I’ve been helping people find and follow their passion since 2009.
And I’ve been on this path myself for my whole adult life.
What has become clear is that you can’t logically force your passion to reveal itself.
It’s a process of experimenting, discovering, and letting go.
We’re all born with a specific set of strengths.
Everyone perceives the world differently, which means we all have a unique contribution to make.
But we grow up around people that tell us what we can do, and what we can’t.
So we learn to suppress who we are, which is why we have such difficulty traveling our path.
While I say that you can’t figure out your passion, you can explore it. But the moment you try to force something, you end up frustrated and confused.
This is something that has to unfold
It’s not up to your mind to determine a path.
We live in a culture that says that you need to set goals and make things happen.
I’ve discovered that I can’t make up goals from thin air.
There are things I’m interested in. I’m naturally drawn in a certain direction.
So while I may have goals, I hold them lightly.
The more you let go of how you think life should unfold, the more your purpose reveals itself to you.
What you’re letting go of are rigid ways of thinking.
When you do that, you’re more able to live in the present moment.
You begin to notice what you can do with what you have.
My body is my vehicle, and it knows where to go
My inner GPS nudges me along my path, not my mind.
My mind is great for research and for sharing what I find, but not for making decisions in my life.
So I can read a book. I can brainstorm. I can talk to people. But then I let things simmer.
As you begin to tune into your inner GPS, your passion begins to unfold. The more you relax, the more you uncover the wisdom within you.
What’s interesting is that when I’m on the right path, I feel good. It’s like life is telling me: “You’re on the right path, keep going.”
Yet this doesn’t mean that you’ll live an easy life, or become famous, or bathe in a vault of gold.
This good feeling is a sense of being in alignment with who I am.
That means being in alignment with what makes me come alive, and what I value.
All I need is to take one tiny step
This inner compass I speak about may sound like the holy grail, but it’s not.
It’s not a guarantee.
And it doesn’t have to be. We don’t have to be afraid of “mistakes.”
I do my best to notice what I’m interested in. I use my common sense, and I keep taking tiny steps.
This is how my life unfolds. It sounds so simple. It almost sounds like I’m not telling you everything, but I am.
Now, there’s more we could dive into, and I’ll do that in other articles and videos (you can find my YouTube videos here).
But your mind will get in the way
Your mind is the radio that blocks the soft whisper of your inner GPS.
That’s to be expected. Part of this path is to learn to see through your mind. Not to battle against your mind, but to not take it so seriously.
You do that by beginning to notice that you are not your thoughts.
Close your eyes, and notice how thoughts come and go, like clouds in the sky.
You don’t have to struggle against your thoughts or feelings.
Let them be there.
Re-focus on stumbling toward what makes you come alive.
Explore the world. Read books. Talk to people. Journal. Do whatever resonates with you.
It is through these tiny steps that your passion reveals itself.
All the best,
Henri
P.S. Would you like to explore 25 questions to finding your passion? Check out my best-selling book Find Your Passion: 25 Questions You Must Ask Yourself. People say it helps them gain clarity.
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Henri, another “coincidental” post. My answer to a question in the work “The Magic” by R Byrne that I am doing was to ‘choose a negative situation in your life you most want to resolve& come up with ten things about it you are grateful for’. the negative situation I identified was *lack of clarity*. And today you have written about what happens when we try to force clarity (the frustration/confusion – its been going on a long while), which is it seems the lesson for me today. Thank you!
Good stuff!
I love your lessons.They are changing my personality.
He is awesome !!
Seems to me, MJ, that this is synchronicity in action. I find the intuitive approach always works best for me. When I let go and do what presents itself to me in each moment, I end up ‘in the flow’, get more done (time seems to expand) and feel infinitely more fulfilled at the end of the day. It’s a far more relaxed way of living!
What if my inner GPS is only telling me it likes beautiful women and sitting at cafes drinking wine and reading?
