By Don Radebaugh — How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Energized and ready to conquer the world? Do have that burning purpose and passion that blasts you out of bed? If you don’t, chances are it’s just another ho-hum day headed to that work place, wherever and whatever that may be for you…fulfilling someone else’s dream while yours smolders away in obscurity. Snoozer, yawn…
I’m not going to even attempt the typical step by step process on how to find your purpose and passion; I’m not sure I know myself. But when I’m feeling it, I’m connected with the universe…flowing with the current and feeling good, feeling alive. I believe one-hundred percent that waking up with purpose and passion is as healthy as eating freshly-plucked greens from the garden, probably even more so. In fact, I’d bet on the guy/gal eating pizza all day provided he/she was living out his/her purpose and passion.
America’s Founding Fathers are a great example. Considering the average lifespan in the late 1700s was no more than 40, how on earth did many of our Founding Fathers — they considered themselves Founding Brothers — live well into their 80s and 90s? How’d they do it?
Case in Point: John Adams, the second President of the United States, lived to be 90. James Madison, the fourth President, was 86. Ben Franklin and John Jay were 84; our third President Thomas Jefferson was 83. So what’s the common denominator here? How did they will themselves to live twice as long as everyone else?
Answer: They all played a big part in the making of America, which means they woke up every morning with great purpose and passion. They literally believed they could create a country despite facing a brutal and bloody revolution…and of course they ultimately did. Their mission didn’t stop with the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. They also managed to preserve the country in the tumultuous aftermath, when a newly-formed Republic was anything but certain. I’d say that waking up with this level of purpose and passion is exactly what encouraged them to search out their next breath, and the next and the next.
It really is that simple. Wanna live a long, happy, productive and healthy life?…find your purpose and passion and breathe it deeply like there’s no tomorrow; because without that purpose and passion, your tomorrows are anything but certain, excluding the possibility that you could also be run over by a bus.