Part 2: PASSION
Are ready for the 2nd truth? This one is huge! It is PASSION!
A lot of people I see don't have it. They are alive, yet they are dead – they are not enjoying life. How do I put this into perspective? By asking you a question, “How do you wake up in the morning?”
Do you wake up excited, yelling, bouncy and full of energy and give your partner the fright of their lives, as you jump out of that bed? Or, do you wake up moaning and in a bad mood because it's Monday?
Unfortunately, the reality is that most people wake up the latter. They hate their lives and what they are doing. It just doesn't make sense to me why people lead a life that they are not enjoying? Life is awesome - yours can be too! But you see that small little secret... the truth... that you have to understand in order for life to become awesome, is also, that you have to follow your passion. You have to have fun in life! I have seen so many people, and I've had good friends amongst these that have worked their whole lives in careers that they have hated. All along they have had a hobby to keep them sane. The day they retire they suddenly go into this hobby and within a year it's a booming business.
They regret that they never did this earlier, and three years later they die! What have they had of life? It saddens me incredibly when I see this. Now the big question is, “Where do you stand with your passion? Are you passionate about life, or aren't you? And if not, where did the passion go? And where are you going to find it again?” That's what we need to talk about today!
So, the biggest question is, “Why do people lose passion?” I stand corrected here, but I believe that millions of Euros have been spent on research as to why people have lost their passion in life! What get's me is that the answer is so simple!
The answer is... Expectation! What do I mean by expectation? Today we live in a society where we have been conditioned to expect. I'm nice to you, because I want to do business with you. I'm nice to her, because I want to go out with her later on. I'm nice to somebody because I expect to earn something or get a commission. There is always a reason behind everything I do. An outcome is what motivates most people today. We live in an outcome based society, which has resulted in this negativity. The laws of the universe are such, that if you continually do stuff while expecting things in return, odds are, thing won't always work out as expected. Hence you are going to start becoming despondent at life, and hence you're going to start losing the passion. Does this make sense? You see, we live a life of expectation, and when things don't come our way, that is when we get despondent, and we question, “What's the point of this all?”
It all starts as a child! We've already been conditioned that one has to seek a secure job, and earn good money. It's all about the position and the status. Never mind what you really want to do! Thus many parents with artistic children say to them, “Don't follow that artistic nonsense. You'll always be poor. Follow in our footsteps and get a degree. We want you to be a lawyer and study at Harvard.” How many parents actually acknowledge their children’s skill set and motivate them to follow their talents? Have you followed your talents in life?
We have always been conditioned to get that 9 to 5 job, because you've got to get your pension plan, you've got to look after yourself! Imagine my family when I said I wanted to become a magician and travel the world. In the last video I said to you, I have family that are still going, “What's with your Gypsy lifestyle, when are you going to grow up?”
Years ago I mistakenly used to tell people that I have never worked a day in my life. It feels like I haven't worked a day in my life, but I have worked damn hard! You see, because I followed my passion, it's never felt like work! This is the difference! I often say to people that nothing could be worse than sitting in a job that you don't like during a recession. I would much rather do something I love, and if there was a recession, I would rather have a tough time doing something I enjoy. I figure that's better than the other way around, than being in a recession and still hating what I do.
Does this make sense to you? Let us look at passion from another angle. Are you honest within yourself? Have you looked within your own heart and asked, “What is it that makes me tick?” You see, when I was a youngster, I said, “I want to be in front of people, I want to entertain!” I enjoyed the conjuring. Now that have seen the world and achieved my dreams, I have taken it a step further and share what I have learnt through my speaking. I'm still in front of people. I'm still sharing. I'm still giving pleasure! In fact, now I am giving long-term – I'm changing lives! This is much more intense for me and so fulfilling. This is what makes me tick. This is what gives me a reason to stand up. You've got to look within yourself and ask, “What is it that I truly enjoy?”
How come that I could have taken a career such as conjuring, achieved huge success with it, from working the West End, Vegas style shows, and seen the whole world doing it? Strangely enough it was not because I was the best magician out there... but to many people I appeared to be the best magician! And why is that? Because I was passionate! When I meet people, they immediately say, “Wow, you have a fire in you. What is it about you, you're just full of life?” Do you know why? Because I am doing what I enjoy! I extrude a different energy to the person that is doing something that they don't enjoy!
Think about it like this, if I have someone that has got to book two people; myself that's following their passion, and someone that isn't... who do you think they are going to book? Who do you think they are going to be impressed with? It's because I am giving out a different energy! Remember, like energy attracts like energy. This is what it is all about! You can only be in that position if you are following your passion.
There is a second phase to this! Initially I asked you why people lose their passion... because you expect! Again, the universe doesn't always give back to you and hence the disappointment creeps in due to lack of expectations being met. Compare this to people who follow their passion... if you are following your heart, strangely enough you do what you do, without expectation! Here comes the truth... the truth within the truth of passion! When you start doing things without expectation, guess what? You cannot be disappointed!
