Manifesto of a Life of Passion
I believe people are born with an innate storehouse of passion for life. Unbeknownst to most, opportunistic thieves are seeking to steal raw uncut passion from an unsuspecting owner’s reservoir. I want to be an inspiration to everyone that I meet to revive the God-given passion in their lives in hopes of dismissing the idea of living. Instead, introduce a life of thriving.
My life began humbly in 1970, as I wrote about in the blog on My Childhood Home. I described a devastating fire that almost destroyed our home. If not for the passion my father had to rebuild, we may have all had to credit this as an unfortunate loss. My mother struggled to regain the passion she once had for our home, having to say goodbye to the antique bedroom window shutters that once covered the east wall of her bedroom. The motivating factor for our family was my father’s passion and perseverance to rebuild our home and our lives. The struggle to remain passionate for life after a devastating loss can pay huge dividends. This lesson was one of my first lessons in this life.
The 2013 Untitled Painting is a painting by an Iranian artist, Nasrollah Afjei. The artist created this unique painting by repeating the words Eshq over and over. Eshq means love in the Persian language. I wrote a blog about the artist having a reservoir of passion that inspired every stroke practically the same, with a slight variation. I likened the similar but slightly different strokes to a lover repeating a cycle with a love interest only to find their love’s unrequited. Some believe that passion is short-lived and true love lasts longer. There is a saying, “I learned to respect the power of love.” I would like to add, I learned to respect the power of passionate love. To love without passion can be likened to cooking over a single flame as opposed to cooking over a gas range. I have found that no long term commitment is worthy of expending energy if there is no passion for the thing or person that you will be committing to.
Today, as I look back over my life, I recall a blog that I wrote about a Fire Dance sculpture created by David Black. Black was originally from Gloucester, Massachusetts. He and his wife later relocated to Fort Myers, Florida. He and his wife first visited Centennial Park in downtown Fort Myers while a Jazz festival was performing in the park. He described the music as fire and the sense of community was strong with the Fort Myers community. The artist wanted to create something that represented the passionate feelings that he experienced the first night he walked through the park. The artist was able to marry his passion for his wife, the Fort Myers community, and the artist’s artistic creativity. The result was a beautiful amazing bright red Fire Dance sculpture that will inspire the community for many years to come.
I believe it is vital to learn to revive the passion in our lives to put us on our paths to not just live but thrive. It is important to revive the passion in our lives and remain focused on becoming proactive to prevent problems that may arise in the future and solve the current problems we have. As a passionate person, we have no comfort zone. We desire to remain calm and patient and not lose our vision. In a relationship, we’re able to bring value to the other person’s life by putting their needs first and staying focused on our desired outcome. Keeping our souls filled with passion is our secret weapon to propel us into a better future for ourselves and every person we come in contact with. Fear may come, but if our passion reservoirs are adequately filled, fear can not stay. Passion swallows negativity and transforms fear into fuel that nurtures an environment that causes our lives to thrive.
