How To Identify An Authentic Passion?

[Grant6]

Hi,

I'm 18, a freshman in college right now, and my problem is that I'm struggling to find my passion and decide on a major.  First, I want to tell you about my relationship with music, as that is my questionable authentic passion right now; and to clarify, when I say authentic passion I mean the thing that is most aligned with your authentic self. In short, I have a very on-and-off relationship with music, specifically playing piano, and composing. I like piano, it's a great instrument, and when I first started back in Jr. year of High School, I was so excited to learn as many pieces as I could. And during that time, I also really wanted to compose music. I am very passionate about video game music and every time I heard my favorite pieces in a game or on my iPod, I would say to myself, "Wow, I wish I could create music like that," and so I actually composed a few stuff in Garageband (and I'm actually surprised how hard I worked on them, even though they aren't even that great). But now, I don't feel as excited about playing piano or composing as I did when I was in High School, and there's a reason for that...I believe it's because I either lost sight of why I like music so much in the first place, or my fears of, "How would I be able to make a successful career out of this?," "Would people actually like my music/playing?," and "Would I be able to put in all the work that's necessary?" get in the way. Most likely a combination. And this is where my question comes from: how do you know that something you're passionate about is what you're really passionate about? Just because I don't feel the initial excitement that I got in the beginning, does that mean it's not really my authentic passion? Or just because you don't like one aspect of it, should you still go along with it? What are some good indicators to know that you found something worth pursuing? What are some of your stories about finding your passion? The reason I'm asking this is because I want to be able to identify when a passion has potential, and thus you should keep going with it; and when a passion doesn't, and thus you should move on to something better. On a final note, being in college, I see this as a prime opportunity to find my life purpose early, and I don't want to squander more time with music if it's not what my authentic self really wants to be doing; although, I always seem to gravitate back to music one way or another, like I don't want to let go of it. And with that, thank you for reading this, and all and any helpful answers are appreciated.  

[VividReality]

Sit down and do that one things for 8 hours straight... if you can't then nope... it's not a passion for you... (I can sit down and take notes on one things for hours at end... day in day out... i think about my future and how it will all relate to it with this time i'm investing now on that passion.)

Maybe not 8 hours... but still you get my point... you just have to be able to do it day in day out... what ever it maybe... that has to be day in day out... if you like games... write your own story for that game... if you like watching t.v. write your own story scrip... if you like life... write about your and how it will be playing out... 

I have over 200 pages on my life... how it played out and how it's going to play out... i've been on this for half a year now... lol it just hit me that it's almost been half a year1!! wow... but anyways... it's pretty cool finding your passion... 

*sometime when you are doing that one thing you start to cry*

Best identification of knowing if you are following your inner compass towards happiness 

but do know... you can force yourself to develop a passion and make it authentic, for your approach will always be your style of living and putting your energy into that passion will always result in a different form of aliveness. 

Anyways... Cheers!!!

Edited March 19, 2016 by VividReality

[WorldCitizen]

@Grant♪ Same thing happened to me with Web development / computer programming. What i think is that since i lost interest, those things weren't my passion per say. but they certainly are one part of the answer. What i mean is maybe i don't want to be a software engineer, maybe what i want is to create a company that produces software (entrepreneurship).
The jury is still out on this one, your question is a complex, and i'm not expert so don't take my word for it .
I actually like @VividReality 's comment, he gave you a practical advice.

[Samuel]

@Grant♪  Heres an exercise i've been doing for the past weeks:

Sit down, free your mind from distractions and listen. Listen to what your true self is trying to communicate to you. You don't need to think this through, your life purpose is already in front of you, give it no stress. 

Heres the tricky part, your ego will also try to pitch in ideas. It might tell you something like "i want to be a writer" or what ever. Here you must question why this is the case. Contemplate it deeply. Ask yourself Did this interest me ever since i was a kid? Does the life of a person with this profession interest me? does it seem fulfilling to me? These questions are not easy to answer and require consistant questioning, which is why I suggest you sit down for say 30 minutes to an hour every single day for the coming months (if you are absolutely positively serious about finding it.) It will take some weeks, but eventually, very subtley, a voice will begin to communicate your purpose to you. Who knows, maybe you'll discover you want to be something competely different to a composer.  