Hence, when I follow my heart and do what really gives me pleasure and I am passionate and I have fun doing it – I don't expect anything in return because I am already thankful for being able to follow my passion. Once again, the universe is such, that every now and then it will throw something back at you... and when it does – you didn't expect it to come back to you! It's a surprise and just so cool! Suddenly life has meaning and everyday is a fun day!
I trust this puts it into perspective for you. Fair enough, a lot of us are in this position that we cannot always follow our passion right away. Hence the importance of finding the courage in order to go out there and be more positive! What are some simple things that you do right now, even if you are in a dead end job? In other words, how can you become just a little bit more passionate in life tomorrow? If you've got children, awesome! I have the solution for you. If you haven't, make friends with people who have got 6 or 7-year old kids.
Have you ever noticed that when you say to a child, “In a week's time we are going to the Magic Kingdom!” What does your child do at night? Every night he/she asks, “How many more sleeps?”
In fact your child drives you insane until the day you go to the theme park! They get excited! Do you still get excited like that, especially about your life? You see, children experience everything, as if for the first time. Also, they see life from a different level – they're smaller than you. Go down on your haunches and look up at the world, at the angle that kids look at the world - it looks different! That alone will make you say, “Wow, I never ever thought this room looked like this.” Children live in the moment. They are not conditioned and messed up as adults are. Their shift to the negative hasn't come yet! It's that conditioning and that constant bombardment by media, by parents, by everyone around them to the negative, that changes us.
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p; You have to be so aware of your children and what you say to them! You have to make a point to give them a magical future – always be positive, always support them in what they do! But, we're talking about you right now – your children are a whole new topic! How do you find your passion again? Hang out with these kids and look their view of life - they have fun! I have two daughters, and quite a number of years ago, when they were about 5 & 7, I came back home from traveling for a week. That was a long time ago and I have learnt since then! Now I spent time with my kids, I don't go away so much. But at that time, I got back and my wife needed a break. I had just landed and my wife said, “Please just take the girls out to the shopping mall. Just keep them busy for a while.”
We get to the mall and there is a face-painter! All I want to do is sit down, have a cup of coffee, just relax. No, my girls want their faces painted! Of course they carry on until I gave in. The second they had there faces painted, they beamed and showed their faces to every stranger that walked past us! I acted as if they were not my kids and walked a distance behind them. That evening in the bath, they didn't want to wash their faces!
I have got a question for you, “Would you as an adult walk past a face-painter, and have your face painted?” Am I correct in assuming you now think I am nuts? Suddenly you are questioning whether it was a mistake to subscribe to this video course. Hello! It's about time you shifted your perceptions. We have been conditioned not to follow our heart and not to have fun.
A child has not yet been messed up by the society out there and is still following what they are passionate about. If I want to have my face painted, I'm not damaging anything or doing any harm to anyone, I'm having fun. They have their face painted and anyone they encounter, they show off their faces and smile. Guess what? This results in that person stranger smiling back!
They are giving out a positive energy! What's stopping you from doing it? Because you're worried what the neighbors will think, or what your mates will think! Huh? Are they really responsible for your happiness and passion? You are responsible for your own fire within you!
I'll never forget, I told this story at an insurance company literally a month after I had experienced this with my girls. Since then I have also learnt that nothing in life happens by chance. Two weeks after I told this story, I was at a different corporate and guess what? Two of the ladies that were at the first keynote two weeks ago, were at this one! They came up to me afterwards and said, “We had our faces painted!” I was really surprised and a bit dubious at the same time.
They said to me that they had the most awesome time of their life! They visited a friend in hospital and the hospital staff wouldn't let them leave! They eventually got out and went to dinner in a restaurant and had the best night of their lives. Why? Because they just let loose, were just passionate about life, and enjoyed themselves. I'm not saying you must go out and have your face painted! But how about starting to live every day as if it is the first day of the rest of your life?
There was another stage in my life where I had a number of prime time television series and became very well known as a celebrity. I still had a ponytail, long hair and wore a wooden tie – sounds crazy – but as an image, this was my trademark. Now that I have gotten older, been there, done that, new hairstyle – people don't recognize me anymore. This is a huge blessing for me today. At the prime of my 'fame', everybody would stop me in the streets... I couldn't go to the shops to buy bread, and everybody would ask me the same question. Especially being a magician, they would all ask, “Can you make my wife disappear?” I mean, come on! “Watch you watch, watch your wallet!” I got really tired of hearing these lame questions repeated over and over. If you can, imagine that the twenty thousandth time I heard someone ask the same question I would have gotten irritated... what do you think that would have done to my name or my status out there? It would have spread around and people would have said, “Why is he in this business?”
I started my life following my passion and doing what I enjoyed. In a sense this was weird, because every time someone asked me that same question (even the ten thousandth time) guess what? Because I dug what I did and I was enjoying my life, I answered them as if it was the first time I had heard that question. Even though I had heard that question ten thousand times, it was the first time ever this fan had met me asked me that question. By respecting them and answering them in my passionate way, I left great energy. It flowed and it all came back to me! I hope this makes sense to you.
So the truth of passion is... follow your heart. Do what you really want, because then you really start enjoying life. And, if it's a struggle, hang out with some kids and see how they enjoy life. And believe me, as soon as you start following your passion, you will start having so much fun.
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