Still having trouble coming up with things that you care about most in your life? Try a wonderfully effective exercise from Janet Atwood's book, "The Passion Test."
Sit in a quiet spot where you won't be disturbed when you are feeling relaxed and not pressed for time. Write at the top of a sheet of paper, "When my life is ideal, I____"
For 20-30 minutes (or however long you wish to keep at it) complete the above sentence with whatever phrases or ideas come to your mind. Do not judge or assess any of your ideas, just write them down as they come, even if they seem weird or insignificant to you. Stop writing when you have reached a standstill and can't readily think of any more answers.
Once you are finished, start at the top of the list and compare your first idea with the second one, asking yourself the question, "Which of these two things is most important to me right now?" Go with your gut feeling on this, and proceed to compare your "winning" answer with your next idea on the list, repeating the same question from before. Again, go with your instinct, and proceed by weighing the winning answer against the next answer. Repeat this process until you have reached the bottom of your list. The answer that remains at the end of the process is your #1 Passion (it's helpful to write a "#1" sign by this answer).
Now, you're going to repeat this exact same process with all the remaining responses you have written, until you have narrowed your list down to your top 5 passions. After you have 5, no need to compare the rest of the list. The idea here is to have 5 solid passions that you want to pursue/manifest in your life. Any less than 5 likely would get a little boring and perhaps would leave out major things you want to work on, and any more than 5 would likely feel overwhelming (especially when you're new to the process of manifestation).
So, you now have your top 5 passions written down. Some of them may seem very obvious to you, while others may be surprising. You may want to change around each of your 5 dreams a bit to make the wording stronger and more open. For example, instead of saying something like "I am not depressed," say, "I am joyful in all aspects of my life." You don't want your language to be negative or limiting. Also, it's crucial that you word your dreams in the PRESENT tense, not the future. It's vital that you do not word these dreams as off in the future, because in doing so, you will ensure that they will always be off there in the future! The only time we can work towards and live out our dreams is NOW you see, so we must focus on such dreams as if they were already occurring in our present life experience.
A good idea is to get 5 large note-cards and to write each passion at the top of each one. Now, starting with passion #1, you will be writing 3-5 short sentences in the form of bullet points to describe what will be occurring in your life as a result of working towards this passion. For example, say your passion is, "I am a successful musician." Following from this passion, you will be writing 3-5 markers below that show how you are living in line with being a successful musician. Some examples of such markers could be, "I am practicing my instrument every day for at least an hour," or "Others often compliment me following my musical performances," or even, "I am earning $2,000 a month from playing music."
The point here is that you are envisioning what it would look like for you to encompass your passion. In this example, you are asking yourself, "what does it mean to me to be a successful musician?" So your markers are a response to this question. It may be difficult for you to get going at first, but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it; it's a very fun process once you really get your imagination going! Again, don't judge or talk yourself out of something that you desire. If you desire to make $2,000 a month from your music, then write that down! You can't attract anything into your life that you don't believe you can attract. The first step is imagining what you want to manifest in your life, and the next step is believing that what you desire can and will happen! This is what sets the truly successful and happy people apart from the rest of us; those who have an unwavering faith in themselves and in their dreams cannot fail in their endeavors, the Law of Attraction wouldn't allow it!
After writing your markers beneath your passion, imagine how it would feel living out this passion. Again, using the example of the musician, in 2-4 sentences, write again in the present tense how it feels to be a successful musician. You might write something like, "I feel so thrilled and excited to be constantly making new music and performing in front of live audiences. I feel inner peace and joy from being able to spend my time doing what I love so much. I feel proud to know that I can earn a good living from my passion. I feel like anything is possible."
Really try to get in the mindset of living out your dream, and you will be able to conjure up those feelings that you are so longing to feel. Write them down on your note-card.
Below your feelings, at the bottom of the card, the last thing you will write down is, "This or something better."
Writing this keeps you aware of the fact that sometimes there are even more glorious ways to live out our passions that we are not aware of; in other words, we cannot attach ourselves to specific outcomes with this exercise. We must keep an open mind and know within ourselves that the Universe will align with our desires in the most desirable way possible, oftentimes surpassing in greatness what we originally came up with!
So, after writing down your #1 passion, the markers for that passion, your feelings surrounding that passion, and the phrase "This or something better," you will follow the same formula for the next 4 passions that you established earlier, each on separate note-cards. After you have completed these steps with all 5 of your passions, you are ready to move onto the next step: Manifestation.
