This post is courtesy of Jill Badonsky at Kaizen Muses... google it for her site and more of her crazy creative ideas and prompts.

Open the door to Making Creativity Easier:

1. Small Question Asking the small question: "What makes getting to my creative passion easier?" When you continually ask a question like this without expecting an immediate answer... often you simply begin operating from the answer. Ask it while driving, showering, standing in line or during commercials.

2. What Gets a Rise Out of You? If you have difficulty narrowing down what creative pursuit you want to get to, put all your ideas on index cards and then based on what raises your energy, narrow it down to three. Stickers help. Pick one and just take a small step related to it. Being in action creates clarity. Sitting around just thinking about what you SHOULD start... creates acme... sort of.

3. However, daydreaming about being IN the process with a particular passion, experiencing the flow, feeling the bliss of the creative process take over so that the joy of discovery and the delight of being creative embraces you can be what we call "creative foreplay." It gets you excited about going further... or for some of us, getting started.

4. A Habit Discipline is no longer a struggle when you've developed a habit and a habit develops by showing up for even as little as 5 minutes a day.. even if you compassionately allow yourself a day off here and there.

5. Have fun.. Why not make it fun? We can DO that. Ask, "How can I make it fun to start?" In fact, write a letter to yourself from your creative passion having it entice you back to being involved with it. That's kinda fun. Have an affair with your creative passion but practice safe creating.

6. Team up Synchronize your action either with a friend who is working at the same time or gosh, hey.. why not a Life Coach for Passion!

Two types of people

There are two types of people in the world: people who are passionate about things, and people who've had their passion punched, beaten, or whatever out of them.
Kevyn Aucoin said that and he was right.
Whenever we are hurt or traumatized in some way, even small ways, we create a physical defense against that happening again. It is a survival mechanism that works to keep us safe if we should ever encounter that event or situation again. But those same mechanisms can becoming limiting to your experience as they accumulate and crate deeply entrenched patterns of avoidance. As with almost everything, awareness is the first step If your desire is to be more fully aware and awake and open to new experience and to fully feeling your passion, then you need to acknowledge the helpful purpose of that block or pattern, being grateful for the wisdom of your body and mind in protecting you from future harm. Then, you can ask for a different, non-limiting method for protection, trusting the wisdom of your body-mind to find an elegant solution for this problem. You can then choose to let go of the original protective pattern, with thanks and gratitude for it's amazing work, and relax, knowing you are open to experience, being protected in wise, non-interfering ways. So go ahead, invite fully functioning flow into your body and mind, fully feeling your passion and all your other positive feelings...! If you want to know more, check out my website mindsculpting.ca or contact me at cheryljturner@shaw.ca

There are three basic approaches to work: is it a job, a career, or a passion? Depending on which type of work you are in right now, the things that give you satisfaction will vary.
• If you work at a JOB, the compensation aspects of the position will probably hold more appeal than anything else, and have the greatest impact on whether you stay or go.
• If you work at a CAREER, you are looking for promotions and career development opportunities. Your overall satisfaction is typically linked with your status, power, or position.
• If you work at a PASSION, the work itself is the factor that determines your satisfaction, regardless of money, prestige, or control.

Although these are generalizations, you probably find that you get satisfaction from some aspects of your work more than others. Are there some aspects that meet your passions more than others, and can you find ways to build on those aspects and gradually decrease the time and energy spent in the other aspects of the job? Also, a choice to work at something you are passionate about does not mean you have to sacrifice money or other compensations, indeed, in my framework, the more you work at your passions, the more satisfying your life will be in all realms.

Building Job Satisfaction and enhancing your Passion at work

Once you have identified the blend of status, power, or intrinsic enjoyment that need to be present in your work for you to feel satisfied, you then need to work on some of these seven 'ingredients' for a satisfying job:

• self awareness
• challenge
• variety
• positive attitude
• knowing your options
• balanced lifestyle
• a sense of purpose
  

