Don't Follow Your Passion!

[electroBeam]

Here is an article about, how following your passion is not the only consideration for finding your 'dream job'. Studies have shown that your interests and passions change remarkably over time, and following your passion now might encourage you to miss great opportunities for getting a successful job that you love. 

Do you agree? do your passions change over time? And if so, how can we find our life purpose, if our interests are unreliable?

[Zane]

I feel like "follow your passion" while well intended is so vague and cliched that you get so desensitized to all those inspirational platitudes. I feel like you can easily post an inspirational quote without really contemplating it's meaning. I will admit that I used to post inspirational quotes! Instead of following your passion, I love discovering new hobbies that can be potential passions. The world is indeed abundant with possibilities but don't just have one passion! I feel like my passions are very broad. I love storytelling but storytelling is so broad and applies and cross-fertilizes to all areas of life. I dedicated years to discovering my passion and I will spend the rest of my life discovering it. Passion and freedom are the most powerful words!!

[JevinR]

@Zane This is where mastery comes in, passion is just a feeling. Once that feeling goes away, the real work comes into play when you are on a plateau.

[charlie2dogs]

1 hour ago, JevinR said:

@Zane This is where mastery comes in, passion is just a feeling. Once that feeling goes away, the real work comes into play when you are on a plateau.

passion is much more than a feeling, real passion is a driving force because it comes from within, not from the interest and desires of the human identity.

[JustinS]

Posted this on another thread but it might be useful here:

I remember reading something from Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth saying that to do everything from a place of being. In another words, checking into your awareness should be your #1 priority before doing anything. Living from inside out rather than for outside in. 

From, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle:

3 Modalities of Awakened Doing are Acceptance, Enjoyment, and Enthusiasm. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of them operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all - from the most simple tasks to the most complex. If you are not in the state of either acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others.

Performing an action in the state of acceptance means you are at peace while you do it. If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do - stop, Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really take responsibility for, which also happens to be the one thing that really matters: your state of consciousness. And if you are not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for your life. 

It makes it appear that the joy comes from what you do, but that is not the case. Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you. This misperception that joy comes from what you do is normal, and it is also dangerous, because it creates the belief that joy is something that can be derived from something else, such as an activity or thing. You then look to the world to bring you joy, happiness. But it cannot do that. This is why many people live in constant frustration. 

Then there is another way of creative manifestation that may come to those who remain true to their inner purpose of awakening. Suddenly one day they know what their outer purpose is. They have a great vision, a goal, and from then on the work toward implementing that goal. Their goal or vision is usually connected in some way to something that on a smaller scale they are doing and enjoy doing already. This is where the third modality of awakened doing arises: enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm comes from ancient Greek - en and theos, meaning God. And the related word enthousiazein means "to be possessed by a god." With enthusiasm you will find that you don't have to do it all by yourself. Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative energy, and all you have to do then is "ride the wave."

Enthusiasm and the ego cannot coexist. One implies the absence of the other. Enthusiasm knows where it is going, but at the same time, it is deeply at one with the present moment, the source of its aliveness, its joy, and its power. Enthusiasm wants nothing because it lacks nothing.

Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a movie star, a famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your goal is not focused on having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your own company, or ten million dollars in the bank. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole. Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor and writer and so on, see yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives. Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows from the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all.

Got a bit off tangent there lol. Well I sure did benefit from this as I typed it.  

 

[aurum]

This article completely misses the point. You don't know if what you're passion about right now will last forever, so forget about ever following passion? WTF?

If I think I have a passion for being a scientific researcher and follow that passion only to find that I'm more passionate about teaching, I didn't waste my time. I'm learned and I've grown, which is all anyone can do. 

Finding something you're truly passionate about is like trying to guess a number between 1 and 100 with someone giving you "warmer" or "colder" clues. You just have to keep experimenting. And it's natural for certain things to fall away and no longer excite you the way they used to. THAT MEANS YOU'RE GROWING.

 

 

[dude]

Just read the book:

"So good they can't ignore you"

Its all about the passion myth.

[askdfjnak]

 

I think there is some truth to this, but...

There is a difference between authentic passion and the artificial passions that we adopt from society.

A person may believe that they are passionate about something that they really have no business pursuing; simply because they have been brainwashed by their peers, elders and society at large into believing that something is meaningful.

In this case, definitely don't follow your passion.

There is such a thing as authentic passion though. It's usually much more quirky and nuanced than "mainstream dreams".

On 12/06/2016 at 7:22 AM, JustinS said:

Then there is another way of creative manifestation that may come to those who remain true to their inner purpose of awakening. Suddenly one day they know what their outer purpose is. They have a great vision, a goal, and from then on the work toward implementing that goal. Their goal or vision is usually connected in some way to something that on a smaller scale they are doing and enjoy doing already.

In this case, definitely follow your passion.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Gone

[electroBeam]

On 16/06/2016 at 8:51 AM, Gone said:

 

I think there is some truth to this, but...

There is a difference between authentic passion and the artificial passions that we adopt from society.

A person may believe that they are passionate about something that they really have no business pursuing; simply because they have been brainwashed by their peers, elders and society at large into believing that something is meaningful.

In this case, definitely don't follow your passion.

There is such a thing as authentic passion though. It's usually much more quirky and nuanced than "mainstream dreams".

In this case, definitely follow your passion.

Yeah the thing I don't get about that video is, how can one be passionate about any job? How can you just 'bring' your passion with you anywhere? Mike talked about how he initially wanted to be a plumber. If you can be passionate about anything, could Mike mike have just figured out a way to love being a plumber?

And also Mike says follow opportunities, not passion, but isn't Mike's biography a contradiction to that advice? I mean not only did he not become a plumber, which was in high demand at that time, as it is now, but he also decided to make is own documentary series, which is in quite short demand.

He also talks about a psychiatrist who quit his job to be a septic tank cleaner, because he wasn't passionate about being a psychiatrist anymore. But us humans have the ability to be passionate about anything, couldn't that specific individual just be happy being a psychiatrist, and learn to love it?

Edited June 21, 2016 by electroBeam

[Helena4]

Hmm... I had an obsessive interest in Japanese that became my degree subject. Is that my passion? No. I'm also interested in History and Physics... and Psychology.... and computers But I do not want to be any sort of academic, I am not good enough at maths or driven enough to overcome that to become some sort of engineer, I have none of the patience to be a psychiatrist, I am becoming less and less fond of the idea of being computer-bound and I do not want to work in some sort of soul draining 12 hour work day Japanese firm.

 

The main thing that I feel is intrinsic to my being is creative expression. I feel like I might die without it. Am I a visual artist? I'm not sure I have the right detailed appreciation for visual art to be a visual artisit. Am I a poet? God no I have never liked poetry. The main things I'm left with is my childhood dream of being a novelist and my teenage fantasy of being a musician.

 

After deciding that nothing disgusts me more than sitting around typing and doing research, I have decided that rules me out of being an novelist as much as it rules out office worker or academic. I have come to the conclusion that I want to be active and express myself directly... hence musician. I am very into the tactile practice on my guitar and singing, the  lyric writing that is more alive and straight forward than poetry but less detailed and long-winded than novels, the performance (I have also done acting in my creative exploits) and the multi faceted and instinctual form of expression music embodies.

 

So yes, your passion is not always straightforward to decide upon... and some things can masquerade as it. But that doesn't mean there isn't one hidden in there. I think I have found the most important thing to me. I can't live without art... I think that's the sort of thing you need to look for.

 

I have far too many opportunities to be following them... I really could've decided to be any of the things I listed.