What lights your fire?
What calms your mind?
What excites you?
What makes your body feel vital?
What opens your heart?
Do more of those things, my darling, and miracles will begin happening all around you.
A miracle worker,
Your Inner Pilot Light"
http://www.facebook.com/YourInnerPilotLight
I've been feeling rather passionate about life recently and writing. I've mentioned that it is like I'm ON FIRE! - Which is great but it can also lead to burnout.
And then there is peace. That wonderful, easy feeling inside when everything is right. A walk outside, sun shining, breeze on your skin, your mind calm and heart happy. Ahhh, peeeeeace.
Part of me wonders if the two can co-exist. I've noticed a trend in myself that I will often write when I am feeling very strong emotions - usually sad, angry, or hurt. I also journaled a lot right after my children were born and my feelings were of intense joy and gratitude. But in the past, as my passion faded, so did my writing. And when I'm feeling passionate and ON FIRE, I'm certainly not feeling very peaceful!
On the other hand, when I feel peaceful it sometimes feels like every interesting thought has left my mind. There's just nothing there! I enjoy feeling peaceful, but it also kind of scares me because I don't want to lose the passion!
I am beginning to think that there is a way to have both in our lives, and when we are living our lives in alignment with our true selves, these two seemingly opposite forces may come into balance. I have an "equation" in my mind lately that feels like a good way to describe how I feel about passion and peace. It is this:
Passion + Peace = Flow
Which reminds me of this picture I saw on Facebook the other day:
We *need* both passion and peace in our lives. Too much of one or the other may lead to burnout or complacency. I loved this post on Bliss Habits explaining how to channel our passion. Because passion *is* like a fire and if we don't try to both guide and feed it we may lose it. I believe this is where peace can come into play. When we take time for stillness and silence, for prayer or meditation, or to just *be*, we are at once giving our minds and spirits a break from our passion and room for it to grow.
I've had a difficult time writing this post for some reason, even though I've been mulling over this idea for months now. Today I came across a couple of quotes about passion that seemed to be urging me on, please just write the damn post!
I'll leave you with them:
"Your true passion should feel like breathing; it's that natural" Oprah Winfrey
"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure our your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose." Bishop T.D. Jakes
And not to leave peace out here a couple:
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein
Last but not least - because it says the same thing as Albert Einstein's, but just made me laugh, I leave you with this one and hopefully a smile, because Mother Teresa said, "Peace begins with a smile," (ok, so Peace got three quotes since I just snuck that one in there, but what can I say? I love peace!)
“Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” George Carlin