Build Resilience & Follow Your Passion – Part of Chapter III of the upcoming book Find Your Passion –

Build Resilience & Follow Your Passion – Part of Chapter III of the upcoming book “Find Your Passion” –

This is the last part and letter of the F.E.A.R.S Release System, and it’s all about how you’ll keep yourself motivated along your passion journey. Yes, your “Foundations” will make a difference in your resilience anyway. This doesn’t mean though that you cannot discover additional resources of mental, emotional, and social resilience. Unlike habits, these resources come from within. They are among the most powerful inner resources of yours. They are powerful because they are sources of positive emotions, which are of high caliber. They literally lift up your energy levels! We’ll call them archetypes. Imagine they are parts of yourself and originate from your inner highest form of intelligence, your intrinsic genius. They are your inner “dream team”. Their role is to equip you with the skills and virtues you need to develop to reach your full potential, discover, and make a living at your passion. There are many skills and virtues of value, but you’ll definitely need to develop the following: 

•       Wisdom 

•       Patience 

•       Courage 

•       Persistence 

•       Compassion 

•       Self-care 

•       Self-mastery 

•       Curiosity 

•       Creativity 

•       Self-discipline 

Every and each archetype within you will equip you with specific virtues and skills. I say here “skills” because you can and will learn them. Now, imagine you are in charge of your inner dream team. They are here to serve you to develop all the above and reach the best version of yourself. In fact, you can “hire” as many as you like along your passion journey. They can be anyone or anything. Historical figures of the past you admire, imaginary figures, even natural elements, such as fire, air, light, and water. They can also be a combination of all the above. Your call! Having worked with people from every continent, with different backgrounds, culture, age, and the like, I’ve noticed some patterns in people’s preferences regarding their inner sources. That’s why I called them archetypes. The title can vary, but the skills and virtues they bring are the same. Given this, you have within you the:

1. Sage 
2. Warrior 
3. Mother 
4. Child
5. Peacemaker 
6. Scientist 
7. Creator 
8. Manager 
9. Visionary
10. Leader  

1. The Sage

Your sage brings you two core virtues: a) Wisdom and b) Patience. They possess all the knowledge and experience you need to achieve any goal and aspiration of yours, including discovering and following your passion successfully. Your sage could be a role model of yours, your future self, or anyone and anything else. Your sage is your inner guide and mentor who will always be by your side, anytime you want. 

         “Patience is the greatest of all virtues” 

             – Ancient Greek proverb –

You’re likely to face a lot of challenges and obstacles to discover your passion and turn it into your dream career. Things might not work as you have planned. To be honest, they won’t work many times. How can you be prepared? That’s exactly why you need to keep on reminding yourself of the value of thinking and investing in the long term. Your sage will always remind you from now on that the closer you get to your goal, the more patient you should be. 

“The closer you get to your goal, the more patient you should be.”

2. The Warrior 

Your warrior gives you the confidence, courage, boldness, persistence, and determination to achieve anything you desire. They push you out of your comfort zone so you can grow and go above and beyond of it; beyond what you consider as “limitations”. So, when the hard times come during your passion journey, when you feel that you have nothing left, no money, no time, no energy; when you are about to give up, your warrior steps in. They’ll kick your ass and awaken you by telling you “GET THE F*** UP! IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL YOU WIN!”, or something of similar caliber. Your warrior reminds you to believe in yourself and how unapologetically brilliant and confident you are for absolutely no f******* reason! 

3. The Mother

The mother is the part of yourself that brings you two important qualities: Compassion and self-care. 

a) Compassion

You have, by your very human nature, infinite deposits of love to give. Because compassion derives from love. People who really feel and understand others are people who can be easily liked and trusted. Because everyone wants to work with people who put themselves in other people’s shoes. The best part is that we are designed by nature to love unconditionally. Someone can easily realize this by simply observing babies and infants interacting with others. They love everyone and everything! Unless they’re hungry of course. Your inner mother gives you enough love to embrace the entire world, regardless of your differences with others, reminding you that our differences make us special and unique.

Besides compassion, we cannot forget self-care. Because you cannot have compassion for others if you don’t have it for yourself first. That’s why the mother reminds you how important self-love is; because self-care comes from self-love. How much do you love and appreciate yourself? How often do you take care of yourself? As we’ve mentioned before, the most important person in your life is you. That’s right. You can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself first. Plus, remember that if you do want to discover and follow your passion, self-care is not a privilege. It’s a necessity. Why? Because no one’s going to babysit you to pursue what you love; except yourself. That’s why your inner mother will be giving you from now all the support you need to take care of yourself on your passion journey. 

