Chapter 9

Tapping into Passion and Purpose

In This Chapter

  • Getting motivated with flow states
  • Paying attention to sources of passion
  • Discovering personal purpose
  • Coming together with passion and purpose

Have you ever come across people who strike you as the living dead? They seem to lack passion and connection with the world. They're going through the motions of everyday existence with no destination in mind, simply plodding around as if life is just too much effort.

image In NLP-speak, these individuals are dissociated from the richness of life. They operate at effect rather than at cause, which means they respond passively to events rather than proactively engaging in the experience of creating the lives they want to lead. (See Chapter 2 for more on at effect and at cause.) The aim in coaching is to empower the client to be at cause. When at effect, people wait for others to give them opportunities or solve their problems. When at cause, people go out and find opportunities and solutions to their problems.

This chapter concentrates on ways to help your clients reconnect to their essential sense of purpose, which shifts them from that living-dead space to being fully alive within their own lives. I also explore the state of flow as a source of passion and purpose, and then explore coaching techniques and tools you can use to connect clients with their true sense of purpose.

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