“Nothing great in the World has been accomplished without passion.”
~ Georg Wilhelm F. Hegel [1770-1831].
Passion. Word’s been bandied-about a great deal over the past decade. {Rather like the over- (and mis-) use of something being “organic.” Ha!} ‘What’s your passion?’ and ‘where’s your passion’ and even ‘who’s your passion?’
I took a bit of time to actually look the word up ~ and find that it is often misrepresented in actuality. Definitions runs the gamut from ‘suffering,’ to ‘barely controlled’ on to an ‘intense drive,’ veering around the bush to ‘ardent affection,’ lastly (??hahaha) to ‘sexual drive.’ Lots of incongruous connections.
I let the mind wander into other aspects as well: passion flower (delicately fragile and beautiful blooms), passion fruit (numm !), the requisite passion play, or passion punch (which I think tastes pretty yukky!) just to toss out a few other kinds of passion.
Folks can be passionate about a hobby, profession or career, about a craft beer, or flying an airplane. ‘Causes’ or social media, the arts, types of tofu, politics. Pick a subject matter and there is usually someone passionately for-or-against. Lots of energy bundled around the ‘It.’
Recently, I’ve been wondering as I have been wandering. Can one “lose” their passion? Does it evaporate ~ disappear ~ diminish? I think back to the ‘things’ I was once passionate about over the decades and discover many of them hold little interest for me anymore, much less the high energy of passion. Did I grow out of them? Did I grow beyond them? Did I simply ‘grow’?’ [This means ‘mature’ vs simply age.]
Not sure. Probably all-of-the-above.
One thing I DO recognize about and for myself today is the amount of negative energy that was attached to so many of those early ‘passions.’ Lots of anti- along with rigid thinking (and judging) about that cause – or brand of gasoline – or particular tofu. {Hey … I’m just picking on tofu … it amuses me today!} As I have stepped more into the what-I-want instead of the what-I-don’t-want (ex: like; especially about ‘out there’) I am discovering it is sensation and certain feelings about which I am passionate.
Gratitude. Strugglelessness. Flow. Drama-free zones. Excitement about Curiosities and new Awarenesses. Amusements ~ great and small. Satisfaction. Random Acts of Kindness ~ mine and others. Spunkiness. Willingness. Appreciative. And ~ an additional dose of willingness ~ to simply, beautifully Be.
Thanks to a deep and meaningful conversation with sisters-two, each of us at different crossroads over this past year, I so admire their resiliency ~ their commitment to creating ‘new’ worlds and paradigms for themselves ~ their underpinning of spiritual principles and practices. (Mine as well! 😊) We have all come-a-long-way-baby. {Pssst….. you probably have too !} My how the ‘picture’ has changed.
I have given myself permission today to have my form of passion fit me, while celebrating their’s ~ their way.
Will I discover a more definable, tangible, reach-out-and-touch or hold-in-my-hands passion? Most likely. Or …. maybe not. However, I AM embracing the feelings and expressions that I am feeling and expressing, today. For now, that is the “great[est]” …thing … “in the World” that “has been accomplished.”
I wish you this same type of purpose: Powerful. Productive. Principled. And Passionate!