Passion: Is Yours Hiding?

I don’t know about y’all, but I think the word passion is under used and misunderstood today. Which I think is unfortunate. 

First, what passion is (according to me): Passion is an internal feeling about something, someone (LOVE!), or someplace. Passion comes from the heart, or for those of you that believe the heart is simply an organ that pumps blood, passion comes from our soul. 

A human being consists of three parts: the mind, the body and the soul (or spirit if you prefer). Passion comes from the soul. The great thing about passion is that it totally ignores the mind and the body. Think about it. You wake in the morning and your “passion” is telling you a doughnut and latte is a must for breakfast today. There is nothing the mind or body can do to stop you. We generally refer to this type of passion as a craving. Likewise, passion tells us to ignore the mind telling us what other people may think or say about us when we are following our passion. “This is just too important of an issue to care about what people are thinking or saying.”

Today’s Misunderstanding:

Today people often confuse passion for fanaticism. In conversations I have had with people, I can sense caution when I use the word passion because they now associate passion with fanaticism. Passion doesn’t necessarily mean running through the streets screaming at the top of your lungs, it doesn’t require you to lay in the middle of the road, or chain yourself to a tree. And, it certainly doesn’t involve being vulgar, mean, rude, or threatening. In fact, I would say that these are just the opposite of passion.

Remember the three parts of the human? The mind, the body and the soul (heart)? Passion comes from the heart whereas, fanaticism comes from the mind. The mind convinces us that we must do these things to be heard and/or to be seen. Although it may be true that you are seen on the nightly news and you may even be heard but … is anyone listening? These types of tactics appease the mind that you are popular, that you are making a difference. But, are you? Admittedly there are times for extremes measures, but they are far and few between.

Now I must get back to Passion (for this is mine!):

Passion is an internal driver. It has no, or very little need, to appease the mind. Passion is that thing that should drive your life and it likely will change throughout your life. We should feel passionate about what we are doing each and every day. When Rachel and I were raising our kids, our passion was raising kids. Now that they have all moved out, our passions have shifted. It’s not so important as to what your passions may be at any one point in time. It’s important that you have passion. If we are not careful, it’s easy to lose passion. It can sometime get run over on that highway called everyday living.

Passion Check, Break it Down!

Passion: Pass – i – on – passing (sharing) – i (a part of yourself) – on (with others) (my apologies to the phonetics out there). Our destiny in life is sharing our talents for the benefit of others – Passion; Pass it on!

Remember, remember where passion lives? The heart. When our passion dies, so does our heart. As a person with heart disease, believe me it’s no fun when the heart dies. 

Rachel and I hope that if your passion has been running low, you will take the time to rekindle it. It is a must for living a happier lifestyle.

Soulful Quote:

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm” (passion!) – Winston Churchill

Song:

“Bridge over Troubled Waters” written by Paul Simon performed by Simon & Garfunkel.

Game Exercise/Life Changer: Take a few minutes to reflect on your passion. What is it today that is motivating you? Nothing? Let’s see if we can change that!

What is Your PASSION! Share it with us below: