Everyone wants to know how to follow their passion. If you read a lot of books and online gurus, their opinions and advice can be all over the board. Some tell you that following your passion is what makes you happy. Others tell you following your passion is a bad idea. And still others say following your passion means doing the right thing for you in every moment.

Following your passion, in its truest sense, is about being true to the things that make up your personality, your interests and your natural abilities. Trying to chase happiness is a poor expression of following your passion because it’s fleeting and somewhat of an illusion. You can find happiness in whatever situation you find yourself.

I’m not suggesting you don’t honor your creativity and curiosity. Part of life is exploration and understanding who you are and who you are not. God made you with purpose and intention. Part of living a life of abundance and adventure is uncovering that purpose and intention.

So, it only makes sense that you would stumble into some situations and circumstances that you want to stay in — and some you want to get out of as quickly as possible. It’s all part of the learning process.

Passionate People

When you meet someone who is following their passion, they will inspire you to do the same. They are infectious and interesting people — even if you have little interest in the object of their passion. Here are some traits of passionate people:

• They speak with excitement. I’ve never met anyone who claims to be following their passion who lives with a constant frown.
• They know what they want to accomplish next. They may not know their next 10 steps, but they do know what the next one looks like.
• They are convinced that what they are doing is right. Passion always reinforces a conviction about the choices you make.
• They are learning about themselves and others. Following your passion means recognizing you have not yet arrived.
• They find there are more questions than answers. I sometimes wish there were simple, easy answers to all of life’s questions. That’s not at all how it has worked for me. My questions always lead to new questions.

If you have the fingerprints of the Creator on your life — and you do — then God created you to solve some problem in the world.

What Is Passion?

If passion is such a good thing, how do we make sense of it all? I love this question because I think it is the right one. Passion is hard to quantify or explain. When you see it, you’ll know it. But you can’t manufacture it, trade it, buy it or capture it. It’s something that either exists, or it doesn’t. This is where I think most of the conversation around following your passion isn’t very helpful.

I believe there is so much ambiguity around the concept of following your passion that it makes it impossible to make much sense of it. And if it’s not helpful, I tend not to hang onto it. If that phrase — following your passion — works for you, great. But for me, I have developed an entirely different vocabulary around the same subject that has helped me make sense of the twists and turns along the way.

A Better Phrase

For me, an alternative to following your passion is living into your divine design. You and I are the results of God’s intention. And God doesn’t waste energy creating things without a purpose.

If you have the fingerprints of the Creator on your life — and you do — then God created you to solve some problem in the world. Unpacking that divine design will have enormous implications on your ability to fully activate all the potential that is already within you.

Divine design means living a full life is more than a mystical concept. It is your destiny. And if you’ll be open to the messiness that often comes with learning about yourself and others, I can guarantee you are in for the adventure of a lifetime.

You are smart, talented and full of energy. You can wait for something to happen to you in the future, or you can realize you have the capacity to release your own genius at this moment and in your life today.

You already have a divine design. The people around you, your circumstances, and your prayer life are all tools you can use to discover more about that divine design and how you can fully activate it in your life.

Whether you refer to this as “following your passion” or “living into your divine design” makes little difference to me. What does matter to me is that you accept life is more of a journey than a destination. So follow where God leads, and remain open to the dance of life. Seek alignment rather than precision. And value clarity more than certainty.

Life is not a straight shot from birth to death. Don’t expect your experience to be either. Live every day as if it were your last, and you’ll live a full life you can be proud of when you finally take your final breath.

You have a divine design. Discover it. Own it. And live into your full potential. (Or if you prefer, follow your passion.)