Book Review: The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Attwood

The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny by Janet and Chris Attwood (2006)
320 pages
Goodreads Summary: You create the life you choose to live. There are no victims. The lessons are clear, the direction is laid out, the direction that will make you happy and make your life fulfilled as you look forward to what comes next. You must merely put it in practice.

In The Passion Test, Chris and Janet Attwood wrap fascinating stories of the ups, downs, twists and turns of living passionately and practical exercises which will have the listener living their own passionate life.

I decided to read this book because it seemed to be the most popular one on the subject. I wanted to get more clarity and purpose in my life because I feel like I have many passions and am being pulled in so many different directions based on my interests.  At first I was hesitant to read this book because I thought there was no way a book could help me answer such big questions.  Plus I assumed it’d be all positive and upbeat, sharing stories of people who found their passion without giving any real advice.

But I was completely wrong and totally blown away by this book.  There’s a reason it’s so popular and has helped so many people.  Of course the book doesn’t do the work for you and it provides an outline for you to do exercises and examine your own life.  It’s possible to just read the book but if you put in the time to actually write things down and go through it the way they tell you, you’ll be surprised.  Or at least I was and very happily so!

The first part of the book explains the actual test and takes you through it step by step. The second half of the book gives some great examples of people who have done similar things and I found those to be very helpful.  I also found the book to be very spiritually aligned which wasn’t something I was expecting.  I thought it might focus on pursuing passions for selfish reasons, but it goes deeper and talks about making the world a better place and, when you are “selfish” and true to your passions, you have an overall more positive impact on the world and those around you.

Of course it’s just a book and I did have some clarifying questions that I would love to ask the authors that the book couldn’t answer.  Still, it was a great starting place to getting some clarity and organization to my thoughts and figuring out what’s most important to me.

If you’re searching for something more in your life or want to have a life you love full of passion, then definitely check out this book.  I can’t recommend it enough!

My Rating: ★★★★☆