Passion and peace

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It is a good thing to discover the things we are passionate about in life, and to pursue them. Those often are the things we find most fulfillment in spending our time and energy on, and therefore we would arguably be most productive following our hearts desires.

At the same time it is also a good idea to find peace ~ both within ourselves, as well as on the path we are walking; in the things we say and do.

When we put the two of them together, it seems clear that both of them are needed; passion and peace. And yet, each of them has a profoundly different energy.
This difference energy then, can make it easy to lose the balance between the two, as we swing from one to the other…
Being fully active in pursing the things we are passionate about, to ‘doing nothing’ as we find that point of peace ~ perhaps without even recognizing that it is the point of peace we have entered; rather than an unproductive, non-interesting, or even lazy space…

And as we tend to put a higher priority on (productive) activity than on those moments of quiet peace, we also seem to gravitate to a need to always be doing things ~ productive or just plain fun ~ and push those ever important quiet, peaceful times away from us.

As we look at others, especially those that are close to us, this seems to become more obvious. Especially when the rhythm of the other person is different, or sometimes even opposite our own. When we are all geared to start doing something adventurous and fun, while the other person really needs to spend some time in that peaceful state; it is easy to assume the other person is just lazy. Or isn’t interested in ‘family activities’.

When we would permit this perspective to take hold of our relationships, it is easy to find ourselves in a day-to-day routine where one says ‘but you always want to do things and move around so much’, while the other says ‘but you are never interested in doing something fun and interesting’…
And pretty soon we may come to the conclusion that while there is a deep friendship, and a rich partnership ~ the ‘passion’ is gone.

It often calls for a re-evaluation as to what our passion truly is.
Is it that sense of falling in love, head over heals, with all the excitement, butterflies, romantic dinners etc.? Or is our passion something deeper; a matured perspective on our heart’s desires?

Something we set out to achieve rather than a fleeting feeling of excitement?
Something that, ultimately, brings us peace?
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