7 Ways To Make Your Passions Serve Your Highest Potential

What ignites your passion?

When do you feel engaged in the present moment?

For many, being absorbed in their favorite hobby, sport or past-time comes to mind. You might recite the countless hours spent in pursuit of your interest and the feelings associated with it.

There is enormous pleasure in pursuing your passion.

Your work or career is not the only area tied to your passion. Many people find sanctuary in their pastimes or hobbies which bear no financial incentive other than offering enjoyment and self-fulfillment.

In earlier articles, I outlined the state of flow one achieves when aligned with their passion. Time stands still and you’re overcome with pleasure when absorbed in your pursuit. Such activities offer mental, emotional and physical benefits as well.

In recent times, we’ve seen popular culture espouse turning your passion into profits as a practical success model. However, this may not appeal to all people.

Moreover, it was the late Steve Jobs who imparted graduates with the following wisdom in his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005: “…and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

Whilst he was alluding to one’s career, we can adapt this to reflect other aspects of our lives where our passions run deep.

Author Charlie Harary explains in Unlocking Greatness: The Unexpected Journey from the Life You Have to the Life You Want that visualizing your ideal self releases the passion needed to bring that self to reality: “Being able to identify and visualize your ideal self unleashes the passion you need to make that version of yourself a reality. You need to see it, dig for it and feel it to have a chance of living it.”

So how can you transform your passions so they serve your highest potential?

The following points are ways to embody your passion to correspond with your highest intent.

1. Become What You Love

Embody what you love by becoming an extension of your passion. People who live what they love can’t wait to get up in the morning to spend another day immersed in their pursuit.

As Steve Jobs reminds us in the earlier quote: “If you haven’t found it yet—don’t settle.” There is nothing more meaningless than pursuing a life that does not resonate with your deepest self. So discover what makes your heart sing with enthusiasm and spend time absorbed in it. Let your spirit come alive and sense the rapture when you are engrossed in that which brings you joy.

2. Find Purpose And Passion In Other Areas

I mentioned earlier that your passion needn’t be tied to your work. For example, many people have hobbies or interests which do not earn money, yet offer personal satisfaction. It takes persistence and focus to turn your passion into profits.

Those who achieve this crossover will remind you it often comes at a price: long hours, stress, health risks, family problems, etc. This should not dissuade you from pursuing this path, instead, realize what is involved. Passion needn’t be tied to generating an income and this is where many people fall short.

Charlie Harary says: “You can direct your life not only where you want it to go, but where you need it to go: toward meaning and purpose, toward transcendence, toward your ideal self.”

I know many budding entrepreneurs who started out pursuing their passion and turned it into a lucrative career. However, as the business grew they lost their passion to managerial work and the day-to-day grind of building a company. Their passion became hijacked by their entrepreneurial calling which is not what they set out to pursue.

3. Synchronize With Your Mind And Body

When pursuing your passion, harmony and balance are preserved within the mind and body. For example, the art of miniature Bonsai tree pruning can bring deep satisfaction and resonance to the individual as they watch their Bonsai take shape.

People who keep tropical fish report feeling the same connection. Cooking is said to have the same therapeutic effect of calming the mind and body. Your passion can be deeply rewarding from a health perspective, so find more time to engage in whatever brings you inner peace, harmony, and balance.

4. Slow To The Speed Of Life

The Schumann resonances have a frequency range of 7.83Hz (7—10 cycles per second) and are common in the EEG readings of humans and many animals. It is known that the dominant brain wave frequency of healers comes close to 7.83 Hz and may beat in phase with the Earth’s signal, causing harmonic resonance.

This is proof we are wired to synchronize with the speed and frequency of life. If you rush about your day trying to get everything done, you create unwanted stress in your life. Slowing to the speed of life means to go with the flow and not resist the current of life because everything unfolds on its own timeline.

5. Overcome Your Fears

Fear is a draining emotion which discolors your perception of life. It shapes your inner landscape and influences your reality. Therefore, let go of your fears by transforming them into inner peace, faith, and trust.

As you let go of fear, you will fall in love with life. You cannot appreciate life when your mind and body are gripped by fear which is a lower state of consciousness. Love reflects a higher state of consciousness (logarithmic level – 500) as represented in the Map Of Consciousness, while fear is depicted as lower emotional energy. (Logarithmic level – 100).

6. Look For The Good In All Situations

Look for the positive in all situations and not just in a Pollyanna type of way. Yin and Yang are parts of the whole, so what may appear as an untoward condition, contains the seed of something positive. As you widen your vista, you will recognize the good in all circumstances.

It won’t come looking for you holding up a placard, screaming to get your attention. Look for evidence in the smallest details and you will find it. It was the German architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who said: “God is in the details.”

7. Engage In Loving Relationships

Engage in loving relationships and let go of toxic ones. Remember, we coach others how to treat us. If you are not receiving the respect you deserve, on an unconscious level, you may be attracting this relationship to experience personal growth.

Learn from it and dissolve any inner conflicts or limiting beliefs. People’s perception of life may be discolored by their experience of intimate relationships. They fail to acknowledge that life is a mirror reflecting one’s inner landscape: as within, so without states the Hermetic aphorism. As you heal your wounds, life acknowledges your openness to live a life vested in love.