There are certain mornings where I wake up feeling particularly enthusiastic and motivated to start my day because of the activities I get to partake in.
This isn’t everyday mind you, at least not yet, but I do hope to continue building my life in this fashion. I want to live a life filled with passionate pursuits. I love when I have time to write, learn and research, play the drums, and teach and interact with others about inspiring topics.
According to an article in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being (2009), “…passion is defined as a strong inclination or desire toward a self-defining activity that one likes (or even loves), finds important (high valuation), and in which one invests time and energy.” More importantly, this article points out that having what’s specifically called ‘harmonious passions’ leads to greater well-being and fulfillment.
Those who are passionate about daily activities are likely to have greater zest and energy for life, and to have a sense of meaning in what they do. Living with passion can contribute to self-growth and greater happiness providing us satisfaction and greater life purpose.
So what in your life do you love to do? What’s really important to you? And what do you devote a great deal of time to?
This can be a wide variety of activities, anything from sports to nature, or from marketing to astrophysics. No matter what your passion is, the important thing is that you have moments during your day or week where you are filled with enthusiasm and gratification because of these things.
Be aware that passions can lose their impact on our well-being when they become tainted with external contingencies. For instance, think of situations when people decided to take a hobby and turn it into a business only to realize the activity lost it’s luster.
For some people, our passions are separate from our livelihood and when we try to turn something we love to do into a tireless quest for wealth it can make us miserable. This is because when we’re required to engage in an activity for external reward or because of a deadline placed upon us, it can take away the emotional benefits that were before purely at hand.
As long as you feel a sense of control and balance in your life related to your passion, you are on good footing. If nothing else, find what gives you this intrinsic sense of exhilaration and creative freedom and engage in this whenever you can.
Don’t make excuse, just open yourself up to creative forces of expression and embrace the experience fully.
