Chapter 6
Fanning the Ember
(Developing a burning desire)
Pay very close attention because what happens after you have identified your passion is extremely important. Identifying your passion is a necessary first step but what you do from there will determine whether or not you develop that burning desire that is needed to be truly successful or whether that ember stays buried inside and never grows past the ember stage.
Once you have identified your source of passion there are several things that I do not want you to do. First, do not judge or qualify your passion and your purpose. Do not say to yourself, “Boy, that is not a very worthy purpose.” Or, “My family won’t approve of that.” Or, “Others won’t think much of that.” Do not judge or qualify what you feel. If that passion is there within you it is there for a reason. “Discover which way your heart draws you and choose that way with all your strength.”
The second thing that I don’t want you to do is to do something rash. If your thought process sounds something like this, “Yes, I have found my passion, I am going to quit my job (or invest all my money in a new business, or _________________fill in the blank with any rash decision)” If that is what you are thinking; please STOP, STOP, STOP. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that eventually those things might be the right path for you; I’m just saying be sure you are not falling into the trap of “chasing” something, especially before you are ready. If you read on and continue to do the inner work I am going to explain you will know when it is time to take action. Because it will be inspired action. Action that strongly and clearly calls to you. There won’t be that feeling of anxiety or worry associated with it that normally comes from a rash decision.
Most steps in the right direction are slow small steps at first until you can see clearly the path ahead. If you are on the right path you will get to where you want to go but you will be enjoying the journey. That is the key. When you have identified your passion and your purpose, it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. If the journey isn’t joyful then you are not on the right path. If you think you won’t be happy until you get somewhere else, you are not on the right path. So doing something rash immediately after identifying your passion often leads to trouble. Trust me, I am speaking from experience; painful experience.
The last thing I do not want you to do is listen to your “conscious mind” (or your logical mind) which will give you all the reasons why you can’t do anything with your passion. Here is what usually happens; you’ve identified your passion and purpose and a big goal naturally formulates in your mind. It could be a new career idea or a business or any big project that you can associate with your passion. You get excited about that and then your conscious mind takes over and says to you, “You don’t have enough money to do that; you don’t have enough experience or education to do that; you don’t have enough time to do that; you don’t have enough support to do that.” And on and on it goes and after listening to this for awhile doubts start to creep in and you finally succumb to the barrage and decide it’s not possible. You get depressed and bury that ember deep inside and go about “living a life of quiet desperation.” I am warning you ahead of time that this is likely to happen. Do not worry about that big goal just yet. Just because your mind can’t see a path to get there doesn’t mean the path doesn’t exist. Do not worry about the ‘how’ just stay focused on the ‘what’. Eventually the ‘how’ will be shown to you. Just focus on your passion for right now. I will explain how to proceed step by step and cause that ember to glow brightly.
We cannot achieve true success by listening to our conscious mind. The conscious mind is simply an information gathering device. It gathers information about the world around us through the five senses, particularly our sense of sight. The problem is that the information that it gathers is limited, but it doesn’t know that it is limited so it makes a lot of assumptions and it makes a lot of wrong assumptions and if we accept these wrong assumptions as the truth which we usually do; it keeps us from realizing true success.
In my lectures I demonstrate this point dramatically by performing magic tricks. I usually do tricks based on magic of the mind or what is usually referred to as Mentalism. I do things that people see and swear is impossible. But the fact is that the art of magic is based on the wrong assumptions that the conscious mind makes and the magician does things to reinforce those assumptions and apparently perform the impossible. Because the mind can’t see a solution to what the magician does it assumes there is none and labels it impossible or magic or ESP or Paranormal Abilities.
But as in life, just because our mind can’t see a solution doesn’t mean there is none.
The bottom line is that our conscious mind cannot see the limitless possibilities before us, yet we constantly make decisions based on this limited information. You will never discover your passion and purpose; never feel the energy of enthusiasm; or create new things for your future if you rely solely on the information we get from our conscious mind.
The real power to create our futures comes from our subconscious minds. That is our link to infinite intelligence. I am talking about your imagination and visualization. It is through this incredible life force we feel as passion and a burning desire flows. All progress; all new inventions, technology, art, music, literature are all the result of this life force that is triggered by the power of our imaginations. That is why Einstein said, “The imagination is more important then knowledge.” Because he understood this.
