named was her passion, but you just knew. Yet it’s difficult to pinpoint our own. One huge mistake you may be making as you search for your passions is overlooking your biggest fans – the people who know and love you. If you can’t pinpoint what you are passionate about, ask your family and friends what they think your passions are.

- Thinking of Passion as a Verb. You probably think of somebody who is passionate about something active, like painting or sports. This is a mistake. When you’re searching for your passion to pursue work you love, you tend to get stuck on the idea that your passion has to be something that you do, rather than something you believe in, so knitting or playing hockey or painting come to mind. Your passion doesn’t have to be something you do. It can be something you believe in.

"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things." -Denis Diderot

- Believing That Passions Last a Lifetime. Close your eyes and picture yourself ten years ago. How much have you changed between then and now? How much have you grown and evolved? Chances are, you’re not the same person as you were back then. Yet we tend to expect that we’ll stick with the same passions throughout our entire lives. We humans are fluid and ever-changing, and the notion that our passions are something we are passionate about for life is misguided.

- Rejecting Passions Because They Seem Frivolous. We want to be the type of people who pursue passions that could change the world. We’re good people, so we want to pursue passions around social causes. And you probably are passionate about a certain social cause. But a less philanthropic passion is just as worthy, and just as you can’t pick your family, you can’t choose what lights that fire for you. Don’t reject your passions because they don’t conform to a set of standards you’ve set.

"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out." -Steve Jobs

- Expecting Too Much from Passions. You have a specific idea of what a passion does.Passionate people teach us that passions make our hearts beat faster, get us up in the morning, and consume us completely. So you want your passions to motivate you and drive you to the finish line. But sometimes, your passion is just something that quietly tugs at you.

- Discounting Your Personality. Have you ever looked at somebody who was clearly so fired up about something and wondered whether you’ll ever feel the same way? Why? Well, because you are not that person! You may have passions but never recognize them as passions because, in comparison to others, you just don’t get as excited about them. We have the tendency to compare ourselves to others in almost everything, but especially people who are front and center.

"Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

- Go Grab Your Passions by The Horns. When you’re trying to find and pursue your passions, you can easily drown in a sea of voices louder than your own about what passion should look like.

"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." -Theodore Roosevelt