Want to be happy and healthy??

Work with Passion

“...finding what we love, though it may take years, is building a life of passion. For what makes you come alive can keep you alive, whether you are paid well for it or not. And beyond the fashion of the job market, a life of passion makes us a healthy cell in the body of the world.”

Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening)

It was Howard Thurman who said, “what the world needs is people who have come alive.” I envy folks who know from early childhood what they “want to be when they grow up.” Like a bloodhound, they put their noses to the ground and go after it. I have a few friends who are now retirement age and have no desire to retire because they are still passionate about what they do everyday. Passion is healthy energy. It will keep your body/mind alive and well long past its typical expiration date.

What is not healthy is going through every single day in a job that you hate; working long hours that don't allow for the joy of life. Even when that work puts food on the table, and Prada in the closet, we will not thrive in it. So many of our young people have been sold a bill of goods on this front. They grew up believing that if they worked hard, educated themselves well, a job would be waiting. They would make a lot of money and be in love with life. What they find instead is that the job market is ever changing; entire industries come and go seemingly overnight. We are indeed capable of having too many MBA's and Lawyers, so having the degree does not equal having the job. Others get the job and realize they hate doing it. At no point has passion entered into the equation.

Supply side economics may work for the bottom line, but it does not always work for the human heart. Depending upon one's priorities, one can live for passion, or live for cash. When there is communion between those two things, that is the best of all worlds. Which is why it is very important to do what we love. Whether we're educated or not, when we approach life with passion, the positive energy of love permeates whatever we lay our hands upon. A great chef is someone in love with food, the look of it, the smell, the taste. A visionary architect loves design and materials and puts her heart right into the brick and mortar. A successful cabinet maker loves the wood, the tools, even the smell of the sawdust around his feet. Greatness in any field comes from perusing one's own passion. “Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.” (Howard Thurman).

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                    Jane