"I want to find work I am passionate about and I want to find it by next week so I can quit my job!" is what I often hear from clients. The first question I ask is, "What are you passionate about? " And their response is frequently something like, "I have no idea. I haven't felt passionate about anything in a long time. The only thing that interests me is sleeping."
If you are feeling numb and burned-out, your passion-filled work could hit you in the face and you wouldn't notice it! In fact you would probably be unable to muster up enough interest to pursue it. Is this the place you find yourself? If it is, don't give up! There is a simple way to get fired up and interested in life again.
The first step to finding your passion-filled life's work is to stop thinking so much and reconnect with your heart. Most of us live in our heads--think, think, thinking. The problem is that passion is a feeling. Feeling comes from our heart not our heads. When you try to find your passion through just thinking about it, you'll end up feeling stuck and frustrated.
So how do you reconnect with your heart and find your passion? The answer is to take extremely good care of yourself. Give yourself as much love, care and nurturing as you give others. Take a good look at how you treat yourself. My guess is that you would never treat your children, friends or even your coworkers as poorly as you treat yourself. Most of us work much harder and take far less time for fun then we encourage others to do. It is time to take extremely good care of yourself. You deserve it!
I have found the best way to do this is by making self-care a daily habit. What are some activities you love to do that feel nurturing? These can be simple things like having coffee in a beautiful mug that makes you happy every time you look at it, or turning on your favorite music as you get ready in the morning. These daily habits can be activities you already do but are not mindful of. For example you already take a shower, so why not turn that activity into a delicious, nurturing habit by using wonderful-smelling bath gel or lighting candles. You get the idea! So now, take out a piece of paper and list 6-10 "Daily Delicious Habits" that will make you feel pampered.
Are you done? If you are, take a minute to read them over. This is NOT a place to put your "shoulds". You know those "shoulds" in your life... "I should eat better." "I should exercise." Anything you know you should do but you don't want to do. The "Daily Delicious Habits" list is not a place for those. If you see any "shoulds" on your list take them off and add them to a different list. Each of these habits should be things you WANT to do.
After you have done your "Daily Delicious Habits" for a week, notice if there are any habits that you skip regularly. Are they "shoulds"? If they are then take them off the list and replace them with something you want to do. Another common reason for not completing an item on the list is that it is not convenient. I love to listen to music in the morning but if I did not have my favorite CDs upstairs in my room it would not get done. Make your habits convenient and easy to do.
As you make self-care a part of your life you will soon find that you are interested in more things and are more in tune with your desires. Keep asking yourself the question, "What do I like?" "What do I want?" It' s not about being selfish. Instead it is about reconnecting to what is important to you, what you love and the unique gifts that you have to offer the world. Remember, by nurturing yourself you can't help but give back to others. So give yourself a big hug and get started with those "Daily Delicious Habits!"
Leanna Fredrich works with professional and executive women in the 2nd half of their careers who are burned out and don't know what to do next. She helps them go from burned out to fired up by finding meaningful and passion-filled work. Are you serious about creating an amazing life? Take the FREE “How to Discover Your Passion-filled Work” ecourse. For more information go to http://www.PassionFilledWork.com