Last Passion week I was struggling with my personal experience of passion. I wasn’t living up to my high standard of what passion should look like.
You see, in my late twenties, I became an avid Tony Robbins fan. I had the Personal Power tapes (yes it was that long ago, they were tapes!) and even participated in his Life Mastery program to the point that his “Live with Passion” mantra was a neurolinguistic trigger. Every time I heard it the phrase, I would get visibly amped up but more importantly I craved the driving force passion seemed to embody in my life.
I was a passion junkie. In time, however, I realized I wasn’t really after the passion itself. I just wanted the high that Tony seemed to demonstrate every time I saw him. What I think now, with the benefit of more then 20 years of retrospect, is Tony was demonstrating something even more powerful then passion. He was demonstrating integrity. Integrity with who he is, a bigger larger then life personality doing his very best to make a difference. When one is living true to their purpose, as I believe Tony does, it is unmistakable.
Everything Tony does in congruence with his core purpose. Everything I do is NOT. People who are wildly successful (their definitions not mine) have sussed this out. People like Seth Godin, Oprah, and Madonna have worked this out for themselves and operate reliably within their core values. The persistence and grit that led to their success is nearly invisible now that they have arrived.
Which brings me to the question Is Passion Even Important?
Any quick tour of the internet will lead to pages and pages of material dedicated to helping people find, discover, and live their passion. You can ask 7 questions, take quizzes and learn “how to” make passion a part of your life. All of it certainly leads one to believe that a lack of passion is a real problem but is this really the case?
In last week’s Speaking of Passion blog party I shared Mars Dorian’s Post
- To Hell With Passion. I Have Found Something Better. Way Better – in which he shares how getting “Mad as Hell” actually does more for him then Passion ever has.
He is not alone in dismissing passion from it’s lofty pedestal as the stepping stone to our dreams. Several of my favorite bloggers have been contemplating along the same lines.
- Your start up does not need your passion from Stillman Says concludes “Passion be Damned” and suggests building a business based on your “best attributes” would do more to further your dreams.
- Jonathan Fields asks Has Passion Jumped the Shark? and suggests passion has been “Pop-psychologized, over-hyped, commercialized, productized and maybe time to be eulogized.” and has gone so far to say he “is done” with it.
Maybe I should be too.
Truthfully, I’ve been wondering if passion even deserved a spot in my habit list ever since my sister reminded me that the root of it’s meaning comes from the ancient Latin word, pati which means “to suffer, endure.” Over here at Bliss Habits I have been using the definition “a fervent or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything; experience of strong love or sexual desire” which includes the decidedly more current” sense of “sexual love” first found in the 1580s definition; as well as that of “strong liking, enthusiasm, predilection” which is from the1630s.
Really? The definition hasn’t been upgraded since the 1630s?
OK, part of me loves this kind of endurance. It makes the word seem all that more powerful since it has withstood the test of time however this also means its roots run deep in misery. Certainly not the sort of thing a Bliss loving gal like myself is interested in. I’m stumped. I want passion to mean the willingness to do what it takes and to be happy while putting in the effort. I want it’s roots to come from excitement and engagement and not from enduring and suffering.
I really want a whole new word.
What do you think it should be? Or do you think Passion is the right word and if so why?
Please let me know your thoughts here in a comment or over on out Facebook Page.
I’ve found that when I make my passion my work, I am a much happier person.
I think we need a new word. I am not so great at suffering and enduring. I have often considered the word passion…I don’t finish things in one sitting, when I write I hope I have expressed myself well but lack the passion to keep checking. Or do I lack the ability to agonize over many things? As much as I love this word sometimes it demotivates me because I think I move along more like a turtle. In my heart though I think I am just as passionate as ze artist, but maybe not. I am not sure what word to use to replace passion….
I love this conversation! I find there is pressure in the word passion – expectations of what it’s supposed to look like, feel like… through my life I’ve had many passions, explored them, and moved on. Passion as expressed through alignment in one’s values and actions is powerful and I’m rewriting what the word means so it’s not so emotionally charged about it. Thanks for the conversation and inquiry!
Jennifer! Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation. Yes YES!! Pressure. That is exactly it!
I wholeheartedly support the idea of rewriting what words mean to us. When you have finished yours, would you come back and tell us it?
It is so interesting in that everyone was writing in a similar fashion about Passion.
I do believe I like the word Pleasure but it wouldn’t be a replacement. The co-founder of Access has a teleseries called the 50 Shades of Hedonism. Now there is a word that conjures us some interesting shadows yet isn’t meant to. Love this piece Kathy!