My birthday is Thursday. 48. (A whole host of blog posts could be written about that alone!)
Serendipitously, last year I was also in the middle of Passion week for my 47th. What I did, some of you may recall, is write a list of 47 things that I am passionate about. You can check that list out here. So as I am approaching Thursday I thought, perhaps I should revisit that list. I thought I might re-post it, add another item and get present again to the things I am “passionate about” but the problem is it really isn’t that easy.
Actually writing the list was really hard. When I first started I couldn’t figure out what to put on it. As I told you yesterday, when I am satisfied with my information about things my passion really begins to wane. Take those leafy sea dragons, which made it to number 38 on my list. When ever we make it to an aquarium I spend a great deal of time watching them and their cousins the weedy sea dragons. They are easily “my favorites” but what had me say I was PASSIONATE about them?
On the day I put them on my list, I had read an account of how much their numbers are in decline because the kelp forest in which they live is being compromised by Australian coastal development. The same issues are causing problems for sea otters along the California coast. I get easily outraged when I glimpse human short sightedness and on that day outrage was mistaken for passion. Not that I couldn’t be passionate about the sea dragons, but if the truth is to be told I am not. I like them. I want to share the planet them. I could become passionate about them but so far I really am not.
As I think about this, it brings my entire experience of passion into question. I feel like I could be passionate about everything on that list. They are things that concern and interest me, however I have placed some type of limit to my expression. To be fully and totally passionate about something suggests a reckless abandon that I have been unwilling to broach.
Those of you following along on the Facebook page will recognize this quote:
I will cover you with love when next I see you, with caresses, with ecstasy. I want to gorge you with all the joys of the flesh, so that you faint and die. I want you to be amazed by me, and to confess to yourself that you had never even dreamed of such transports…. When you are old, I want you to recall those few hours, I want your dry bones to quiver with joy when you think of them.
~Gustave Flaubert, letter to wife Louise Colet, 15 August 1846
I have visited this quote often. When I read it I am clear that Flaubert allowed himself to play fully in the depths of passion. He marched in boldly, unencumbered by fear or caution. When I consider what it might mean for me to experience the same intensity, I immediately feel myself pull back. Would it actually be possible to lose myself in passion? What would this mean to the rest of my life?
“We all need to look into the dark side of our nature – that’s where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we’re busy denying.” ~ Sue Grafton
Yes! That’s it! Somehow I believe that if I should delve deeply into passion I would come face to face with some part of myself I have been denying for years. I LOVE many things. Fairly and safely said, I LOVE everything on that list I wrote last year but passionate I am not.
My mentor Ben Franklin said, “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” and I think perhaps I have allowed reasonableness to keep my passion in check. It isn’t an unsound strategy. Success in the material world often requires reasonable choices but what might be possible if passion were occasionally allowed first billing?
And this is where I jump into the unknown. As my birthday looms I consider inviting passion in ways I have previously feared. I’ll let you know what happens!
How often have you given passion first billing? Did you feel like reason was needed to temper the experience or were you able to go wildly with reckless abandon? Are you willing to try?
Kathy, are you talking to me? This has been my theme this week. (Unbeknownst to me, it is also your Bliss Habits theme, too!)
I think I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a list of 43 things I’m passionate about; I’m still looking for the one. Your post struck a chord. Perhaps I’m checked by reason …
I cannot wait to hear about what you uncover. May I take you and Jessie out for breakfast tomorrow to celebrate your birthday? I’m in town!
I will definitely keep everyone posted! So good to know I am not in it alone! Thank you for commenting today!
I think that I feel passion with reckless abandon! When I am enthralled by something, I move full speed ahead without thinking sometimes about the rationale behind my action. Sometimes the heart really does rule the head!!! By the way happy early birthday to you – I hope you do something that you truly feel passionate about! Theresa
OH I love knowing reckless abandon can look so good!! Thank you Theresa!
I am passionate about only a couple of things: my family and making a difference in this world, but still, my level of passion isn’t the “wreckless abandon” type, and I’m okay with that.
I turn 48 on Tuesday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Interesting and well written post. I am passionate about my family and providing support to people with chronic illness, like myself, and educating others about the challenges we face. I do this through my blogging and in every opportunity I have to communicate with someone that I meet.
I’m pretty sure I don’t have the time or energy to be passionate about 40 things. I would be the person firmly holding the reins, afraid that going full bore after something would really upset the applecart I call my life.