That’s where you need to experiment. Is that your inner GPS, or is it something else? Who knows, maybe that’s your purpose, and who knows what may come of it 😉
My experience with such thoughts is that it is my mind craving for these because when I look deeper as to how I feel about it, I don’t feel good about it (I never realized this earlier, I thought that’s what I want). So, checking your feeling is the key, if it feels good from inside go for it but if it doesn’t then don’t.
Maybe it is to find something that gives you the time and finances to be able to do those things……;)
What an insightful article. I have recently noticed in life that very often what our logic tells us to do is almost exactly the opposite of what we need to do to get the results we’re looking for. We’re looking for shortcuts, but there are no shortcuts in life because it’s all about the journey, not about the final destination. If we weren’t in such a hurry all the time to speed along the highway of life that someone else has paved for us, we’d be able to have more meaningful interactions, we’d be able to explore more hidden opportunities around us, and enjoy the magic of seeing life transform and unfold in ways we never expected.
SR, I appreciate your intriguing comment about our ‘logic’ telling us to do exactly the opposite of what we need to do to get the results we are looking for.
Hello Henri, it is certainly easy to recognise when you on the wrong path, but not always so dominant to see the right one.
There can be such a thing as too many choices.
Love your articles
Annamarie
Thanks Henri for another awesome post. I am still trying to find my passion as I have so many. I have worked on what I thought was my passion only to find out later I have others.
I only just realize that I love to write when I thought I was horrible at it. It has become my favorite thing to do. I find myself doing at 1 and 2 am each morning.
I am giving it all I have got and maybe after all this I might have find my passion at last.
…loved the part about letting go…not admitting defeat, it’s the ultimate victory. Great truth! My mind wants to believe it’s giving up, my soul knows that it is a victory! Thanks, Henri!!
Nice article. My question is how to enhance/amplify signals of our inner GPS and be more receptive towards it? Do we just NEED to learn to calm down the Brain, then automatically we will be in tune with our inner GPS frequency?
I would say that’s one approach. The more you experiment with it, the more you learn to tune into your inner GPS, which in a way amplifies it. For me it has happened over time.
Hey Henri,
I was having a discussion with my best friend just last evening about this very subject – tuning into our inner GPS. It’s a tricky proposition at times, but I find that quieting my mind and seeking to be in the now helps me eliminate all the “noise” coming from my mind. When I’m peaceful and serene I have the sense of being on the right track, and “watching” my emotions provides me with valuable “feedback” relative to where I am in any moment. I love the article and the positive reinforcement it gives me – thanks!
Good stuff, Tom. Thanks for sharing. And if your emotions take over, just sit tight. The storm passes eventually 🙂
awesome article. thank you. Reminds me of the saying “Dont Think. Dont Try. Just do.”
I think the hard part is dealing with the fear that going down the path that feels like it is most in tune with your desires, may not turn into the income you need to live. I think about people that have tried to be writers or actors or entrepreneurs and never succeeded and that is always a negative thought I can’t shake since they all were following their passion with negative consequences. It is that “leap and the net will appear” approach that is hard for me because I know that the net did not appear for many that leaped.
Unfortunately, that is the reality of it. No risk, no reward, as they say. The good news is that you don’t always have to make a living from your passion. You can do it on the side, and if it begins to surpass your regular income, then you can consider doing something about it. This doesn’t work for every interest, but in many cases it does.
Another part of this is lowering your expenses, which is what I do. The less you need to earn, the more you increase your chances of success. I wrote about this here: https://www.wakeupcloud.com/life-of-freedom/
Very well written. Thanks Henri.
Hi Henri,
It cracked me up, (and humor works for me to get the point) when you wrote:”Yet this doesn’t mean that you’ll live an easy life, become famous, or bathe in a vault of gold.” XD
Thank you!
Hi Henri,
inspiring post and your articles work like fuel to the vehicle.
Thank you.