Dude...what is your passion in life?

My youngest son, Kevin, came to see me this afternoon.  It means the world to me to have time with my handsome sons, especially to see their smiles, hear their laughs, feel their hugs and smell their smells.  Today I fell in love with his underarm deodorant when we hugged!  (Smelled divine!)

He shared a recent adventurous time he had at Lake Nacimiento with some friends and a  random question he was asked that he initially had a hard time answering because he just did not know the answer.  "Dude...what is your passion in life?"  It took him three days pondering over the depth of such a simple question.

How many of us know our passion in life?  Have YOU tapped into your passion in life?

I think the best way to know the passions we have in life, the passions that make us feel alive, are those we can remember from childhood that we engaged in.  If you take the time to remember those years, what did you most love, do and were drawn to?  As a child we were more fearless and without reservations in what we loved to do and be about.  This is a source. Compared with others, I feel I do live this way, but certainly now would like to be more involved with those passions that are mine for me.

Whether we can make our passion our occupation or not, I feel it is important to tap into passions as hobbies, not just dreams without legs, and to experience a flavor or color of our passions each and every day for a full and happy life.  Passions do not necessarily equal money.  (But if so, save for those passions!)  For example, when I was a child I loved living on the edge, dangerously, adventurously and without limit or worry.  Recently I experienced the excitement of riding on a "really gynormous" bus for free to and from our local street fair on the 4th of July.  I always wondered what riding a bus that size that would be like.  The sway around corners, the vast windows and length of this traveling Twinkie just left me in awe.  I was both afraid (what if we crashed on the freeway without wearing seat belts?) and excited (no one could see in the windows from the outside) and enjoyed this passion just for me.  But, what made the experience even better was sharing it with someone I loved and literally cost me nothing but a choice.  Simple decisions or pricey choices.  What is worth our passions?

Some things that truly make me feel alive and touch my soul, much like literature does, include: making someone smile or easing the discomfort of an animal; reading, writing, classical music and swimming, especially swimming in warm water at night; playing Scrabble and dressing/creating paper dolls; finding neat rocks and shells during a hike or walk on the beach; growing an organic garden and cooking; preparing a delicious meal and watching faces savor what I have cooked; laughing, and laughing hard, from the gut, with tears pouring down my face.  I could just go on and on.  I also love coloring with crayons and playing hopscotch.

Taking a few minutes to tap into your passions and to explore the reasons behind those passions is well worth a spot on the calendar!

Have fun!