First Female Head of State to Receive Passion Award

Reykjavik, Iceland, August 31, 2009 --(PR.com)-- On September 5, 2009, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, fourth President of Iceland and the first elected female head of state, will receive The Global Passion Award in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Since leaving elected office, Ms. Finnbogadóttir has pursued her passion for language, and maintaining the integrity of indigenous languages. The Institute of Foreign Languages at the University of Iceland bears her name for this reason. Ms. has championed the idea that language provides the basis for connection between people and is the basis of understanding for people throughout the world.

The Global Passion Award is presented to individuals in countries around the world who have been an inspiration to live passion-based lives. Recipients of this award are recognized for the major contributions they have made to creating a Passion-Based Economy.

The first Global Passion Award will be presented in Iceland and subsequent awards will be presented in countries around the world as the Global Passion Initiative is introduced to each country. Richard Branson will receive The Global Passion Award in Calgary, AB on October 2nd, at an event titled, Engage Today – Engaging Community, Changing the World, where His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama will also address attendees. The Global Passion Award is sponsored by Enlightened Alliances, whose principals, Chris Attwood and Janet Bray Attwood, are co-authors of the New York Times bestseller, "The Passion Test - The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose."

The Global Passion Award is part of The Global Passion Initiative (GPI). According to Janet Bray Attwood, co-author of The Passion Test, The Global Passion Initiative is a world-wide program to raise awareness and provide the tools needed to refocus people in every country on passion-based decision-making.

Attwood says, “Every country’s progress and prosperity has always been the result of individuals who followed their passions, despite all odds and often in the face of disapproval or disdain from others.”

She points out that modern society has the convenience of electricity because Thomas Edison and Nicolas Tesla followed their passions. The endless supply of appliances and tools that make life easier and more comfortable today exist because Michael Faraday followed his passion and invented the electric motor. People today have the ability to travel the world in a few hours because Alberto Santos-Dumont, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin and the Wright brothers followed their passions to make manned flight possible.

Attwood says that individuals or groups following their passions have created a level of material comfort and prosperity for more people than has ever existed before.

Ms. Attwood’s business partner and co-author, Chris Attwood, explains, “In recent decades, the majority of society mistook the effect for the cause. People saw the possibility of achieving material abundance and said, ‘I want that!’ Forgetting that passion was the basis of that material prosperity, they began making money-based decisions.”

In 2005, Harris-Interactive found that only 20% of working Americans were passionate about what they were doing. By that time, 80% of the population was making money-based decisions and feeling unhappy, unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

This trend is also seen in the choices made by business graduates. In 1970, 5% of Harvard graduates chose to go into finance. By 2007 this number had increased to 20% of male and 10% of female graduates.

Money-based decisions gave birth to an increasing number of investment and lending strategies that had little or no relationship to the things that people care most about (their passions). Sub-prime mortgages, mortgage-backed securities and the aggregation of such shaky financial instruments were some of the results.

In 2008, the effects of such decisions were felt on a global scale. Banks failed, governments invested billions to try to prop up key institutions, and the world plunged into the worst economic crisis in a generation.

According to the Attwoods, this “Great Passion Contraction” was a wake-up call to people world-wide to get back in touch with the things that matter most to them. The Global Passion Initiative is a reminder of what led to the material affluence society has achieved and a call to return to passion.

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Background:

The Global Passion Initiative was inspired by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, co-authors of the New York Times bestseller, The Passion Test – The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose and principals of Enlightened Alliances, LLC. GPI is supported by over 500 certified Passion Test facilitators throughout the world.

The international launch of the Global Passion Initiative occurs in Iceland from September 4 – 13, 2009. Iceland was selected because this small country has been one of those hardest hit by the effects of money-based decisions. In Iceland, Rúna Magnúsdóttir of Connected- Women and Svanhvit Aðalsteinsdóttir of Navia have launched the Global Passion Initiative.

The North American launch of the Global Passion Initiative occurs in Calgary, Alberta from September 30 – October 3 in the presence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Greg Habstritt and Kourosh Assef of SimpleWealth, Inc are launching the Global Passion Initiative in North America.