As you want to figure out your passion or your purpose in life, you might wonder, what comes first, passion or purpose?
Purpose comes first because you come into this life with one purpose: the reason for your existence. Your passion is second because as you explore things in life, you’ll discover your passion(s), which guides you to your purpose. Passion is the ‘what,’ and purpose is the ‘why’ behind it all.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. This article gives you an in-depth look at purpose vs. passion, the difference and why it is magically connected, and ultimately how to discover your passions and purpose in life. So continue reading.
Why Purpose Comes First
You come into this life on earth with a mission. You have a reason for your existence. You have a purpose from the moment you’re born.
Not many people remember their purpose in life and seek it their entire life. And that is because of the veil of forgetfulness. We forget why we came here. On average, this happens after age 3. And most of the human population needs a lifetime to discover, remember and grow to discover our purpose. No wonder many people ask themselves, why am I here? What is the reason to be alive? Why do I need to suffer this/ or that? Or can’t find any satisfaction in their jobs, marriages, etc.
Your purpose. The reason for your existence is made into a life contract with your soul on where you need to grow and expand and which lessons you need to learn in this lifetime before you take your first breath as a baby. These lessons are brought to you by your soul for you to learn to expand and grow your consciousness.
“Evolution of consciousness is the central motive of terrestrial existence.” – Sri Aurobindo
Your purpose is personal, but it serves the greater good of all humanity. You growing and evolving and being authentically yourself is serving others. Your passion is a personal activity, but it serves your purpose. Which indirectly and directly serves others as well. Each person is unique, but is one piece to the big puzzle. And if we all follow our passions and uniquely live our life purpose we are working harmoniously and beautifully together.
I know this sounds very spiritual and esoteric, but I’m building a picture that you can use as your practical guide towards your purpose and passion. Therefore keep an open mind.
Life Takes Off
As life takes off, and you start to grow physically and mentally from a child into a grown-up, and you participate in life as we know it, such as going to school, graduating, getting a job, getting married, and having children, doing fun hobbies, discovering your passions, etc. But this often takes us away from the reason why we’re here and we forget our purpose. You follow the rhythm and ‘rules’ that are normal to society, and you often think your way to what your purpose is.
I understand that having a job and earning enough money to pay the bills and save for retirement gives you a sense of purpose in life. A reason to get up in the morning. A direction in life on where you need to go or which goal to work towards. And achieving these goals gives you a sense of achievement and acknowledgment. But is this sense of purpose coming from deep within (your soul), or what society is pushing us towards and feeding our ego? Are you really feeling fulfilled? Or still hungry for the next best thing?
We are conditioned and trained to use our minds with everything we do instead of our hearts. But our mind and ego are railroading us and keeping us away from our true purpose. Our heart knows the way to our purpose, and that is why it’s important to reconnect with our hearts to find our way back to our purpose.
“The mind has to have a purpose for existing. Your soul knows it is existence” – Linda Good McGillis.
Later in this article, I will show you how to feel the difference between your ego and your intuition/ heart in the chapter: How To Find Your Purpose.
Summary
You come into this life with a purpose, therefore purpose comes first, and your passions come second because you need to discover them as you grow up. Both passion and purpose need each other because they work magically together to show you the road to your best life.
Most people discover their purpose, by discovering their passions first. Or people have many passions without knowing their true purpose in life.
Why Passion Comes Second
You come into this life with a reason for your existence but also with a set of skills, talents, and topics/interests you naturally gravitate towards. This is with reason. You’re a setup in this lifetime with a well-equipped toolset that will help you align with your soul purpose in this life.
And that is why your passions can help you find your true purpose in life. And is the reason why it becomes second because you need to grow up to be able to do things you’re passionate about. But on the other hand many people can only discover their purpose by doing things they’re passionate about. Then it looks like it’s the other way around, while it’s not.
In the discovery to your purpose it helps to focus on your passions first so you can discover the motivations behind these passions of yours. But more and that later.
Difference Between Passion And Purpose
As I mentioned earlier, passion and purpose go hand in hand to show you the roadmap to your best life so you can grow, expand and evolve. While they magically work together, they also have some differences which can be helpful for you to feel into:
- You can have multiple passions vs. one purpose
- Purpose is serving others vs. passion is serving self first (and indirectly others)
- Passion is about your emotions vs. purpose is the reason behind your emotions
- Passions feels exciting, joyful and energizing vs. purpose feels fulfilling and peaceful
- Passion is fleeting vs. purpose is staying
- Passion is the ‘what’ vs. purpose is the ‘why’
Quotes About Passion vs. Purpose
Let’s dive into what other people say about passion and purpose to give you an even broader perspective.
