It is possible to die inside and still be alive.  What’s so scary is there are so many people walking around who are dead inside.What’s even scarier is most of them don’t even know it.  They’re in what I call “Survival Mode” and it’s tragic.  These poor people are easy to spot.  Typically they’re the person who has nothing to talk about except other people.  And they tend to criticize anyone and anything.  They often talk about things they are clueless about.  They have opinions about everything.  If you work with them they gossip all the time and complain about the job.  It wouldn’t matter if everything they wanted changed was changed exactly to their preferences; They would still find something to complain about anyway.

Honesty question – are you one of those people?  I’ve been one of them and it was a total waste of time and it devoured my character.  My personal rule is if I won’t say something to that person’s face then I shouldn’t say it to anyone else.  Now that I’ve been on my “Know Myself” journey, I’m too interested in my passions to care about some lame gossip.  It’s so small minded and I don’t want to be that person.

How did I find out my passions?  I thought back to when I was a child before too many people had the opportunity to influence who I was.  What did I say I wanted to be when I grew up?  What did I like to do for fun?  What’s been happening on my journey is I’ve realized I already knew myself, but I was cluttered with useless life garbage.  Removing it has been the answer.

The first step to finding your passion is to get rid of the bullshit.  First is the money game.  This is especially bad with Americans.  Our society is so sick we judge a person’s value by how much money they have.  What’s even sicker is very few of us have any real money.  If you get your (false) self-esteem from the car you drive, the house you live in and/or you have to buy designer clothes and shoes to be okay with yourself it’s time for some serious house cleaning.  If you have a huge car payment because you love your car and are proud to have it, you don’t have any money.  If you have credit card debt you can’t pay off, you don’t have any money.  If you have a mortgage you can’t pay off, you don’t have any money.  So stop acting like you do.   If you and your “friends” are in a sick completion about who has the most and the best things then you are losing out on one of the most important things in life – really getting to know someone and letting someone get to know you.  It is unimaginably free to get out of this game.  And if you’re in it, the jokes on you.  You will NOT find your passion while playing this game.

So if you really take this to heart and decide to follow your heart and get out of the societal garbage then amazing things are headed your way.  I was brought up thinking money made a person and I lived a lie about it for years.  It’s called appearances and what’s on the outside is rarely what’s on the inside.  A lot of people want their outsides to look good because their insides are a disaster.  It is critically important to NEVER judge your insides with someone else’s outsides.    And life is so much more interesting getting to know people from all walks of life.  Clue – anyone who acts better than anyone else is super insecure and they’re running on ego.  No one is better than anyone else.  We all come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing.  Fair is usually a term that should be used for the weather, but it sure fits here.  This is fair!

After dumping the societal garbage, you have to figure out when the last time was you really, really enjoyed yourself.  Painting?  Writing?  Drawing?  Building something?  Cooking? Baking?  Photography?  Stained glass?  Restore an old car?  A motorcycle?  Body building?  Bike riding?  Selfies? (just kidding).  When was the last time you really looked forward to something?  Can you remember the last time you were excited to wake up so you could do that something?

So you figure it out and it lights your fire.  Now you have to love yourself to give yourself the time to do it.  Go get what you need to start your passion.  And another thing, you don’t have to have the best of everything.  That is another American “quality”.  Ditch it – to get started, buy your paints at Walmart.

Finish what you start.  Set a goal.   Most unfinished projects are caused because the passion is missing.  Think about your passion and what you’re going to do with it.  This is way more interesting than who’s sleeping with your boss at work.  When you have a passion you won’t even care about the gossip anymore.  In my opinion, finding your passion and rigorous self honesty hold hands as the first step on the “Know Myself” journey.

There are gifts to finding your passion that aren’t even associated with it.  For example, if you start painting or whatever you won’t think about your credit card debt as much.  You won’t gossip as much and people will respect  and trust you more because your character will have more integrity.   Little things won’t bother you as much.  You will actually have something interesting to talk about.  Usually, people start studying their passion – people who write poetry read about famous poets.  This is a much more interesting conversation than your lame neighbor who won’t mow his yard.  As people we are creators.  We should think about what we think about to break the habit of thinking about what other people think of us.  Sorry for the tongue twister.  LOL.  If we take a walk we should look at the beautiful flowers, the sunset, etc.  We shouldn’t take a walk and text a bunch of nothing to someone.  Key point – be present.

Good luck!  You deserve this so allow yourself the privilege just because you’re worth it.  No one can do this but you.  No one.