Self Awareness
The first step in the search to find your passions at work is to know yourself. If you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can identify professions that will help you to build on those strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
It is difficult to feel satisfied with something you aren't very good at, so rather than spend time berating yourself about it, take a long hard look at the things at which you excel, and try to find a position that uses some of those skills. another important aspect of self awareness is to have a good understanding of your personality traits and your preferred style of working. Make a list of the things you value in l ife, such as honesty, connectedness, creativity, social interaction or contribution, and those things that would score lower on your list of values, such as orderliness, tidiness, etc.By increasing your self awareness, you can work towards the ideal blend of compensation, status, and intrinsic reward (passion) that suits you. Knowing this will help you to set goals to move towards that ideal position, and make steps towards living a more passionate life.
The stronger the match between your preferences and the requirements of the job, the more potential for job satisfaction you have. The remaining six ingredients determine how much of that potential you actually achieve. More on these next time.....

Judith Orloff in her book, Positive Energy, has ideas about how to locate your inspiration, especially in the workplace. She says, “inspiration epitomizes positive energy: it’s seminal to being joyous and rambunctiously alive. You can’t be creative without inspiration”.

To me, to be inspired is to be passionate. They are almost synonymous terms. Judith goes on to say, “Inspiration brightens the light around you and people instinctively respond. Poetry, music, and art are ways to creatively celebrate existence. To maximize our energy, we must search for our passions until we find them.”

Take an inspiration Inventory to find passionate work, hobbies and the miracle of small moments. Here’s how Judith says to do this:

The focus is on helping you to find work you truly love, or show you how to reinspire your current job, even tiny bits of it. You can start by keeping an inspiration journal, to remember all inspiring inklings.

Step #1 in a journal define the conflict about your job

Step #2 Ask yourself these questions;

Why doesn’t my job inspire me? Pinpoint the cause

Is it the particular circumstances – your boss, office politics, or irritating coworkers? Do you dwell on all the negatives, rather than looking for a piece of your work that could give you more juice?

The most basic issue: am I following my heart’s desire or mired in a career that doesn’t feel on center for me?

Can I work within the system for change? Or do I need to seek another job?

Step #3 Modify your current work situation

Re-inspire your job:

· does the lack of passion come from difficult relationship, not the work itself? If there is bad energy, try to correct the situation instead of aggravating it. Be the bigger person. Start being pleasant instead of prickly. Do everything possible to shift antagonism

· don’t expect your boss to be a mind reader. Instead of stewing in boredom or discontent, express your needs. If you know how you’d like to better your job, explore options. See if they are doable within the framework of your environment. The point is to risk. You’ll never know what’s possible until you do.

· Intuitively micro-analyse your day. Look for any aspect of your job that has some sparks. Remember what initially attracted you to the job other than money. Also notice what perks your magic up and relieves apathy or fatigue. When you hit upon it, you’ll experience a more alive feeling, an excitement, or simply a gentle interest. These are signs of life force in your work. Spend more time in these areas. Document them in your journal. If you find that having lunches with clients, and giving presentations are things that stoke your energy, whereas working in isolation brings your energy down, take note of that and see if you can reprioritize aspects of work that feed you.

· Gravitate to coworkers who inspire and energize you. Spend more time on those aspects of your job. Avoid anyone who drains you.

· Make your work about service and meaning: how to make a difference in the world. This can be as small as being kind to others and injecting friendliness into your milieu, which will nurture you too. Turn people on to ideas to better the environment and the world. Get young people connected with old people and vice versa.

· Framing your work in service keep you aligned with inspiration and passion. Whatever your job, the ethics and love with which you conduct yourself, can be of service and spread inspiration.

Step #4: consider changing jobs and/or embrace a passionate hobby

Make a move: If you’ve tried to re-inspire your job, but the situation is untenable, you may want to look for another job. It doesn’t have to be an upward move, a lateral move that re-energizes you is progress.

If your career isn’t your passion, you may be ready for a larger change.

Many people go for counseling when they are on the verge of a transition. When we mature, our interests may evolve and we deserve to do work we love. Being impelled by passion is a blessing and a gift in life, but it does arrive through investigation, following your intuition, the willingness to take risks.

