Cultivating relationships is far from being an easy task at hand. We all have to cope with family ties, kinship, friendship, professional relationships and the relationship we share with our partner. 

It has always intrigued me to know why "managing" relationships in general is very challenging. In order to shed light on this, I researched a lot about relationship, be it with a psychological, spiritual or managerial approach.

My discovery was simply amazing:

Picture courtesy: Boston Globe

Good Morning Achievers!

Today we will be discussing around, Passion. It is a very vague topic but I will narrow it down to one simple question: 

"What are you really passionate about?"

This article may be inspiring to young students as well as career persons. I have personally enjoyed delivering coaching classes to several managers and young students about being passionate and it has been revealing to many amongst them. So, happy reading!

I always wrote about passion, but what acted as a catalyst to write a blog about it was while I was reading "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" by Deepak Chopra. In this little book, he so marvellously describes how one's success ultimately depends on the respect of 7 simple principles; here referred as "Spiritual Laws". They are namely; Pure Potentiality, Giving, Karma (Cause and Effect), Least Effort, Intention and Desire, Detachment and Dharma (Purpose in Life). Throughout, we can sense how a lot of importance is given to desire, which I believe is that flame that burns within us all the time, even when we think it has long gone.

There are also many beautifully written books that speak about this reality of the universe and we cannot but sense that passion in the main denominator in all of them. Today, education has become accessible and affordable,  and to the great benefit of everyone, we can obtain a solid qualification at any age in whatever field we like. This has permitted many individuals to build a career path and become successful.

However, this is even more amplified when education collides with passion. For instance, a child should not study only to be instructed. A teenager should not attend college only to pass exams or adults should not obtain degrees only to have a career. It is indeed, a must to be instructed and educated but that is not the end. Education is only a means to an end.

The end is to have a continuously lasting success in that field.

A career can be stopped at any time. Any-time. You may be made redundant at work due to cost-cutting. You may even start finding your job unappealing for so many reasons. The company may close down. Therefore a specific post in a specific organisation may not be the end.  It is just a means to go further. But where is further?

"Further" is where we feel that we are "fully" satisfied, where we have we have reached our peak. But know that for each individual in this whole world, there is a unique "further" and a unique "peak". What is an ultimate satisfaction or success for me, may not be the same for you. People who have studied or read about Management/Psychology may be familiar with Abraham Maslow's pyramidal hierarchy of needs. He argues that a human being has 5 main needs beginning with Physiological (food and shelter), up to Safety (employment  and health), Belongingness (family and friendship) Esteem (achievement and respect) and lastly at peak, Self Actualisation, which is what I call "further". Here, the person feels fully  satisfied morally, creatively and has accepted many realities of life. But, even Self-Actualisation is not completely an end in itself since, as a human being we have infinite potential within therefore we must always thrive higher and higher. But what will take us there?

Passion will.

If you are a business-owner and you are running your business only for the money and the profit, and deep inside, you are projecting dullness, stress, frustration and dissatisfaction towards the entity everyday; it will give you all these back in tenfold. If it does not make you jump out of bed with excitement every morning to kick off your day, then you may not be passionate about it. And you will find that you will always have a rocky road towards an ultimate success. In fact, even after years, the ultimate success will still seem quite far away.

This can most definitely apply to any other endeavour, be it your studies, work, relationships or health. We must be passionate about our education if we want to obtain that degree and not just do it for the sake of our reputation among our families and friends. Just by being passionate about it, the rest will follow through. We must be passionate about our family, for it to be strongly and happily bonded. We must be passionate about our health to always breath in and out good health. And yes, we must be passionate about what we do for our living in order to obtain maximum success and achievement from it. Financial stability and honour will follow through with least effort.

With an ending note, ultimate success or self-actualisation itself is never ending. Once we are at the top of the mountain, we will want to climb higher. That is simply how the human being functions. But then don't look for that further outside in the world, look for it within yourself. You will know you have reached there, when you will no longer desire anything and you will simply be satisfied with inner peace and what you have around you. 

Think about how passionate you are in your life? Are you passionate about everything you do?  If not, it's time to ignite that passion and do what you are really passionate about.

The universe will shower you with endless happiness and success until you want it to.

Keep Shining!