Note: Watch out for ego, it will communicate you things that it feels will benefit it. This is NOT your passion. Your passion will come quietly and once you find it you will notice how it was there all along. 

In a way this exercise is just stripping all the layers of bs on top of your true self, your purpose.

[Grant6]

@Samuel Thank you, I will try this (after exam week :P) 

[charlie2dogs]

On 3/19/2016 at 4:06 PM, Grant♪ said:

Hi,

I'm 18, a freshman in college right now, and my problem is that I'm struggling to find my passion and decide on a major.  First, I want to tell you about my relationship with music, as that is my questionable authentic passion right now; and to clarify, when I say authentic passion I mean the thing that is most aligned with your authentic self. In short, I have a very on-and-off relationship with music, specifically playing piano, and composing. I like piano, it's a great instrument, and when I first started back in Jr. year of High School, I was so excited to learn as many pieces as I could. And during that time, I also really wanted to compose music. I am very passionate about video game music and every time I heard my favorite pieces in a game or on my iPod, I would say to myself, "Wow, I wish I could create music like that," and so I actually composed a few stuff in Garageband (and I'm actually surprised how hard I worked on them, even though they aren't even that great). But now, I don't feel as excited about playing piano or composing as I did when I was in High School, and there's a reason for that...I believe it's because I either lost sight of why I like music so much in the first place, or my fears of, "How would I be able to make a successful career out of this?," "Would people actually like my music/playing?," and "Would I be able to put in all the work that's necessary?" get in the way. Most likely a combination. And this is where my question comes from: how do you know that something you're passionate about is what you're really passionate about? Just because I don't feel the initial excitement that I got in the beginning, does that mean it's not really my authentic passion? Or just because you don't like one aspect of it, should you still go along with it? What are some good indicators to know that you found something worth pursuing? What are some of your stories about finding your passion? The reason I'm asking this is because I want to be able to identify when a passion has potential, and thus you should keep going with it; and when a passion doesn't, and thus you should move on to something better. On a final note, being in college, I see this as a prime opportunity to find my life purpose early, and I don't want to squander more time with music if it's not what my authentic self really wants to be doing; although, I always seem to gravitate back to music one way or another, like I don't want to let go of it. And with that, thank you for reading this, and all and any helpful answers are appreciated.  

Grant you are very young, and its not easy knowing what you want in life when you are 18, because you change as you age,  becoming aware of yourself and your surroundings will help.  Maybe you should just give things a little time to reveal themselves to you and maybe the thing that will become most important and most passionate will come to you when you are ready for it.  Do what is important to you now, what you enjoy,  There is no way for you at this point to know what your authentic self wants as far as what you seek to do in life.   Right now it is more important to seek your authentic self, the real you in that body.  The more you experience that the more you will know and understand about most everything, including this physical life, it is from that place that passion comes.  seek this first, live life right now, enjoy what you do, and give it some time, you dont have to accept or throw things out there window at 18,  if you know yourself well enough you will know all others and you will know what to do when it is there to do.  Don't make hasty decisions, give yourself some time, and become more aware of the real you, i can tell you from experience that it works much better, without pain, misery, doubt, but  rather having peace and joy in whatever you do.

[Tim W]

On 18-3-2016 at 9:28 PM, VividReality said:

Sit down and do that one things for 8 hours straight... if you can't then nope... it's not a passion for you... (I can sit down and take notes on one things for hours at end... day in day out... i think about my future and how it will all relate to it with this time i'm investing now on that passion.)

Maybe not 8 hours... but still you get my point... you just have to be able to do it day in day out... what ever it maybe... that has to be day in day out... if you like games... write your own story for that game... if you like watching t.v. write your own story scrip... if you like life... write about your and how it will be playing out... 

I have over 200 pages on my life... how it played out and how it's going to play out... i've been on this for half a year now... lol it just hit me that it's almost been half a year1!! wow... but anyways... it's pretty cool finding your passion... 

*sometime when you are doing that one thing you start to cry*

Best identification of knowing if you are following your inner compass towards happiness 

but do know... you can force yourself to develop a passion and make it authentic, for your approach will always be your style of living and putting your energy into that passion will always result in a different form of aliveness. 

