People say they don’t know what they are passionate about, but that’s not really so. If you scratch the surface you’ll find they are passionate about a whole lot of things on the plus and minus side. If they weren’t they wouldn’t have that rule about not discussing politics or religion with most anyone and especially not at the dinner table, if they still eat meals with other people. Ah, the good old days. What they mean in reality is that they don’t know what passion they have which is the white horse the Prince is going to ride in on and save them from this life of drudgery. They have quite a few of them, but all of them seem too small, too ugly, too useless to be good for anything and in fact get in the way of getting on the road. Just like Donkey from the Shrek movies.
But Donkey is one of the best heroes every. Yes, spells can make him into that horse, or make him seem like the white stead of fairy tales, but in reality he’s best as himself. He saves the day, keeps everything light and forces everyone to see reality even when he can’t see it himself. Passions are meant to support us in making the journey on foot, one step at a time, not conveying us from one place to another. However, people will try to make their passions into grand steeds and then tilt at windmills in hope of winning the life they deserve. The windmills don’t seem to mind, the passions clop along as best they can, and no matter where we end up, we seem to be determined to achieve it with this next try. Or maybe the next or the next….
People describe being passionate about their paths, but having the passion didn’t make that path for them, didn’t get them there, and certainly doesn’t sustain them as they walk it. People have passions, even grand passions, for things which aren’t their path and never lead anywhere except personal enjoyment and the joy of sharing with others. It’s like that joke where the patient asks the doctor if they’ll be able to play the violin only to let the doctor know they couldn’t ever do it before. Many times the path that people are best suited for doesn’t come out of their passions. Instead, it comes because that grand passion didn’t pan out or some unforseen opportunity showed up along the way or the chance meeting of this other person opened up new vistas for life. For many, the passion for the path comes from walking the path that they created, not the other way around. If you let your passions be like Donkey and support you in walking out into the world, what path will you discover? Or will you create your own adventure?