Every day for a month, you are to read through your 5 cards 3 times or more each day. When you do this, it is important that you are feeling relaxed and allow yourself to really imagine yourself living out the passions. As you go through the cards, really take in what you have written and believe them to be true in your present reality. In whatever way you can, (most effectively through visualization), conjure up the feelings you have written about on your card. Feel all of those good things you have written about, and above all, feel gratitude for being able to live out these passions. If there's a nagging voice in your head saying, 'yes, but how can I feel thankful for something that isn't in my present reality?' respond to yourself with, 'It may not be here this moment, but it is on its way, and I am grateful for that.'
You see, when we only focus on what is right in front of us or on our current life situation, we lose the ability to manifest what we desire in life. To create the life you want, you must learn to focus your attention not on the things in your present reality that you dislike and not on the things in your life that you believe you are lacking, but on the things that you really do like in your current reality and on the things that you wish to enter your life experience. The Law of Attraction ensures that your life experience will match with what you think about, so if you're thinking about mostly good things and things that you wish to bring into your experience, then you will bring more good things and things that you desire into your experience.
The exercise I have outlined here is a very powerful exercise when followed closely, as you are re-programming your mind to align with those things in life that you most desire. You are not only changing the way you view yourself and the way you view your desires, but you are also changing the way that you feel about yourself and the world. You begin to feel like a powerful creator in your life experience and you begin to feel optimistic and eager about your life and what is to come. In the beginning, you will likely have nagging doubts during your exercise or throughout your days, but if you stick to it, within a week or two your defenses will start to back down and you will start to feel the excitement and the truth in what you're reading and feeling. Of course, you will also start to experience a shift in your reality. If you are mindful, you will notice that some of the things you have written down on your note-cards are starting to manifest; in the beginning it's usually a minor shift, but the more you notice and embrace the process, the more you will start to draw things into your experience that will outright amaze you. Once you start seeing some success with the process, the more faith you will have in the process, and thus the more powerful the process becomes, giving you even stronger faith and even stronger results and so on and so forth. It has already changed my life dramatically for the better, and the lives of many others as well. I say, why not give it a shot? You've got nothing to lose, only many great things to gain!
Just in case there's any confusion about the process, below is a shortened version of my own results with this exercise:
1. I have a healthy and happy family
-There is a positive energy in our home
-We listen to and support one another
-We encourage one another in our dreams and desires
-We enjoy spending time together and we do it often
I feel loved, accepted, and nurtured. I feel so grateful to have such a loving and supportive family. I feel secure in all aspects of my life.
This or something better.
2. I feel connected to others and the world
-Others easily engage with me wherever I am
-I am attracting like-minded individuals into my life
-I often notice the beauty in others and in the natural world
-I often notice interconnections between people and in the world at large
I feel connected, accepted, and loved. I feel deep inner peace and joy to be so connected to the world around me. I feel empowered and like I can do anything.
This or something better.
3. I am enriching the lives of others
-I often get feedback on how I am helping others in some way
-I am becoming more intuitive about what to say or do to help or assist others
-I give a gift to everyone who I come into contact with, whether by kind words, kind gestures, a smile, or a blessing
-I am informing others, helping open the minds of others, and inspiring others with my speech, actions, and writing
I feel deep inner peace and joy, knowing that I am helping others in some way. I feel connected to others in a meaningful way. I feel rewarded and a deep sense of purpose.
This or something better.
4. I am a successful writer
-I often write on topics of interest to me
-I inform others, open the minds of others, and inspire others with my writings
-I often get positive feedback from others on my writing
-My writing is being published regularly and is widely read by people of all backgrounds
I feel deep inner peace and joy to be able to spend time doing what I love so much. I feel empowered, like anything is possible. I feel energized in all areas of my life. I feel rewarded and a deep sense of purpose.
This or something better.
5. I am a leader in my community
-I am often noticing what I'm passionate about in my community
-I often meet others who share my passions concerning our community
-I am constantly coming up with new ideas to better my community
-I am leading others towards positive change in our community
I feel connected and empowered. I feel rewarded and a deep sense of purpose. I feel deep inner peace and joy. I feel grateful to have the support of other people in realizing my visions for my community and society at large.
This or something better.
So to me, these 5 passions are so incredibly exciting. Others may have similar or very different passions, but all I know is, for me, these are my dreams for myself and for my life experience. I have been engaged with this process for a few months now (though I don't do it as often as I did in the beginning) and have seen incredible results in all areas! When I first made my list of my top 5 passions, I rated each passion on a scale of 1-10 on how well I felt I was living each of the passions. Today, my ratings on each of these passions are much higher than there were just a few months ago, and all these results with very little "work." It's all about your mindset!
As always, if you have any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to send them my way! I'd love to assist you with this process if you are having any trouble!
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