WEEKLY JOURNAL: Living with Purpose and Passion

“You need to know what life you want (as well as what life you don’t want). Then you have to muster up the will and drive to go after it.”

– Bob Greene

Yesterday was our New Year, New You holistic women’s wellness retreat at Barton Creek Country Club. The day kicked off with exercise, breakfast and then four fantastic, inspirational and extremely knowledgeable speakers. Pam Owens, a married mother of two young children and owner of consulting firm Edge of Your Seat spoke first. I met Pam last spring after attending two intimate women’s conferences where she both spoke and served as the event facilitator. Pam’s approach to life is candid, compassionate and hysterical, which I have grate appreciation for.

Pam presented on Living with Purpose and Passion, and as always I am still thinking about her thought provoking and introspective questions — 36 hours later. I’ve included her worksheet below, as I believe living with purpose and passion is the way we all should strive to live, everyday of our life. And, as a result of Pam’s wisdom, it occurred to me that I can have more than one purpose/passion — which I do. Ridiculously, I’ve placed self-imposed rules around my purpose/passion, so it was freeing to know that not only can I have several, but they can morph and change too!

Furthermore, in pursuit of achieving joy and finding our purpose and passion, Pam asked us to identify three things that we would absolutely NOT be willing to give up, as well as three things that we need to starting saying NO to immediately. I loved this exercise, because not only do we need to know what we want out of life, but we also must be willing to acknowledge what we don’t want. It sounds simple, but answering these questions will guide our joy and provide clarity for our purpose and passions.

Below is the content of the worksheet. I hope you’ll take the time to answer the questions and explore your purpose, passion(s) and joy!

Complete the following sentences and/or answer the following questions:

What do you want your legacy to be?
How do you define success?
My 3 strengths are…
When was the last time you felt pure joy? What were you doing?
What I like doing the most is…
What is Passion? (in your own words…)
What are 3 things that you are absolutely NOT willing to give up?
What are 3 things that you need to start saying NO to, immediately?

The Roadblocks: Which box do you check all too often?

___Less Than ___Jealousy ___I can’t do it ___I’m not good enough
___Victim ___Comparison ___Lonely ___Guilt/Regret

Road Test: How do I know if I’m loving my life with passion and purpose?

You are totally obsessed with what you are doing
You can’t stop talking about what you get to create and do everyday
You feel it in your gut without a doubt, an underlying belief that this IS definitely what you’re meant to do.
You wake up ready to take on the day in a new way, leaving what may have happened yesterday in its place so you can be fully present today.
Resilience is your middle name.
You shock yourself occasionally with just how good something you did really is!
Things just seem to become effortless and fall into place.
You can stay focused on what you want to accomplish regardless of the distraction.
Your faith or belief in something bigger than you allows you to stay balanced on your journey.

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Point To Ponder:
Are you living everyday with purpose, passion, and joy?

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Action Item:
Answer the questions in the journal above and see where they take you!