We are going to use our imaginations to fan our embers (our passion) until it is powerful enough to start generating ideas and fuel us with the energy that is caused by a strong desire. It may be difficult to make this leap of understanding because we are so used to relying on the information gathered by our conscious minds. But bear with me because I will take you step by step through a process which will teach you how to tap into this source where ideas, creativity and passion flow. It will take some work but it will be well worth it. The results will amaze you. And you will come to understand what is meant by the words, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”.
So how do we tap into this power and get our ember to grow? Did you ever fan a tiny glowing ember in a fireplace? What happens? It glows brighter, doesn’t it? That is because it is getting what it so desperately needs and that is oxygen. The more oxygen; the more it glows. The way to fan your inner ember and cause it to glow is simply by giving it your thought and attention. Because whatever you consistently give your thought and attention to expands in your consciousness. Let me give you a simple example. Maybe this happened to you the last time you bought a car. Once you decided on what kind of car you wanted, all of a sudden you began to notice them everywhere. Right? It’s not that they magically appeared out of no where, they were always there, but now you noticed them because you were giving that type of car your thought and attention, …. And it expanded in your consciousness. That is why you have to think about and visualize your passion on a daily basis. It expands in your consciousness. You will start noticing things you didn’t notice before that can help you accomplish your goals. You will meet new people that can assist you. Opportunities will present themselves that you wouldn’t have noticed before. New ideas will pop into your mind. All because you are using the incredible power of your subconscious mind and imagining your passion on a daily basis. This is how you fan the ember.
Here is the best way to begin this process. Write out and describe in as much detail the following:
Write it out with as much detail as possible. And then you want to read this on a regular basis and take some time to imagine these things a vividly as possible. If you are on the right track you should feel a sense of excitement and increased energy when you imagine these things. That is your direct connection to the invisible life force within you telling you that you are on the right track; keep heading in that direction. This will cause your ember to glow brightly. “Discover which way your heart draws you and choose that way with all your strength”.
As you begin this process do not let your conscious mind get involved. In other words, do not listen to the limitations it wrongly assumes for you. Do not worry or get frustrated if you can not see what great things you can accomplish with your passion just yet. Don’t worry if you can’t see a path to that big goal you have for yourself. There is an old Eskimo saying that asks, “How do you eat a whale?” And the answer is, “one bite at a time.” In other words, if I asked you if you could eat a whale you would say, “no way, it’s too big.” That’s because you imagine yourself devouring it all at one sitting. But if you took enough time; 6 months or a year; one bite at a time and that whale would be gone. The same is true for any goals you have related to your passion. Forget that you can’t see a path to that big goal. Just do the exercise and fan the ember daily and eventually you will see clearly your very first step. And then take that step. Your first steps will probably be slow small ones. And these are the best because if you take too big a leap at this stage you may fall into the trap of chasing things again and that would be a big mistake.
By imagining your passion on a daily basis your first step will eventually become clear to you. It might be as simple as reading or learning more about your passion, practicing it, sharing it with others, talking to someone who has done it, volunteering your time or a dozen other steps that may be right for you. Don’t worry about trying to make money with your passion at this stage just focus on doing it for the sheer joy of it.
I cannot stress enough how powerful it is to do this exercise. By doing this daily you are giving your ember the oxygen it needs to glow brightly. The more you do this the more your passion, energy and ideas will flow. Eventually you will see clearly what your next step should be. There will be no doubts in your mind. This will come from within and not as a result of you chasing something.
This is the kind of inspired action that has clarity and the incredible power and energy of enthusiasm behind it. Fanning that ember and causing it to glow is like carrying around an inner lantern. You may not be able to see that far off goal. It is still too far away and the path is too dark but the lantern allows you to see clearly all around you and you can see clearly your very first step. And when you take that step you carry that lantern with you and now you can see your next step and then the next and the next. And you take those steps and before you know it you are on the path that you have been searching for. This is the process. As long as you have identified your passion and consistently give it your thought and attention this process will not fail.
But I don’t want you to stop there. Just like fanning an ember, your passion will only glow so bright. In order for it to burst into flames it needs something else. It needs fuel. You fan the ember so it glows and then you add kindling or kerosene and eventually it bursts into flames. And then the more fuel it gets and the more oxygen it gets the more intense the flame. In the next chapter I will explain how to add fuel to your ember; your passion. And that combined with the oxygen you have been giving it will cause it to eventually produce a blazing inferno of passion that will produce so much energy and clarity that will propel you to success and make you unstoppable.