Passion

What do we do with this thing called passion? Do we follow it, pursue it relentlessly, or do we push it aside - thinking we can't benefit from it, or maybe make a living from it. That it's an "after 5:00" thing. If we think our passion only deserves our attention after "normal working hours" - when we are free from other business and commitments - then is it really a passion? Passion is a deep, unsatiated, enduring, driving, consuming love for something. Merriam-Webster defines passion as "a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something." If we are overly enthusiastic about something, it usually becomes readily obvious to others - it is evident that we can't get enough of that thing, whatever it is.

I believe pursuit is a factor of passion. Passions nag at us, eat at us, until given not only attention, but fed almost intravenously - taking precedent over all other mediocre interests. When we ignore or put aside our passions, we undermine the core of our very being. Passions are like a lifeblood to us. When passions are fed, we feel energized and fulfilled. When starved, we feel empty. Feeding our passion feeds us.

Sometimes it takes some exploring to let our passion come to the surface, however. We all have our daily responsibilities - that's life. Those day-to-day things take up our time, our energy, our money, sometimes our very soul. We brush aside our passion - the thing(s) we crave the most. We tell ourselves that someday - some vague future time that we reference unconsciously - we will indulge that deeply submersed...nagging...thing.  It almost becomes a pain to even think about it because we're too busy to entertain it. Sometimes it gets pushed so far down that we forget what our passion is and it almost has to be "rediscovered" - unearthed.

But when we do give that passion of ours the time of day...the sincere freedom, the liberty, we feel is unimaginable! We finally comb through the cobwebs and come up with something, bring that something, that passion, to the surface. The satisfied feeling is more than joy, it's a pure...relief. And it's simply indescribable. It's such a feeling of peace - a feeling that can't be felt or fulfilled in any other way than to realize our deepest passion. The one that makes us who we are. The passion that defines us and when lived out in our life, becomes us. And we become it. We become who, and what, we are meant to be.

Passion is the thing from which dreams are borne. Imagine what you can do if you unearth your passion, let your dreams come to life, follow them relentlessly, and be who you are meant to be...! Incredible things can happen. Life can really be lived rather than merely passed by, survived.

That's the amazing reason we are given a passion to begin with. So we can be who we are meant to be.