Issue #62 - December 15, 2000 <<Finding Your Passion>>

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brought to you by Laurie Riddell Geary, M.Ed., PCC.
Coaching you to get your life IN GEAR by making shifts, getting
unstuck, finding balance, accelerating your growth, and mapping
the best route to your chosen destination: a life filled with
passion and purpose.

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Table of Table of Contents:

 1. Topic: <<Finding Your Passion>>
         2. Recommended Tasks
 3. Recommended Books
        *New: A Resource Booklet on Games and Initiatives
         4. Upcoming Teleclasses and local Workshops
         5. Subscription information
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<< Finding Your Passion>>

 What is passion?  For me it's that moment when I feel totally present...time stands still...I am totally focused on the moment and I think of nothing else but what I am doing..whom I am with...I don't want to be anywhere else.  I know I am happy..I feel glad to be alive.  Athletes call it <being in the zone> others call it feeling bliss...ecstasy..having reckless abandon.    What is your definition of passion?  What comes to mind when you think of passion?

 I recently asked a group of women to describe their moments of passion.  Here are some of their examples:
 ...breast feeding...conversing in  another language...exercising...yoga...dancing...windsurfing...skiing...using a skill...love-making..being in an intimate conversation..listening to music..singing..being outside in nature or by the ocean...climbing a mountain...gardening..giving..snorkeling...swimming...kayaking alone...giving a talk/workshop/class....reading a good book...
 What are your examples? When did you feel passion?

 Do you have enough passion in your life?  Are you aware of it when it happens? Do you generally feel happy? joyful? fulfilled?   More and more people want and expect to live a life filled with passion and purpose now...in the present.  We no longer expect that happiness will come to us when we retire, after years of hard work.  There has been a shift in our cultural...and thus personal.. expectations: we want to be happy NOW.  As we become increasingly empowered and self aware, we are less willing to wait for things; we want more freedom in our life; we are tolerating less; and we are becoming more Selfish (in a positive way). We know that if we aren't happy, it is up to us to take responsibility to make changes in our life; we know that no one else can make us happy.

 We don't want to settle for less than we can be: we want to achieve our potential; we want peak experiences; we want a life enriched with passion and purpose in order to feel that we are making a positive difference in our life and in the lives of others.   Many experts tell us how: Richard Brodie urges us to <Get Past O.K.>  Marcia Reynolds exhorts us to <Capture the Rapture> Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi encourages us to <Find Flow> Abraham Maslow shows us how to reach self-actualization;  Stephen Covey tells us to <Develop the Habits of Highly Successful People>  Richard Stoltz inspires us to be Climbers.  Others show us how by modeling a passionate and purposeful life: Oprah Winfrey...Mother Theresa...

 The recent boom in the coaching profession, I think, is due to people recognizing that partnering with a life coach can really encourage and support them in creating a passionate and purposeful life.  We want to  have it all!  It just takes awareness and desire and action!   We can, however, take charge of our life and be more proactive in finding passion.   Here are some recommendations:

  <Top Ten Steps to Finding Your Passion and Purpose>

1. Create an <I Want> List....Write down at least 100 things you want in your life now.

2. Make a list of all the things you loved doing as a child: peak experiences...times when you felt passion.  Do you still do these things? Why not?
    Make a list of all the things you do NOW when you feel passion.
   Compare the two lists...what do you notice?

3. Write at length:  <If money were no object,  I would......>

4.  Imagine yourself at 80.  Write <If I had my life to live over, I would.....>

5.  Write your Epitaph.  What would you like people to read about you and how you lived your life?

6.  Write or Draw or Create a Collage: My Ideal Life... also: My Ideal Relationship.

7.  Create a collage of passionate activities you want to/like to engage in.

8.  Identify your role models of passionate people.  What are their qualities? characteristics?  How can you model yourself after them?

9.  Read books written by people who explore ways to find passion...so that you can learn from them how to create the passionate life you want.

10. Take Risks! Go to your Growing Edges...and then Leap! into the unknown to a create new and exciting life.

 *Please send me your ideas for finding passion!  I really love to receive your feedback.

*Next week's issue will deal with what gets in the way of our finding and living our passion...any ideas?>>>>>

Recommended Tasks

1. Do any or all of the Top Ten Steps mentioned above.

2. Read one of the books mentioned below.

3. Register for my free upcoming, interdevelopmental teleclass:<<Finding Your Passion> (see below).
 
4. Go to my Website www.ingearcoaching.com for  back issues of my newsletter on related topics <taking risks, building self esteem, becoming assertive...and much more>
 
5.. Call or email me for a complimentary half-hour COACHING session to support you in finding your passion and purpose.
 Voice:617-494-1422;  email: laurie@ingearcoaching.com

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Recommended Reading:

<I Could Do Anything If I  Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What you Really Want and How to Get It> by Barbara Sher
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN/0-440-50500/gearupforsuccela

<Getting Past O.K. - A Straightforward Guide to Having a Fantastic Life> by Richard Brodie
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN/0-9636001-0-9/gearupforsuccela

<Capture the Rapture - How to Step Out of Your Head and Leap into Life> by Marcia Reynolds
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN/0-9655250-0-7/gearupforsuccela

<Finding Flow - The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life> by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN/0399515631/gearupforsuccela

<The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People> by Stephen Covey
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN/0-671-70863-5/gearupforsuccela

<Bright Ideas for a Better Life> by Joanne Schlosser
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0-9668294-2-5/gearupforsuccela

<<And.. check out my new booklet on experiential activities for trainers: 75 of my favorite activities learned from years of working as an instructor for Outward Bound Professional Development Programs.
GAMES & INITIATIVES for NETWORKING, ENERGIZING, & TEAM-BUILDING...now available...hard copy ($20) or pdf. file ($15)
Send check to Laurie Geary, 4 Canal Park, PH9, Cambridge, MA 02141;  email request to: laurie@ingearcoaching.com or order at my website: www.ingearcoaching.com
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 UPCOMING TELECLASSES:

<Finding Your Passion and Purpose> Free!
Wednesday, January 17 @ 9pm
For more information or to register go to www.womensu.com or www.teleclass.com

<The Perfect Life>
Wednesdays @ 8pm for 6 weeks, beginning in January, 2001.
Register at www.teleclass.com

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UPCOMING LOCAL WORKSHOPS:

BE A PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL COACH
*Boston Center for Adult Education
 Thursday, January 18, 2001-6:30-9:30pm
also, Tuesday, April 3, 2001
*NSCC, Wednesday, February 28th, 9-3 p.m.

RISK-TAKING: THE PATH to PERSONAL GROWTH
*BCAE -6:30-9:30 pm.- Thursday, January 25, 2001
also Tuesday, April 10, 2001
*NSCC: Wednesday, February 21, 2001, 9-3pm

BUILD YOUR SELF ESTEEM WITH THE 8-A SYSTEM
*NSCC: Wednesday, April 4, 2001, 9-3pm

ATTRACTING WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE
*Middlesex Community College - Saturday, February 24th from 9 to 4 pm

GAMES AND INITIATIVES FOR LEARNING
* RANCHO LA PUERTA SPA, Tecate, Mexico
December 16-22, 2000

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