4. The Child

Imagine yourself at the age of five. That’s right. I’m talking about the little kid in you. It’s still there, many years now, since you were five! What did you love doing when you were that young? In fact, many things; but one thing you loved to do among others was playing! That’s right. It was all about fun, and you were doing a fantastic job! 

When was the last time in your life you had some fun? What about some real fun? Something that you will remember for the rest of your life? Although experiencing real fun might not be easy on a daily basis, you still need to take care of the little “you”. It’s the inner source that reminds you of the value of fun, the importance of enjoying yourself along the way. Moreover, fun plays an important role in both discovering and pursuing your passion. On one hand, when you have fun, you do things you enjoy; and the more often you do things you enjoy, the more you learn about yourself. Again, passion is all about what? You say it! Yes! Self-awareness.

On the other hand, making a living from your passion is a challenging process, and a great way to deal with your challenges is to enjoy the process, enjoy the ride, enjoy yourself. So, take care of your child too. Otherwise, it’ll start complaining. And the more you neglect them, the more they complain and nag at you. The result? You’ll be feeling overwhelmed and tired, regardless of the intensity of your lifestyle and whether you follow your passion. 

What’s also great about your inner child is that they give you and support you to develop one of the most important skills and qualities for your passion discovery and pursuit: Curiosity. Yes, when you were that young, not only did you want to play all the time, but you were also curious all the time, and about everything! “What’s this? What’s that? What about this? What about that? And this? This? Oh, that one?” was your main vocabulary. It’s your natural need to learn. Still is. The difference is that when you were just starting out in life, you didn’t know that many things. That was one of your biggest strengths. Yes, your ignorance and innocence made you the very best learner out there. You were like a sponge absorbing information, constantly and effortlessly, in every interaction. 

But what changed as you were growing up? If you cannot guess, then read the book again! Yes, your limiting beliefs were developed through education and constant repetition. Here’s the good news: You still have your innocence and curiosity within you. It’s your inner child. Should you wonder why curiosity is important for your passion, read again the “Growth Mindset” principle. Yes, having the empowering belief that “Anything can be a valuable lesson for me and my life” is like having the “keys” that will open more doors to your path of awareness, more opportunities to discover and make a living at your passion. 

Furthermore, not only is curiosity necessary for you to increase your self-awareness and discover your passion, but it’s also a crucial skill you need to develop for the future. Because what you’re really passionate about now does not mean that you’ll be passionate about it after five, ten, twenty years. Because your passion is dynamic, like life. So, it can change. That’s why you need to constantly check-in with yourself and your passion. So, curiosity is your best tool to do so; and it’s a skill you need to develop and be able to leverage anytime. That’s where your inner child comes in. From now on, you know that they’re there for you to remind you to stay curious. Anywhere. Anytime.

5. The Peacemaker

Ever felt that you’d like more peace in your life? That’s exactly the role of your peacemaker: To bring you inner peace. This is the state of inner stillness. Like a calm sea dressed with sun’s rays, uniquely reflected on its smooth surface. To find and pursue your passion, inner peace is also necessary. Although passion and peace might sound contradictory, they’re strongly interwoven. You can’t boost your awareness and discover your passion if you’re constantly being distracted by the buzz of modern life. In fact, distractions are the rule, the norm, not the exception. Internet and social media have given us access to an infinite amount of info and messages, which come from different people with different interests. Peace gives you the chance to take a step back from this storm of information, and reflect on yourself and life. On the other hand, when you know and follow your passion, you skyrocket your self-confidence. The last one contributes a lot to the development of inner stillness and peace within you.  

Besides that, your peacemaker equips you with one of the most important skills you need for a fast and successful career transition: Negotiation. Yes. It’s called “peacemaker” for a reason! Your peacemaker is in a state of serenity, transmitting it to anyone who interacts with them. They are the catalyst for conflict prevention and resolution, always coming from a place of empathy and understanding. When you come from this place, you become a great listener. Yes, active listening is necessary if you want to develop your negotiation skills. Because negotiation is not about “acting tough”, “being right” or “winning”, but about understanding other people’s needs and desires and finding ways to fulfill them. Thanks to your peacemaker, you set the foundations of reaching the best possible agreement you want to reach, whether it’s about your salary or a deal with a prospective client, business partner, or investor. 

To be continued…

Feel free to connect with me on social media by visiting my personal site JimPanos360.com, or check out and pre-order (50% off) the “Find Your Passion” book to transform your career and life here.