Sunday Musings...

What are you passionate about?  

Something I have learned/am learning,  is that passion isn't always on fire.  Passion isn't always pursuing.  Passion isn't always excitement and intrigue. 

Passion is often on simmer.

 Passion is sometimes fatigued,  depressed,  exhausted.  Passion is sometimes timid,  fearful. 

So being passionate about something,  doesn't mean you HAVE to do anything about it.  You have it,  or you don't.  Then,  it's about recognizing where it is,  and what it needs,  in order to give it permission to come out and play!

Sometimes,  we push so hard,  we lose sight of why.  We get lost in the pursuit,  fatigued, frustrated,  overwhelmed.  We get pulled down by the details,  and begin to dread the process. Or simply forget why you are doing it at all.

If you say you are passionate about something,  yet the answers are excuses, or negatives,  maybe it's time to observe it more fully.  If you answer "yeah, but"...yeah, but what?

Doing all the time can exhaust us, if we don't take time to replenish, renew, simmer.

Finding out what you are passionate about is important,  but what FEEDS the passion is just as crucial.  What does that passion need from you, for you,  in order to fuel effectively? 

Being passionate about something,  doesn't necessarily mean that something will come to pass in the ways we think it should.   

Passion is not the pursuit.  Passion can fuel the pursuit, but it is not the pursuit itself.

I am riffing here,  as I continue to discover what truly engages me,  and then,  what I pursue:  are they the same?  Are they different?  Is passion simply a part of me that allows me to explore, or is it an action I put into play,  thus needing more observation to see when it drains me, exhilarates me, fatigues me?  Or is that something else?

I don't have answers.  Just more questions.

Perhaps the energy of passion,  the being of passion needs to fully be accepted,  before we feel we must pursue the action of what we are passionate about.  

Example:  I am passionate about singing/theatre/acting and so I pursue a career,  and in that pursuit I am met with resistance,  rejection,  road blocks,  and I am exhausted and lose the passion.

But have you lost the passion?  You never said you had a passion for a career:  you have a passion for/about singing/theatre/acting...the PURSUIT is something else.

I am riffing here...but it is worth considering.  

Maybe the passion is more esoteric - to create,  to be in flow,  to have possibilities.  The pursuit then has the opportunity to take many forms,  and move in different ways.  

Personally,  I am claiming my "simmer" right now.  It allows me to stay engaged without feeling I must being DOING something if I simply need to be still and observe the action around me.  I know I can put the momentum into "drive" at any point,  but I choose to simply rev the motor and be aware of my surroundings and myself,  breathe and replenish as needed.  

The passion?  It hasn't gone anywhere.  

Maybe that's the point.  

Maybe by acknowledging it, we give it permission to reveal itself and be,  so it can be claimed fully.  In claiming it,  we do it.  In doing it,  what we could pursue, reveals.  

Maybe the pursuit changes,  but the action within passion remains the same.

Whatever it is,  I hope you find that passion,  nurture it,  and let it be in whatever form it needs to be.  Where you land,  could simply be where your passion leads you.