Purpose Vs. Passion: The Message and The Means

We often confuse our purpose with our passion, and this is one of the many factors that contributes to the “follow your passion” fallacy. But even when these two concepts are closely related, there are significant differences to take into account.

Passion

As I have stated before, passion in the context of life planning is simply a positive and strong emotional reaction out of the performance of a particular activity. And when I say “activity” I am not only referring to your work or career, but also to the role you play in a relationship with others or with yourself. You might find yourself passionate about being a mother or a father at a certain point of your life (i.e. Relationship with others) and about self-improvement or personal development at another time down the line (i.e. Relationship with yourself).

But the truth is that passion is temporary and tends to move around quite a bit. However, many people seem to think that passion is a once in a lifetime choice and once you figure out what you are passionate about at a particular stage of your life you must stick to it until the day you die. When, after a while, you don’t feel so passionate about that particular activity, you beat yourself up and conclude that there must be something wrong with you because you don’t enjoy your life’s passion anymore.

This is a common mistake and there is no shame in acknowledging it. Better late than never, right? I have fallen prey of this wrong pattern of thinking and as a consequence of it I endured a joyless experience for quite some time.

A Purpose Driven Life

Purpose, on the other hand, is way more elusive that passion, but ironically it is mostly permanent.

Your life’s purpose is or becomes the reason why you are here in the first place, is the mission of your life and the fuel of your existence. You might not be aware of your life’s purpose yet, but you know deep within yourself that your first step in life, from a self-improvement perspective, is to figure it out. There is nothing more beautiful and inspiring that to witness someone living a purpose driven life. Imagine how it must feel to live it yourself.

Some people think that purpose is pre-established prior to our existence, and is often called “destiny”, and others are of the opinion that we are able to chose our life’s purpose out of our experiences.

Whether you feel you must figure out the purpose set aside for you before you were born or you believe you must choose your life’s purpose based on your values and your opinions of right and wrong that have formed out of your life’s experiences, you are absolutely right and is absolutely irrelevant. It does not really matter which one of these two paths you are inclined to believe, the end result is pretty much the same: A fulfilled, purpose driven life.

The End and the Means

Your passion is the way you chose to fulfill your life’s purpose at a given moment of your life. The way you know that certain activity is aligned with your life’s purpose is by paying attention to the way it makes you feel. Your emotions are a guidance system designed to point out clearly and soundly if you are on the right path (Again, whether you believe is a destined or a chosen path, is completely irrelevant) or astray.

Your life’s purpose is the message you are here to deliver, your passion is the mean you choose to deliver such message. The means can and will change over the course of your life, but the message will remain pretty much the same.

For example: Your life’s purpose might be to help persons in emotional or spiritual distress (the message) and at a certain point of your life you might feel inclined to deliver such message by becoming a priest or a nun. This may be a right way to deliver your message for some time, but is entirely possible that as you grow or evolve as an individual the way you have chosen to deliver your message must evolve too. So if you continue to use such method beyond this point, you won’t feel passion anymore, because you have fallen out of alignment with your life purpose.

People confuse purpose with passion, so when the passion they felt before fades away, they end up feeling empty and confused because they feel that the image of a purpose driven life fades away and they instinctively know that the world without purpose is a very gloomy place.

Embrace Your Guide Dog

The beautiful thing about purpose and a purpose driven life, is that even when you ignore what it is precisely, you can still use your emotional guidance system as a way to navigate through life like a blind person with a guide dog. So don’t get desperate about figure it out. Is not something you can force. The best thing you can do when you are unsure of the road ahead is just feel. And allow your feelings and emotions to indicate the way.