“Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.” ― John Wesley
Passion exists on a continuum or spectrum
A lot of people speak of passion as though it were some monolithic entity. They think you either have a hot burning passion or you don’t.
I often hear people complain that they don’t have any passions. Frustrated, they often wonder if those who preach finding and pursuing one’s passions expect them not to enjoy their lives because they don’t have passions.
When they speak of lacking passion, they usually mean that they don’t have an all-consuming fire burning in their hearts and bones. Every time they hear someone passionately talk about their dreams and passions, they hear something spontaneous and supernatural that drives their lives. When they turn and look at themselves, they don’t find what they believe to be Passion as expressed by others.
I can understand why these people feel that way. They have been conditioned to think of passion in an unsustainable manner. Societal conditioning has helped them to build a paradigm that sees passion only at one end of the passion spectrum, missing the rest of the spectrum.
Because of that inaccurate conditioning, if they don’t see in themselves the kind of passion that is at the high end of the spectrum, they conclude they don’t have any passion at all.
Let’s use pain as an example to clarify this point. In medicine, we frequently rank pain on a scale of zero to ten. Zero is no pain and 10 is the greatest pain ever –like having a baby without any anesthesia. If a person has been conditioned that real pain is only what happens at level 10 and everything below that is not pain, they will have a wrong conception of pain. Living with level 7, 8, or 9 pain is a terrible thing. Not to acknowledge that would be bad.
The reality is that passion exists on a continuum. There is such a thing as the passion spectrum. Just as light exists on a spectrum, passion also exists on a spectrum.
There are different levels of passion, just like different intensities of heat. Changing one’s paradigm from the absolutist view that sees passion only at a level 10 intensity would help them begin to see passion for what it truly is and start seeing it in their lives.
Passion has three elements. Passion is a strong emotion (feeling), adoration/love, or a strong interest.
If you don’t have a full-blown level 10 passion, you certainly have interests and desires unless you are very depressed. There are some subjects that you care a lot about and others you couldn’t care less about. There are some experiences that turn you on and make you come alive while others are just boring to you and turn you off. There are things that you love to do, that you enjoy doing. There are also things that you feel good doing. These small passions can be fanned into bigger passions. You don’t have to wait for something to happen to you. You can create it.
You can fan the flames of your passion
Not all fires are the same. There are small embers and there are huge, hot, ravenous fires. All have the same element, but different degrees.
If you have a small ember, you can fan it into a huge fire. You can put wood into it and make a big fire.
The truth is, we all have dreams and passions. The intensity may not be the same. Yet, we can fan our little fires and put wood in them. We can intentionally create a big fire from the embers we have. We don’t have to wait for it to happen spontaneously.
Also, different people have different sensitivities. One person may have a pound of passion and really feel it and get moved by it. Another may have 2 pounds of passion and pour water on it with his words or simply doesn’t feel it.
Don’t wait for someone, fan your own flames.
Some people talk about passion like romance in books, movies, and fairytales. It sounds better than in real life. In real life, romance exists with the dirt and complexities of life. It feels different from what books, movies, and fairytales make us believe, yet romance in real life is the real thing. We should believe the real thing and not the fake. But we can always make the real thing better. We can fan our flames.
The same is true of your dreams and passions. You can fan your flames.
