Emotions Series
Passion
Passion when we hear this word we think: intensity, lust, obsession and fire generally and yes that would be correct but passion is so much more than just these temporary and fleeting emotions. Passion is our underlying current that is active within all of us, it is more of this baseline that is always present and depending how one taps into it dictates how it is expressed.
Generally, when I was emotionally illiterate I would always equivalate passion with sex or something of that nature. That is what was always portrayed in the media when I would hear the word passion or someone would use it in a phrase generally like our chemistry is so passionate or the sex was really passionate. I didn't really understand why people would always tell me I was a passionate person when I was doing something or mostly when I was talking about something. I sort of thought maybe they meant to use the word theatrical or even dramatic. When I get going on a subject I light up and will keep it going until all of my senses have been fully stimulated.
That sense of stimulation is one of the best ways to truly express passion, that it is something that stimulates something within us that we feel the NEED to act upon, express, share or show. Passion exudes from one to another even. How many times have you been around a passionate person and then all of a sudden feel a sense of fire in you. Or perhaps even in a more intimate setting the more passionate the person is the easier it is for the other to follow suit with the same level of intensity. This is an extreme emotion however and should be used with caution as with any emotion of course, so let's break some things down.
The definition of "passion" according to the Oxford online dictionary states that passion is, "a strong, barely controllable emotion" or rather, "the suffering and death of Jesus." For those of you that have zero clue about Judeo-Christian history, "The Passion" of the Christ refers to Jesus' suffering upon the cross for our sins. His act of love was to die for the human race as salvation for the damnation that was plaguing earth at that time. His death is symbolic of the passion of love that he offered for on the other side of life is death. Passion also refers to strong feelings even ones of hatred. Think about the book, "Crime and Punishment" a true account of a crime of passion.
Sometimes our emotions get the best of us, we are unable to control the very emotions that we feel that we can act out on them. Some of them acceptable and others are less acceptable by society standards or even morality standards. This is honestly a good thing if you have emotional intelligence and know how to wield your emotions for your highest good. When you are so inspired by something or get into something like a new hobby or idea the passion is fueling within you to go deeper. This propels you to learn even more, experience even more. If the whole point of us being incarnated on this earth is to have a human experience then passion would be the fuel behind our experiences. How many feel lackluster when doing things? Maybe you don't care about your job much, or even enjoy hanging out with your friends or even into what you are eating. The problem is the fire has been put out inside of us and is not being fueled. Like we would when we are actually hungry we have this strong need to eat. The problem with our lives is that we have allowed certain things to be ok. It's ok to be at a job you don't like because at least it gives you a salary and a 401(k) plan so you can then work until you're 64 and only have possibly 20 years to actually go and do things you want to do.
If we aren't waking up everyday with some sort of passion within us to keep going, what is the point? 5 years ago I was burnt out I had zero passion at all left within me. I wanted to give up everything that I had and just take off running. Where to I had no idea but all I knew is that I just didn't want to keep living the way I was living. There was no passion within me for anything that I was doing. I was working so hard but for nothing, was in a relationship I didn't want to be in, surrounded by people who could care less if I lived or died, no real hobbies that I actually enjoyed. I loved learning and was in classes. I have only taken a total of 4 years off of education since I entered preschool at age 4 until now as a 36 year old woman. Learning is something I am in constant pursuit and it is that exact passion that fuels me. I wake up every day wanting to learn something new. I didn't know that I could actually utilize this for my highest good. I kept looking at life as this give and take system instead of seeing life as an experience.
When passion is coming from the right place of intention, miracles happen. When we are overcome by our own passions madness happens. In all honesty you have to be a little bit mad in order to be a fully passionate person, the only difference is knowing when to step on the breaks and what is rooted in reality and what isn't. This can be subtle you could be someone that is in love with being in love so you hop from one person to the next. This is always rooted in some sort of trauma even to the casanova out there that believes they have had a great life and just want to experience every person out there has a switch within them that they have failed to realize is running the show. This is generally tied to something that happened in their developmental years that has caused them to seek pleasure. Mix that with our current society making it really easy to access people through the advancements of technology and the over stimulation of excess only exacerbates this mentality that their passion of love is now ruling their life. Then the next thing you know is that this person finally knocks someone up who they don't want to be with, or gets an STD or gets caught having sex with someone else's partner. The list of less than desirable situations show up when we let our emotions and ones of passion rule the show.
Or another common example the business person that is in constant work mode becomes at times ruthless and overbearing trying to reach goals. This however is the line that is hard to tell what is madness and what is shear brilliance as many don't want to go that deep. People could argue to the end of day people who suffered from this work passion were self-centered, self-righteous, self-serving, domineering, manipulative and so much more and yes they might be but they were driven by their passion to achieve what it was that they wanted. Think about Steve Jobs or any other magnate out there. They were not afraid to go past a certain point to succeed. The only telling story is that Steve Jobs died from poor health and many others commit suicide and so much more. So really again their passions killed them. So how can we allow the passion to fuel us everyday to achieve that which we so desire without letting that passion rule us.
True passion at times isn't always visible, it doesn't mean you are overly animated about it but it's just the underlying current that pushes you. I use my passion to become the best version of myself to fuel me with the ability to keep going. When I am tired but know I can finish something or that I could study more I let my passion fuel me to reach the next level but then I also know when I am on a verge of breakdown and pull back the reigns. I have implemented more of a touch and go life where I set the intention and am disciplined to keep at it but I will consistently check in and see if the passion is there or not and if I need to take a break and walk away. Sometimes cognitive dissonance can be a real bitch and make it difficult to tell when I haven't pushed myself hard enough or when I have over exceed my passion meter and am on a verge of burn out. This takes a lot of practice but developing as we have been talking about the self-regulation system of emotional intelligence it is easier for me to consistently ask myself these questions everyday. "Kate, are we making an excuse for why we are not doing something? Are we really tired or just not into it? Are we pushing and forcing the outcome to the point of it collapsing? Are we focusing too much on the outcome? Are we obsessing over trivial shit? Are we present?" I will ask myself series of questions like this to make sure I am being honest. If I am not honest with myself then I am not seeing my reality clearly.
Honesty and passion ARE mutually exclusive. To be truly passionate about something requires you to be honest that this is something you are into. How many times do you hear people obsess talking about something negative to the end of day? They are clearly passionate about this and as we know passion is duality. Love and hate are a thin line. If you actually despised something you wouldn't fuck with it, so why the fuck are you talking about this 24/7. You got to be really honest with yourself at times for the reasoning behind your beliefs. Many people are overly passionate about things that are false belief systems and end up just sounding like ignorant hypocrites.
Someone who struggled with honesty for a long time of my life I didn't realize how easy it is to convince yourself to feel or view things in a certain light. Our passions tend to blind us from seeing things clearly as they are and this is what gets us into trouble. We need to consistently do reality checks. Think of the movie, "Inception" with Leonardo DiCaprio where it is really about lucid/astral dreaming and being able to manipulate dreams and thus manipulating reality. They needed to carry things that would help them regulate back to reality. If you are not consistently checking if you are in this current reality then you could very well be on the verge of psychosis and living in a false reality based programming of your own making.
It is important to wake up every day feeling a sense of passion about some aspect of your life. Even the small things like, today I am really going to put my all into baking that cake. Or I want to finish reading the whole book from start to finish. It doesn't have to be this crazy next level amount of passion but rather a passion to simply live life. You should be waking up every morning with this sense of hope, joy, excitement and thus passion to live.
Keep shifting your perspectives and finding the delights in everyday moments.
Love and Light,
Kate