Passion. Another loaded word. I believe that part of the reluctance people tend to have about listen to others go on about their passion is that we feel like we’ve heard these inspiring reels before but without a lot of result. As my friend the Buddhist monk used to say, “I hear a lot of noise coming from the kitchen…pots and pans and all that…but I don’t smell any cooking.”
Let’s be honest: we’ve all experienced both sides. On the one hand, we’ve rolled our eyes (perhaps subtly or internally) when listening to someone talking about their passion. On the other hand, we’ve been fired up and passionate about something to the point that we need to tell everyone we know about it…and then sorta faded back into the comfy impression we’ve made on the Couch of Life.
The thing about the idea of being passionate about something, about being totally jazzed and fired up, is that it sparks the tiniest little fire inside of us that, in turn, wells up into that horrible 4-letter word that gets us all in trouble:
HOPE.
Acknowledging passion inspires hope. It’s the hope of the ignorant and optimistic and idealistic and inexperienced. Then some bad things happen in life, hopes begins to falter, and…we’re back on the couch. This vicious, demoralizing cycle happens over and over again as we navigate our existence, and our hearts are broken more times than we can count.
Then it happens again. HOPE.
Sustainable passion requires hope that will not go away. As my friend Jeff recounted during a recent conversation we had (that we recorded for your listening pleasure), passion is “what we’re made for.” Not his words, mind you, but the words of an 11-year-old. Passion is hope, and hope is flammable. That’s what gets us in trouble. The fire of hope can get so out of control that we get burned in the process. That risk is enough to assume that seat on the couch again.
My remedy: don’t call it passion. Call it something else if doing so moves you to action. Otherwise, stick with passion. It’s not a bad word. The important thing is to feel the burn deep inside. EVERYONE needs fire inside to get the engine running. Internal combustion. Another sound concept. Some of us need more fire than others, but we all need it. We all find ways to get it. When we get enough, it inspires us. It forces us to move, to take action. Heaven forbid we get the intended results. Then momentum kicks in. It can all get pretty scary pretty quick. Before the scare moves in, though, we get that sublime feeling of awesomeness.
That, my friend, is passion.
The art of applied passion is something I like to call Boomcraft.
Illuminate Possibilities 