There is a difference between passions that merely entertain you and those that sustain you and feed your soul. There was a time when the word passion referred to either something sexual or something very religious. Passion was a word uttered in a slightly secretive way with a bit of “oh is that appropriate here?” or with a tone of fervor relevant to spiritual conversations. More recently, if you look in any magazine or listen to the radio or YouTube, you will likely hear the word Passion at least once a day. Passion has almost been trivialized when it is used to refer to a passion for collecting glass ornaments, or picking up dropped pennies. On the continuum of passions on one end there are passions that entertain you, such as for watching movies or … On the other end of the continuum, however, there is another realm of much deeper importance and enduring impact on our lives. Passions that feed our soul are those that we will find ways to have in our lives even if we do it in destructive ways.

What separates People with passion from people without it?

The main difference between people with passion is Focus. People with passion are focused on their area of passion and all kinds of other activities, thoughts, and pursuits are related to their passion. It is a driving force for their work and creativity. It is as if they hold a vision of the best playing out or fulfillment of their passion and are constantly, in large and small ways, working towards that fulfillment. It is an organizing force for activity and thought and identity. A person can derive a sense of identity from their passions. Their strong drives and desires define them. It can give them a sense of direction and purpose. Conversely, a person who holds their purpose with certainty, also follows their passion. A sense of identity comes from the passions you hold strongly. Just as your opinions define who you are in part, so do your passions. What you love, what you desire, what you strive for, are all defining elements of your self.

A person who leaps from one passion to another seems to lack depth. Their passions, although held strongly with an emotional vibrance, are not held enduringly, and so seem to be superficial. Passions grow from pondering and comparing. One compares the object of passion with its opposite in order to define it and to know it.

How are passion and purpose related?Passion is the fuel that drives you towards your Purpose. If you have passion for your vision or your purpose, you have the emotional energy to overcome obstacles, to persevere, you have the courage of your convictions, you have the ‘fire in the belly’, to use a cliché.

Write down your desires, and instead of repressing them as impossible dreams, begin expressing them constructively through deciding which ones are priorities for now, which ones are priorities for later, and which ones are strongly held and which ones have a weaker sense of attraction for you. Just make a list of things you love. You can have a lot of fun with this, thinking of things you love. There are so many neat, fantastic, simply wonderful things in the world. I love the first snowfall, I love the colors of leaves in the fall, I love my dog when she jumps up on my knees to get me to play. I love a hot cup of tea, popovers and scones fresh from the oven. I love laying in bed on a rainy morning with tea, my beanbag and a good book. I love the light at twilight. The wind coming from the lake, the sound of waves lapping the shore, the feeling of sand on your toes, or warm sand under the towel you are laying on. I love a good icy cold gin and tonic, the first margarita of the summer, a cold glass of wine in front of the fireplace. I love Fridays. I love snuggling into crisp, 400 thread count sheets with a hot beanbag on a cold winter’s evening. I love the sound of snow crunching under your boots in the dark night when you are taking the dog for a walk. I love the feeling of ice crystals on your face when you are walking on glacier in a snowstorm. Snowstorms in general are very passionate weather. I love walking in a blizzard in Alberta, braving the elements and feeling the invigoration of being fully alive that comes with the safety of reaching the warmth of a cozy home. What do you love?

Passion to me is…
Feeling excited to be alive, being in the moment, grateful for even breathing, being grateful for breath, for the solidness and sensibility of my body and its' abilities, for the thrill of experiencing tastes of succulent fruit, savory stews, and cookies, and chocolate. Passion is being open to feel, being mindful in the moment so that you are aware of what you are feeling. Passion is being driven to realize your intention. Passion is loving all the things you love with intensity and freedom, without reserve, without fear, without censorship. Passion is a deep sense of commitment to a cause, an injustice, or a group. Passion is what drives you to keep persevering, to keep your eye on the vision. It is the feeling that motivates you to continue despite challenges. Passion is the sense of being fully alive, vibrant with life.
I think this paraphrased quote from Randy Revell is appropriate to describe the role of passion in life: "Your purpose on this earth is to live as big as you are. To be who you fully are, to express yourself in a big way."

