Live with Passion!

If you would have asked me back in January what my perception was about the word passion, I most certainly would have told you that it was a) frequently associated with sex but loosely tossed around with other things, and b) something I didn't have inside of me.

Now let's see what dictionary.com has to say about this word:

1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2. strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.
3. strong sexual desire; lust.
4. an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
5. a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.

Hmm... I don't think I was too far off! So when I heard people talk about being passionate or how they pursued a particular course in life because it was their "passion," I often thought to myself, "Man, I wish I knew what my passion was. Then maybe I'd start enjoying MY life more." I've had the privilege of being around several passionate people these last few months, and it has totally rubbed off.

I'm here to share as briefly as possible the things I now believe about passion:

Passion, as defined by the first definition, is found within us all. You already have it! You don't have to go looking for it because it already exists. The only thing that stands in your way of living passionately is... ready for it?..................YOU. What do I mean by this? I mean to say that deep inside yourself you have all these dreams --- hopes, wishes, desires --- and at one point in your life there was no end to your imagination or your possibilities. Do you remember when that was? Have you been around a 2 or 3 year-old recently? They are some of the most passionate people you will ever meet. No wonder they are so hard to keep up with! Somewhere along the journey of life you slowed down or even stopped dreaming. You stopped wishing or hoping or desiring "big things" for yourself. And that my friends is where your passion was zapped away. That is where I "lost myself." I forgot what it felt like to be passionate.. to be "anxiously engaged" in good things: the things that made me ME and brought joy to my life.

If you're not quite yet convinced yet that those little people are the most passionate people you've ever met, let me share this quote with you:

"We often think of enthusiasm as caused by an external event. However, it can be generated from within, becoming an intentional action for transforming virtually anything in our lives. Enthusiasm can take the seemingly small, dull, boring, or unimportant and turn it into something new and magnificent."

Can anyone else attest to this truth?! I know I can! In fact, my son was the inspiration for one of my momentums (a goal I choose every week to help me practice the principle I'm learning in Power 90 or Cross Trainer) previously. Danny and I hate Tuesday mornings when the garbage man comes at 7AM because we'll hear him start screaming "Garbage Truck! Garbage Truck!"  He also does this for any motorcyle that he hears, airplane, the moon, etc etc. He's GENUINELY excited about all these things!

A couple months ago I decided to greet my husband at the door WITH ENTHUSIASM for a whole week, patterned after Carson's enthusiasm. Picture me running from wherever I was in the house to the back door, tackling him with a big bear hug squeeze and loudly saying "I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HOME!"  At first, it was pretty weird - Danny admitted this to me. But he also told me that after a couple days he realized he was excited to come home because he knew what was going to happen. He felt loved and appreciated.

Since then, I have re-discovered my passions are: LEARNING, FAMILY RECREATION/PLAYING GAMES, DANCING/PERFORMING, ICE CREAM, PERSONAL HISTORY (JOURNALING, SCRAPBOOKING, PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC). These are the drivers behind a lot of what I choose to do with my time. The power in knowing this has been the power to feel good about the choices I make on a daily basis. And that helps me find more happiness and fulfillment in my life, which in turn makes me a much better person to live with. :)

{Yes, it's quite possible I was enjoying the slide WAY more than Carson. :) P is smiling -- he understands me.}

{Making sure that even though our only car broke down just a couple weeks before our scheduled vacation, we STILL found a way to make it happen. My friends are also my family. THAT'S PASSION.}

I want to share with you all the most recent exercise I did that reignited more passion for me, and that is that I created a "bucket list" of 100 things to Be-Do-Have, an exercise started at the Power of Choice back in January. Perhaps I will post that another day because it was truly a great exercise for the soul --- it woke me up and gave me permission to dream again. Not only that, but if writing it down means that it will happen, then WHY NOT?! Right after I completed my list, I found out some of my commercial photography work was published in a trade magazine, and one image even made the FRONT COVER!

#52: Be published in a magazine or blog

That's pretty neat. :)

"Learn to strengthen the muscle of your enthusiasm, letting the tiny become great, and you will reclaim your energy and passion." -Anat Baniel

Now, what will YOU do today to reclaim your energy and passion? Will you spend a day with a 3 year-old and take notes? Will you make your own bucket list? Will you revisit the bucket list maybe you made a while back and just read through it to see what you want to do next? Don't really know?

I thoroughly enjoy talking about passion right now and would LOVE to help others rediscover the truth about themselves. Let me just bounce ideas off the wall with you and see what sticks! It's really fun and, selfishly, gives me more ideas for my next 100 list.

Leave some love if you have any great ideas to share with others, questions for me, or comments about what you've read. It gets me all excited to know someone is out there reading. :)

Rachel Wilson commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 18, 2012

This is great! Vince makes fun of me sometimes because I get over-enthusiastic about things (like snow-cones for example) but then he also gets excited about my enthusiasm! So he'll come home and say "Guess what? I saw a snowcone booth on the way home!" It just makes things so much more fun! However, I have a hard time finding a passion for doing things. How do you find out what you're passionate about?

JordanandMandyPotter commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 18, 2012

I always LOVE your blog posts. It's just what I need! Can't wait to see you!

Mom commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 18, 2012

I love your blog posts as well. I have always been one for keeping journals and these tell so much about who you are. You are gifted in so many things with writing being one. I am very proud of the woman/mom you have become!

Janneke commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 19, 2012

Great question Rachel! I did an exercise where I practiced plugging passion into mundane things, like filling your car up with gas. :) Perhaps I will share some tips in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, a great exercise would be to ponder and make a list of a few of the things you EASILY get excited about. Having that in mind will help you transfer passion from something you already love to something you don't love. Passion is a choice you make.

Megan commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 19, 2012

Thanks for the post, Janneke!

Brenda commented on "Live with Passion!"

Jun 19, 2012

Yay! I've been waiting for you to post again. I love that you have found passion again. Games are the best!

Unknown commented on "Live with Passion!"

Sep 28, 2012

I love this, Janneke. I think I need to start greeting Gary like this. Too often, I start at him kind of blankly because my mind is spinning elsewhere.