On Saturday I had the honor of speaking at the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference. This is my favorite writing and publishing event of the year because the people who attend are all extremely passionate. They all want to write books and build businesses to further a cause or start a movement. They are on a mission. They have a calling. They feel the strong pull to fulfill their purpose. These things fuel their passion and make them feel inspired.
I can’t help but feel inspired when I speak to them. Their passion and purpose combined keep them inspired, and that feeling is contagious.
Generate some Passion!
Have you ever noticed that about passionate people? Their enthusiasm and interest in whatever they feel passionate about sucks you in. Before you know it, you feel passionate as well–even if not about the same topic–or you want to find something to feel passionate about. Their passion generates passion in others. It’s inspiring.
That’s why it’s so important to feel passionate about whatever you do in life. Everything is energy, and your energy attracts like energy. The energy of passion is filled with joy, love, excitement, enthusiasm, and hope. It’s a positive energy and emotion that generates more of the same. It taps you into the flow of positive energy all around you…and carries those around you into the flow. It also brings you into the moment, makes you present and gives you focus.
If you want others to help you or to get on board with your mission, project, products and services, or cause, your passion will help accomplish that goal.
Passion Isn’t Enough
However, you’ll hear people talk about the importance of passion as if it’s all you need to succeed in life. In fact, it’s not enough. You also need to take action that supports your passion; that’s when you will see some impressive results.
If your passion revolves around your purpose, whatever that purpose might be, you also will feel inspiration, another contagious emotion. If you take inspired actions, at the moment of inspiration intuitively doing things you feel moved to do, your results will skyrocket!
Without any action, however, no matter how inspired you are, no matter how passionate you feel, you won’t accomplish much at all.
Passion Helps You Live Fully
As I looked into the eyes and faces of the attendees at the conference, I saw something I don’t see in every person I meet. I saw people who were living their lives more fully than most. Why? Because they had passion. They had purpose. And they felt inspired to fulfill their potential by combining their passion and purpose, in this case by writing and publishing the books that would further their causes and movements.
Do you feel passionate about something? If so, how are you combining that with your passion and purpose so you live each day filled with inspiration? Tell me in a comment below.
You’re making a good point regarding passion, Nina. I like that old expression, “we vote with our feet…” which means we get going and do something, or we don’t. Sometimes I wonder if those of us who are passionate were simply born with the quality. Passion can be contagious of course (fans at ball games, rock concerts, stirring speeches) but our inner, innate passion seems to show up in our personalities even when we’re young, and it’s how most of us live out our lives. Just the way it looks to me… What do you think?
I’m not sure, Mia. It’s a good question. I do think some people live their whole lives as passionate people, but others find their passion later in life–and their purpose–and pursue it. Passion and purpose do help us “vote with our feet” for sure. Look at activists…many of whom were at that conference!