Passion vs. mediocrity

What happens if you don't find your passion? What if you never did? I thought i would write about the absence of passion to juxtapose the opposite scenario. If I were in my Rocking Chair at the end of my life and I looked back and had to say to myself, Cheryl, you never really found your passion, What would that feel like?
I suppose the best word that would capture it would be wasted. I would feel quite bereft that this wonderful opportunity, this window of light in an eternity of darkness, stayed dark and was never lit with that spark of inspiration, that creative illumination, that enlightenment of genius. It is too difficult to even imagine. To have lived a life of bland mediocrity, to not have tasted and smelled, to not have seen or felt. Even one minute of living with passion for life is enough to illuminate an entire expanse of darkness. There is so much of life to be passionate about, how could one miss it? Even to look about, to cast one's glance with mindfulness, at the one square foot of real estate directly surrounding one's body is to be entranced with the beauty and genius of each moment, each object as it represents advances in thought or creativity. A life without the ability to perceive the magic of each moment is a life bereft of imagination, a life adrift in a sea of gray, granular sameness. All you need is appreciation and gratitude to experience passion.

Mentors and Models for a Passionate Life

Long drives are wonderful for allowing quiet think time for reminiscing, problem solving, daydreaming, and planning. I had a 10 hour drive this week, both there and back, so my mind has been filled with lots of wonderful thoughts, and particularly because I have been fousing on Finding your Passion and because it is the 10th year anniversary of my Mother’s death, these two things came together in my mind. I realized that my Mom was a wonderful role model for me in terms of passionate living, because she herself was a very passionate person. At a certain age, I found that aspect of her personality to be embarrassing and ‘uncouth’, thinking that other people would be judging her as overly emotional and not politically correct, or whatever the term of the day was for repressing your true feelings. How I got to be such a ‘stick in the mud’ at such an early age, I haven’t thought about before, but it was probably during the time of my own adolescence that I was making these judgments, the time when image is all important and any expression of emotion is unacceptable. When I look at the reminiscences from my current mental window, I still called it ‘being quite upset’. But if I reconsider that, it was actually an occurrence that she felt strongly about, and was speaking her mind on the topic. How else are we going to effect change? How else are we going to be instrumental in our own lives if we are not motivated by passion and strongly felt emotion? These are powerful motivating forces, driving us to act when complacency dulls our senses and makes us into the quiet slaves of mediocracy.
Mom was very strong in her beliefs about certain things, and these two things definitely go together – passion and strongly held beliefs. My Grandfather was in the war and his lungs were damaged by nerve gas, to the extent that he suffered emphysema in his later years. Several of the sons and daughters-in-law continued to be ignorant of his discomfort and smoke in the house. Again, looking back, I wonder why he didn’t say anything himself, but if I recall correctly, he thought that they wouldn’t visit if they weren’t allowed to smoke in the house. What comment is that on how self-important and self-indulgent my relatives were at that time. Another thought on how we judge emotional expressions and label them as displays, or outbursts. But we must ask, if you don’t have the courage of your own convictions, who is going to speak for you?
On another occasion, my Grandmother was having her 80th or thereabouts birthday party and many relatives were camped in the yard, or visiting in clustered groups on the lawn and in and out of the house. It was a year when talk of Grandma’s health was focused on concerns about her not getting overly excited because she might be prone to congestive heart failure. Ironically, my Grandmother is still alive 20 or more years later, and my Mom has passed away. However, during the lull between meals, a water-fight broke out between several of my uncles. Now, these are probably 60 year old men, thinking and feeling like young boys, running and slipping, bumping into things, yelling and creating, albeit hilarious mayhem, but mayhem nonetheless. At what must have been the crescendo of activity and ultimately, in my Mom’s perception, danger, she stood on the deck with her arms outstretched like Moses and yelled at the top of her voice “STOP”. A powerful act, as it turned out, everyone did stop and settle into less heady celebrations. Probably some were miffed, some were relieved and some were complacent, but the act on my Mother’s part, was to control and effect a whole group of overly excited adults because she decided to take action.

This is perhaps not a momentous example, but as our every day actions determine our future and speak to our character, Mom acted passionately on her belief that her own mother was in danger. How many times do we look the other way when we see something happening that is against what we believe in, ignore the signs in front of us, shuffle away and hope it will resolve itself without us getting involved? It is the everyday where we test ourselves and what we are made of. The small actions of courage that are met with success will lead us to take on greater challenges with more confidence and conviction.

First Day

this blog will be for discussion and discovery of all aspects and ways that passion can manifest in your life.