“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
One word can encompass so many things…..Do with Passion
Passion is one of the key qualities which defines our life. Without passion, what is life? A passionate life can be a steady smooth, calm stream,gurgling along or can be a wild, ride of an adventure with thrills and spills. The key factor in such disparate lives is doing something with intense devotion and love. Passion adds zest and excitement to life.
When you do something with passion, not only do you yourself enjoy it and feel fulfilled, but you also transmit the energy to other people also. It is contagious. You inspire. You influence. A Cook creating his/her masterpiece with passion, will compel you to have a try at it. A leader with passion, inspires his team and keep their heads up, even when failures seem to be the name of the day and when collapse seem a routine thing. Think, Vikram Chandra CEO of citibank, who was able to turn around the behemoth on a no -pay scheme. Presumably, because it is his passion to solve supposedly unsurmountable problems.Actors, writers, painters, doctors, who live with passion have been inspiration since time memorial. Leonardo da Vinci has been an immense source of insiration because of his passion for art and inventions.Luciano Pavarotti mesmerised the world with his out of the world passionate singing.
Being passionate is one thing. Being in the thrall of passions is another thing.
“There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy” (Richard Brinsley Sheridan).
The union of the mathematician with the poet, fervor with measure, passion with correctness, this surely is the ideal” (William James).
The echoes of passion in the emptiness of a lonely heart is like the murmurings of wind and water in the silence of the wilderness —Francois Rene de Chateaubriand
In this sense, passions refer to the extremely strong emotions experienced by a person. Extreme love, extreme anger, jealousy, envy. Strong passions have been the subject of poetry and literature. The handmaidens of unforgettable characters. As in Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the wind). Strong passions provide their possessor with a special fire and intensity, which makes them unforgettable.
But many times, extremely passionate people also have difficulties in restraining themselves and in some cases, they suffer due to this. Because, their strong passions, deplete them of their inner strength and ability to take sensible decisions at critical moment. There are cases of crimes committed in a fit of passions. Such crimes are known as crimes of passion, or crime passionnel, crimes which occur in the heat of the moment, due to sudden ungovernably strong impulses like rage or heartbreak . There is a need, thus for the passionate amongst us, to be watchful about their emotions and see that they do not take them down a destructive path. Blind passions, can rob us of judgement.
Hence, the saying in the post title about Passion being a bad regulator.
Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for the time, leave us the weaker ever after —Jonathan Swift
Passion is like crime; it does not thrive on the established order —Thomas Mann
Passions are like fire and water, good servants but bad masters —Alexander Pope
And thus, Passions have to be managed and not be our managers. They are excellent tools but bad supervisors
And what would be the object of your passions…
Each of us have our true passions.Something which we intensely love doing ; we pretend to be too busy to explore them or they lie hidden within us. Even great people started off as normal people, before they discovered and PERSISTED with their passions. The key is to explore, discover, pursue and persist. We need to make it a permanent part of our lives. We need to also give our children the freedom to explore and discover, rather than force something on them.
So Find Out what are your passions..and make your life meaningful….