Discovery and Passions

Passion. I've been hearing a lot about that word today. It's also been on my mind as of late. Such a simple word. Seven letters long and only two syllables. Easy to say, spell and write. Why then is it such a hard word to understand? It has many different meanings or should I say contexts. It may have meaning for one but a different meaning for another.

Not that I watch Oprah, but today she had three guests on her show that all have jobs that they are absolutely passionate about. One was a fashion director for a magazine; one was a florist for a four star hotel in France and the other was a cake chef. She interviewed all three at different times and asked each one of them to explain why they were so successful at what they do. Each one stated the number one reason was passion.

Are some people more in tune with that word than others? How is it that someone who, as a child, was punished by his father by making him bake cakes in his store to keep him from playing outside with his friends become something that makes him millions of dollars every year? (Smart dad, by the way). This chef now has a show on TV and has many number one selling cookbooks to his name. And he has the nerve to say passion is the number one reason he is successful? How can that be? How can something that out of the ordinary be the one thing that sets in motion a highly successful career?

So I took a few moments today to discover or rediscover what my passions are. I sat and thought, sat and thought. Got up, went bowling and thought. Came home and ate dinner, and thought. There were a few things that I discovered or rediscovered that I am passionate about. Obvious things that didn't require a whole lot of thinking really. My kids for one. Duh! No brainier there. I am very passionate about them. Every time they discover or rediscover a passion and see the joy on their faces I get a bit choked up. What's new there, right? I love cooking and when I bite into something that only existed moments ago as raw material I get a rush come over me. I am no chef but man I do love to eat. Oh wow, look at that...another passion.

But for the life of me I could not come up with a passion that I would consider a life changing passion. Nothing comes to mind about doing something so good that I could actually make money from doing it. Not one thing came to my mind that would get me out of bed in the morning and say to myself "Hot dog, I'm going to work!" And if it were a passion of mine wouldn't I not say "work?" Because, as everyone on the Oprah show pointed out, they do not consider what they do as work. Wouldn't that be nice? "Bye, honey! I'm off doing something that I have a passion about. Gotta pay the bills."

So is there something wrong with me? I have no talents and even if I had them I'm too lazy to perfect them. Maybe then those are not my talents after all. Maybe, just maybe, I have yet to discover my true passions. Maybe I have spent way too much time trying to rediscover myself when myself still has yet to be discovered.

Now that thought brings me great joy. To believe that after all I have gone through and all the hard work I have done to come to know that I have yet to be discovered. That gives me great hope. Hope to believe that there is a better me waiting to come forward. A better me that will be more full of life and love and happiness. I don't believe it will come easy. But when I recognize the change in me and see how others see me, there will be no doubt that passion exists in me, and the world around me may be a better place indeed.