In business passion matters and turning a passion into a business is something everyone should seriously consider……applied passion in work turns a job or a career into a vocation, a purpose and a meaningfulness that is wonderfully infectious.

This piece may seem a bit unusual compared to what i normally post, but I think it is a very powerful video. You may not be into nature or wildlife, but even this will impress you…..it encapsulates courage, passion, humility, presence, gratitude and fear!……it is a brilliant example of life just happening or unfolding without any effort on our part…..some people have the most incredible day jobs …..magic!

Embracing and accepting your life as it is right now is vital for inner peace and well-being. A life that is worth living is one that is fully engaged with and not resisted in any way………..this is your life, as it is right now……….not tomorrow or next week or next year, but now. Look around and see your life, feel it, tune into it and accept it as fully as you can. From this point comes a quality of relationship with yourself that is unavailable when you are resisting or fighting any aspect of your current life reality.

According to a recent study published by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago (www.archgenpsychiatry.com) having a greater purpose in life may help stave off the harmful effects of plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease. “Our study showed that people who reported greater purpose in life exhibited better cognition than those with less purpose in life even as plaques and tangles accumulated in their brains,” said Patricia A. Boyle, PhD.

“These findings suggest that purpose in life protects against the harmful effects of plaques and tangles on memory and other thinking abilities. This is encouraging and suggests that engaging in meaningful and purposeful activities promotes cognitive health in old age.”

National Geographic research into Blue Zone populations around the world found something similar. In these pockets of populations where people typically lived healthy lives up to and beyond 100 years of age shared many characteristics which were not culture specific. Having a sense of meaning in life, seeing their lives as purposeful, was one such characteristic.

Even from a common sense perspective, we can see how more motivated and energised we would be on a daily basis if we can inject meaning and purpose into what we do and how we live. This is our choice always – choosing to put meaning into our experiences and actions that inspire and motivate us and keep us going through challenging times, or see ourselves as just being at the affect of life, reacting and coping at best.

Ultimately, our purpose in life may be very simple; to give ourselves to life fully, to live and love with passion, to embrace life as it unfolds before us unconditionally, to meet it with enthusiasm and deep curiosity, to welcome life each morning with gratitude and a genuine desire to find more ways today to make a positive impact on those around us.