“Your purpose is very different from your passion. Your purpose is what you give to the world. It’s what you’re doing for other people. And I believe everybody’s purpose is the exactly the same; to live with more passion and share your true self with the world. That could mean sharing your story, your struggle, your art, or your time and energy for something great then you.” – Mel Robbins
“Purpose is the reason you journey. Passion is the fire that lights the way” – Unknown
“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion”. – Unknown
“Your passion is for you and your purpose is for others. When you use your passion in the service of others, it becomes your purpose.” – Jay Shetty
“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose”. – Bishop T.D. Jakes
“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” Roy T. Bennet
How To Discover Your Passions
Now let’s get into the reason why you are probably here: you want to live your life with passion and purpose. So, I’m going to share some ways on how you can discover your passions, as this will lead you to your purpose.
Tip 1) Notice Your Feelings
There is a very simple trick to find out what your passion is. See what brings you excitement and joy. These feelings are the keys to your passions. Anything that lights up your heart and excites you is your passion and aligns with your soul journey.
Your heart/ soul gives you clues by the way you feel. And excitement is your guide and compass. Therefore ask yourself, what excites me the most? And let that be your compass.
Or notice when excitement kicks in when you’re thinking about something or doing something new. And know that this is your clue. And try not to overanalyze it or use your brain when this feeling comes up. just feel through it and give it space, and let your imagination from the heart take over.
Tip 2) Notice Difference Between Head Voice And Heart Voice
As I explained, we can only find our passion and soul purpose through our heart. Our ego is a distorted image we have ourselves that is influenced and conditioned by our upbringing and society and puts limitations on our life. Often we are controlled by our ego that has a screaming voice fueuled by beliefs that do not serve our soul. And because of the screaming we are unable to hear the voice from our heart. The image below will show you the difference.
Top 3) Experiment With Activities
The only way to figure out if you like something or not is to do it. Experimenting with all sorts of activities and exploring new avenues is a great way to figure out what you like and don’t like. And ultimately what your passion is.
It can be helpful to try out new things. These experiences will give you tangible answers.
Following all sorts of classes is an excellent way to experiment and explore. And a great platform for that is Masterclass, where you can follow 100+ different classes from the World’s Best Teachers in their field.
Watch thousands of lessons from the best as they share their stories, skills, shortcuts, failures, and successes. Just to drop a few names that offer a class on Masterclass: Gordon Ramsey, Aaron Franklin, Martin Scorsese, Dr. Jane Goodall, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Hans Zimmer, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Curry, Carlos Santana, Ron Finley, Jimmy Chin, Serena Williams, Dan Brown, and many more. New classes are added every month!
Tip 4) Ask Yourself Questions
You can ask yourself these questions below and see how you feel and what reoccurring themes you can find.
- What makes me lose track of time or become fully engaged in trying to figure out?
- What would I do if money wasn’t an issue?
- What is a topic I can read 500 books about?
- What do I love to do without getting tired?
- What is a stress reliever for me?
- What gives me satisfaction and joy?
Read more: How To Find My Passion: 14 Tips
How To Discover Your Purpose
Your purpose is one focus point and, therefore, long-term and the motivation behind your passions.
Once you know your passions you can dive in deeper into what your motivation behind them is.
When you follow your soul purpose it feels fulfilling and peaceful and life is much easier. Your soul is constantly guiding you in the right direction by not using force (that is the mind) but with soft guidance and signs. If you ignore these signs in life and take a detour your life will get more difficult and your soul needs to give you bigger clues to guide you through your life path again.
When you stay close to your authentic self this means you are true to your soul’s purpose.
Here is a simple reminder:
If you are peaceful and happy, know that you are very close to your self (your soul). If you are sad and stressed, know that you are close to your ego.
There is also an Ikigai module that you can apply to help you find your purpose.
If this module benefits your pursuit then a beautiful read is this book, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.
Purpose For All Humans
Each soul purpose is slightly different from the other, but the common factir that applies to all humans is to grow your consciousness lifetime after lifetime and so you can return home, back to source/ god/ all that is. You can consider earth as a school on which you need to graduate from to be able to go to the next level.
This is explained in the video below by Hans Wilhelm a mystic, author and illustrator of 200 books. He inspires audiences around the world with his life-affirming concepts to connect with their own inner wisdoms.