So, what is this? I thought we explored finding your passion in 1 — Empowering Yourself—Finding Your Passion!? Didn’t we? Well, we explored some ways of seeking out clues as to what your passion might be. But we also talked about your passion as coming from a deep inner resource. That deep inner resource is called many things: your higher self, your spirit, your soul, the “big” I, higher consciousness, and so on. All of these naming conventions are intended to do two things: differentiate that deep inner resource from your ego or self, and to imply its connection/relationship to the Divine force that is within all of us. It is the source of your creativity and is that driving inner force that “lights you up, ignites your fires, drives you to pursue it.”
So, in 2 — What is Your Passion and How Can You Live It? we talked about some ways that your passion might show itself and that you could then begin to explore as the basis of creating a life and a living. But, we didn’t really talk about that deep inner resource and how to come directly in touch with that aspect of yourself. That’s what I’d like to explore in this post: finding the source of that passion, of that inner drive.
To do that, it’s necessary to go beyond the ego to that place of inner peace and absolute quiet—what Buddhists call that place of “no mind” (very simply explained here). There are a number of practices that have as an ultimate goal realizing the peace of “no mind” or as close to it as one can come: various types of yoga, various types of meditation, martial arts practices in their “pure” form, and a wide array of mindfulness practices. There are also technology-supported approaches to achieving this inner balance—see Heart Math‘s Inner Balance Sensor and Huff Post’s GPS for the Soul.
Another approach is to work with a teacher who has achieved a permanent state of “no mind” whose teachings can lead her/his students to greater and greater levels of higher consciousness. These are far too numerous to mention, but a search of the Internet will find many of them. There have been many of these teachers in India (a partial list is here) who have been willing to take Western students from time to time.
In the past year other, more direct approaches have emerged. See my brief review of Ed Oakley’s Enlightened Leadership in a New Era: Part I and my article on Creating Conscious Capitalists/Mindful Leaders. Both of these programs lead to a direct, permanent realization of the “no mind” state without the years of discipline and practice that can result in momentary experiences of the “no mind” state—what we call “awakened states”—but do not result in the permanent achievement of that state.
So, if your goal is to truly understand the source of your passion, look to your higher self, inner soul, higher consciousness. At a minimum, consider adopting one of the many practices that will quiet your mind and allow that inner passion and creativity to emerge.
As always, what are your experiences of inner quiet, finding your higher self, seeking the source of your passion? We’d love to hear from you!
