How Do You Combine Your Passion and Purpose to Create a Life that You Love?
The Magic of Passion and Purpose
Passion is a positive emotional feeling when you are doing something that you love to do such as something that makes your "heart sing". Purpose is the “why” behind doing what you do. It has a “contribution” factor. The magic in life can happen when you can combine both passion and purpose into your life.
Giving Energy and Meaning to Your Life
As a Passion and Purpose Coach and also an mBIT Coach Moana knows the importance of creating that flow of energy and meaning when you combine your passion and purpose along with what aligns with your head, your heart and your gut. Creativity, caring and taking action all lead to a life which flourishes and feels aligned with your values expressing your truest self.
Moana has a passion for contributing and connecting with people and this was the purpose for creating her Take A Moment interviews and video blog. The Take A Moment video blog fulfils that passion and purpose because many people have said that it is interesting and inspiring to see what other people are doing with their lives.
Moana believes that to be inspiring you are first inspired and she was inspired by watching a television show called "Front up" which is based on the theory that there is no such thing as an ordinary person.
A Woman with Passion and Purpose
One very inspiring person Moana met while in Cyprus many years ago for life changing spinal surgery was Monique Koetsier. Along with other patients who were there at the same time Moana and Monique became close because of a mutual bond from the illness and surgery they were recovering from. When visiting the home city of Monique in the Netherlands on the way to a reunion of that group Moana was fascinated with Monique’s creativity and sense of design.
Moana's First Interview
It was during this very special overseas trip that "Take A MOment" was born and Moana realised her dream of interviewing interesting people from all walks of life.
Monique was Moana’s very first interviewee for her personal video blog “Take A Moment”. Moana was fascinated with Monique’s beautiful design studio in her home. It was absolutely stunning with design elements from her talented and creative life. The gorgeous studio was filled with beautiful cards and artwork, ideas and designs. Moana appreciates that very special first interview with Monique. Check out Monique's Instagram and Facebook pages for Mok Studio.
The Gift of Passion Passed on from Generations
Monique grew up with a grandmother who taught her everything to do with handcraft and knitting. She went to a fashion academy and graduated in concept and styling. Her first job was working for a big retail company. When the knitwear designer left Monique’s boss asked her if she wanted to take that on position. For the next twenty five years Monique was in fashion as a Commercial (head) Designer and she had no time for knitting.
After Crisis Comes Opportunity
After the economic crisis and recovering from her illness Monique found a job at a handcraft company which was growing steadily with online sales. She started from the bottom up working for the company. She thought she would never be able to work in fashion again. By taking on this job after crisis and slowly integrating herself into the fashion business again she was able to start to develop her "passion for fashion" all over again. Monique says "When you are willing to start all over and be humble about your options and salary you can be surprised how fast things can develop".
Fight for Your Passion
Monique found opportunities in the company where she could contribute so much more with her knowledge, experience and talent within two months. She says the key is to "be humble and fight for your passion". "When you go out of your comfort zone you can find opportunities." Monique had not thought she could return to commercial fashion because of her age, the illness and the economic crisis. However, Monique says that at the handcraft company her age was not a problem at all. "I can still do this work until I am 80 she said". All of her experience came together in this job. She assists the owner in decision-making, new concepts, products which are knitted and crocheted by others. The best part is now she is also able to do some of her own knitting again and absolutely loves it.
Making Passion and Purpose a Way of Life
There is always something that inspires us. It’s a way of life. Monique is combining her passion and her purpose and said in her interview that she believes "everyone has something to contribute". She said that whatever level you are working at you see "everyone as a partner and everyone benefits from growth as you all grow together". Monique said although the fashion industry can be quite tough she has the passion and purpose and desire to grow and enjoys her life doing what she loves to do.
Whether it is during your leisure time or whether you are using your talents in a business or profession it is important to love what you are doing.
Childhood Gives Clues
As you can see from the image Monique enjoyed knitting at a very young age. Childhood gives clues to what your passion is and also to your purpose in life. There is so much that can be gleaned from taking time to reflect on what sort of activities you enjoyed as a child.When looking for a job or investigating business opportunities take the time to do some soul searching or arrange a session to discover what your passion and purpose archetypes are. You will find out what drives you, what "makes your heart sing" and what your talents are to will fulfil your life's purpose.
Create Your Best Life
Creativity is one of the most invigorating traits and when it is combined with a sense of compassion and contribution together with the courage to experience new activities your life can be enriched in may ways.
Being creative helps you to be better at problem solving in all areas of your life. It kind of "loosens" everything up. Many people are surprised to learn that creativity is the highest expression of the brain. In the book mBraining - Using Multiple Brains to do Cool Stuff by Grant Soosalu and Marvin Okra, knowing the highest expression of your head, heart and gut and engaging communication with the neural networks leads to wisdom and action expressing that wisdom and creatively to the world around you.
Moana's Advice if you are looking for your Passion and Purpose in Life
- Look back to your childhood and remember what you used to love doing - Activities which made you laugh and have fun
- What were you good at in school? What subjects did you excel in?
- Some activities the time just flies by. Think of times when five hours seems like five minutes.
- Some people love doing bookwork and working with figures. Others may love writing and creating with words. Everyone is different.
- Meditation is one of the best tools for tuning into yourself to notice how you feel when you think of certain activities
- Take notice of when time seems to drag and when you feel heavy.
- There is a lightness and sense of excitement when you are doing something you love to do.
- Keep a journal if you are still discovering what you would like to do. Make notes of what you enjoyed about your day.
- Talk to others about what you enjoy. Verbalising and sharing how you feel helps to clarify everything.
- Pay attention to your intuition. Also have a sense of curiosity about what is around.
- What sort of activities have you heard of that you would like to try?
- Break your ideas down into small steps and take small steps towards what you are thinking of doing.
- Notice how you feel and how much passion and purpose you have while doing something.
- Surround yourself with the right people.
- Communicate with the right people.
- There are people who will support you and people who may try to pull you down for their own reasons.
- Find a coach and mentor. They will keep that belief going for you if you have times that you doubt yourself.
Moana Robinson is a Personal Stylist, Image Consultant and Life Coach. She can be contacted for a Discovery Session to find out more about mBIT coaching sessions or Passion and Purpose coaching.