Anyways... Cheers!!!

Can you please stop with the ...'s!

Anyways, I know the feeling of lack of interest that can become of a thing while you grow up. I'm 19 years of age myself and I'm struggling with finding a passion as well. I suggest you should widen your perspective, be more open for different things in life. Read books, watch videos, travel. It really helps.

I think you have defined a strong and clear passion very early on in your life. This may look like a good thing at first but I think you shouldn't hold on to one thing for your entire life. My advice is: explore and be open for anything that lands on your path in life!

[A way to Actualize]

@Grant♪ I have something very, very similair to you and have done much spiritual development and studied enlightened masters and artists. The conclusion for now is that as long as it resonates, it is a passion. Only the thing is that once you have been healed from past experiences and you become more authenctic, the passion gets also more authentic. Enlightened ones experience passion out of being, only the veil of being/doing dissappears. What resonates today may not resonate tomorrow. Luckely that when you get more authentic, the music becomes more clear and passionate. Real authentic beautiful music comes out of joy and love for reality, that translates into the music. So if you become very loving, spontanous with a love for reality, that would be heard in the music. Passion has not really to do with sabotaging yourself to play for full 10 hours a day, I have played so much in the past and it may helped, but it is kind of an ego thing. Altough there has to be some kind of skill. You certainly know there is a passion when you feel your belly if full on fire, love for creating. Passion is something that comes from the heart, so real passion comes in the present moment when you for example do something like piano, without projecting into the future. The projection does the mind, passion only in the present moment does magic when listening.

[Rodrigo]

@Grant♪ I only red the title. If its a passion you dont have to think to identify it. Dont know if passions are good or bad or irrelevant but thats a different topic.

[charlie2dogs]

On 3/19/2016 at 4:06 PM, Grant♪ said:

Hi,

I'm 18, a freshman in college right now, and my problem is that I'm struggling to find my passion and decide on a major.  First, I want to tell you about my relationship with music, as that is my questionable authentic passion right now; and to clarify, when I say authentic passion I mean the thing that is most aligned with your authentic self. In short, I have a very on-and-off relationship with music, specifically playing piano, and composing. I like piano, it's a great instrument, and when I first started back in Jr. year of High School, I was so excited to learn as many pieces as I could. And during that time, I also really wanted to compose music. I am very passionate about video game music and every time I heard my favorite pieces in a game or on my iPod, I would say to myself, "Wow, I wish I could create music like that," and so I actually composed a few stuff in Garageband (and I'm actually surprised how hard I worked on them, even though they aren't even that great). But now, I don't feel as excited about playing piano or composing as I did when I was in High School, and there's a reason for that...I believe it's because I either lost sight of why I like music so much in the first place, or my fears of, "How would I be able to make a successful career out of this?," "Would people actually like my music/playing?," and "Would I be able to put in all the work that's necessary?" get in the way. Most likely a combination. And this is where my question comes from: how do you know that something you're passionate about is what you're really passionate about? Just because I don't feel the initial excitement that I got in the beginning, does that mean it's not really my authentic passion? Or just because you don't like one aspect of it, should you still go along with it? What are some good indicators to know that you found something worth pursuing? What are some of your stories about finding your passion? The reason I'm asking this is because I want to be able to identify when a passion has potential, and thus you should keep going with it; and when a passion doesn't, and thus you should move on to something better. On a final note, being in college, I see this as a prime opportunity to find my life purpose early, and I don't want to squander more time with music if it's not what my authentic self really wants to be doing; although, I always seem to gravitate back to music one way or another, like I don't want to let go of it. And with that, thank you for reading this, and all and any helpful answers are appreciated.  

when you have real passion for something, it is a driving force that will take you to completion, take you to success. if you cant do what you love in life what will you do, if you cant do what you have a passion for, where will the mundane physical world take you.  The victors are the ones who recognize that passion and the passion wont accept defeat, it only sees victory, anything less is not real passion.

[Nunzia]

If you like music that much it's your authentic passion, trust your intuition.  My two kids love the piano and they are always composing their own stuff. It's exciting to watch. Good luck with your future endeavours. 

Edited May 17, 2016 by Nunzia