What is Passion?
By Brian Norris, ©2000, 2007, 2010 All Rights Reserved
When people take the time to ask me how I am, my usual response is "Positively Passionate..." or "Amazing..." or "I am excellent..." or "Truly blessed....and how are you?"
Most people, let the unexpected responses sink in. And then, they smile and their eyes sparkle.
A few people get that deer in the headlight look on their face because a response other than "Fine", or "I'm here", or "It's frickin' Monday!" is so foreign to them. They'll walk away or roll their eyes assuming I'm a cult leader or something.
Others get stern or outright uncomfortable and ask "Passionate about what?" or, "What's amazing about Mondays?" or "You live in Wisconsin and it's winter...this place sucks! How can you say life is all that good?"
Fair questions. My responses, "Every day above ground is a really good day." I am just passionate about life, and for the chance to connect with people like you. I'm glad to be alive and for having the ability to enjoy this life. It may my one shot at being human!"
After reading the article below, I hope you'll challenge yourself to live with passion and take a few more chances so that can celebrate your life and your calling. Be Positively Passionate... because it creates a life worth living! -- Brian Norris
What is Passion?
Passion is a gift of the spirit combined with the totality of all the experiences we've lived through. It endows each of us with the power to live and communicate with unbridled enthusiasm.
Passion is most evident when the mind, body and spirit work together to create, develop and articulate or make manifest our feelings, ideas and most sacred values.
Passion enables us to overcome obstacles (both real and imagined) and to see the world as a place of infinite potential. The passionate spirit looks at every occurrence and discovers the golden kernels of what can be, what should be and what will be.
Passion has its own energy -- an energy that's observable and transferable.
Best of all, you can't fake it. Almost anyone, with only a bit of intuitiveness, can spot the charlatan. We can smell the lying wolf. We can sense a lack of sincerity, authenticity and depth. We can inhale the bitter, infectious dryness of the imposter's soul.
That's precisely why passion is a powerful litmus in determining the authenticity of an individual, an organization, a product or service. It supersedes the allure of expensive clothing and luxury vehicles. It makes transparent the hyperbole of the marketing gnomes and branding banshees.
It strips away the thin veneer that separates what is said and what really is. The power of passion forces us to see others as who they are, who they are becoming and often, who they can never be.
Many men and women run from personal and professional passion because they're afraid of being burned. Past relationships that ended in searing pain. Trusts and confidences that were betrayed. Risk that lead to reprimand. Grand visions that suffocated beneath the heavy pillows of nays sayers, soulless logic and overzealous egos.
Consequently, they're afraid of taking the risks that come with living life to its fullest. Most people have touched the fringes of true passion, if only for the briefest moments, at the most unexpected junctures in their lives. They've inhaled the aroma of chance and caressed themselves with the rich lather of genuine affection.
Until they pricked themselves on the thorns of that desire and intensity -- and fled at the sight of the warm crimson blood bubbling to the edges of their virgin fingertips.
And they haven't returned.
Year after year, they stay away, opting instead for a more predictable existence. Rather than taking a leap of faith and immersing themselves in the waters of their deepest joys and motivations, they insist on hiding inside a safety bubble; a sanitary, lifeless, colorless world where nothing new ever happens and the only thing that one can rely on is that tomorrow will be the same as yesterday, and that today will be more of the same.
What we all need is a global return to passion.
We must trust ourselves to being receptive to experiencing every second of every hour, of every day to its fullest.
Can you imagine how much more meaningful our roles as parents, lovers, business owners, marketers, teachers and leaders (community, corporate and spiritual) would be if all of our actions were predicated upon our diverse passions?
Can you imagine a world where our marketing and sales strategies revolved around catering to the real needs of our customers' souls? If we only produced goods and service that contributed to our ability to live and communicate with passion?
Imagine a world where we lived for the moment and spent more time enjoying reality than trying to escape it. Imagine a place where we didn't need lawyers to go before judges, psychologists to tell us that we have emotional problems, or clergy to talk to the Creator for us.
That is the power of passion.
We, as a collective, can make this evolutionary step forward by realizing first that one of the tenements of humanity is our capacity to experience and respond to feelings. Tears of joy and sadness, spirited debate, anger, unfiltered democracy, lust, pride, zeal, conviction, love, compassion -- these are not, can not be sins. Rather, they compliment another tenement of humanity; the gift of free will.
The real sin is lacking the courage to express our convictions and zest for life. It should be a crime to bottle up the passion you once felt as a youth so that you'll fit into a controlled corporate environment or circle of associates.
In fact, the closest we can come to a physical hell is the unforgivable action of refusing to say what needs to be said, not singing what was meant to be sung or forcing ourselves to no longer feel what was intended to be felt.
Passion shapes our existence, fuels the fires of inspiration and makes the heart and mind open to changes all around us. It is food for the soul, a spark that reilluminates our purpose and mission for being here.
Passion is yours to experience and revel in. And even if it causes you to scrape your knees or fall into that raging river called life, passion is your birthright. It is within you. It is yours to discover and master.
Brian Norris is the author of Escape Life Sucks Syndrome. He speaks to organizations about the need for personal and professional passion and positivity. You can reach Brian by calling 414-688-8252 or emailing info@briannorris.com
This site and its contents are copyrighted 2000-2010 by Brian Norris. All rights are reserved. Communicate with Passion is trademarked and may not be used without prior permission. Call us at 414-688-8252 or email info@briannorris.com with your questions, comments and feedback.