We are over the moon to share a blog written by Nadia Sibany, one of Future Foundations and Global Social Leaders most trusted coaches.
Nadia was a vital part of a huge team of people that delivered this years GSL World Summit at Wellington College, which is our (two-week) transformational annual leadership experience developed by Future Foundations and the Wellington Leadership Institute. The programme brings together young people aged 15-17 from across the world who are driven to make social change on a global scale.
In the following text, Nadia will give an authentic insight into her own experience of GSL World Summit 2019.
Mankind’s greatest strength was in sacrificing our time and resources, invoking challenge with the best interest of our suffering brothers in mind; we believe we have reflected that through this experience.
At this year’s GSL World Summit I ran a plenary on ‘Passion’. I was keen to discover our relationship with it, how it affects our decisions and the choices we make. How we respond to our passion triggers, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
In my view the word ‘Passion’ seems to have become one of these ‘pop’ words that we indiscriminately throw into our sentences to make them sound juicy. So I wanted to invite a real conscious exploration of our innate relationship with our what makes us passionate and how that informs our life journey.
This blog is a compilation of the responses that were captured from our GSL World Summit 2019 participants when they were asked to think about and/or create a definition of what Passion means to them.
I was moved and inspired by the beauty and authenticity that was shared in this session. I hope you enjoy…
Passion! What is it and how does it show up in our lives?
Immense love for something. Makes you always want to persevere. The thing you work towards. Inspires me to do my best. It’s a strong and barely controllable emotion. Excited! Joy! A strong emotion that motivates and inspires. A warm belonging. Temperature. Passion fruit and butterflies. Passion in my fingers.
Something that gives you pleasure. Passion is my music. The soundtrack to my life. You love it, you feel proud. An energy inside of you that you that gives you power. Something you don’t get bored of. It is satisfaction!
Flow. Nirvana. Something you live for and think about all the time. Constantly inspires you to do more. Forget yourself. PASSION!!
Enthusiastic, feeling empowered, cloud nine, desire to succeed, strong emotion. A strong fondness for anything. Gives you purpose. The fire that lights you up. POWER. PURPOSE!
The energy you give to something. A sensory explosion towards knowing something. Bright colours. People, pain. Focus. Solutions. Possibilities. Deep. Ego. Voices. Nature. Quiet. Silence. Music. Peace. More intense. Wellbeing. Enjoyment. Healthy. LOVE. Immense love. Enjoyment. Satisfaction. Hobby. Talent. Euphoria. Temptation.
Butterflies in my stomach. My face hurts from smiling too much. An intellectual feeling that brings meaning and purpose into one’s life. Passion allows you to take a leap of faith to do something that you love and creates a feeling of extreme contentment and joy.
When you’re passionate, you’re enthusiastic about what you want to do. You feel a sense of clarity inside you. This gives you happiness and excitement and the desire to succeed.
Something that fires you and that you think about all the time and that you’re constantly working towards it.
Passion in my music.
Passion in my dance.
Passion in my feet.
Passion in my fingers.
Passion in my voice.
It was delightful to witness the energy that came from this exploration and it really cemented for me just how innately connected, on a multi-sensory level, we are to the things that inspire us.
So what can we do to honour these things that guide us to our purposes? How can we be sure we are checking in enough to ensure we are living authentically? It was also really interesting to see how comfortable our younger participants were with expressing their definitions and how passion shows up in their lives. They were able to effortlessly fall into a playful and at times magical space whereas there was evidence of more of a struggle to reach that space with our older participants and staff.
I wonder if we spend less time connecting with our passions in a physical way and allowing them to inform our day to day decisions as we get older. Are we less able or find it more uncomfortable to be playful as we balance more and more external factors? I think if this is the case, we are at risk of losing ourselves and the ‘Why’ that truly defines us.
I emplore you to explore what your passions are. Ask yourself what they feel like, what they taste like, sound like and visualise them in your minds eye.
Commit to connecting with your inner most passions and desires on a regular basis. In fact on a daily basis!
Ask yourself the right questions, get comfortable with playing with your creativity and imagination.
Are you honouring your passions with what you choose to do, are you honouring your ‘Why’?
