Brighten Your Day

Look back over the last 100 years of publishing in the self help genre, and you would find many titles revolving around the subject of getting rich. At one point in time - it seems - people considered becoming a millionaire the panacea that would solve all of their problems in life.

These days we seem to have gotten wiser. No longer do we believe that money will solve all of our life's problems. But we seem to have fallen into another insidious trap. What was once all about getting rich has now turned into finding one's passion. Why? Because life will become so much easier, work won't feel like work anymore, and we would never have to worry about meeting our basic economic needs by "trading our time for dollars."

So deep is this thought process embedded into our culture that even the most successful people in the world repeat it. Never mind in what way they mean it, and in what way the rest of us understand it. The point is that the "find your passion" maxim has become the magic bullet solution of our times.

Frankly I am starting to believe less and less in this. Well at least in the idea as it is conceived in popular culture. Not sure if you agree with me? Here's a quick test: would you be willing to slog 80 hour work weeks at a job you hate, for the opportunity to pursue your passion for 1 hour a week? I think I'm safe in assuming the average person would not take that deal. Yet passion implies "at any cost" and "whatever it takes." If a person were truly passionate about something, they would do whatever it takes to earn the time to invest into it.

This is why I think becoming a passionate person is more important than finding your passion. It all starts with self transformation. Finding the best version of yourself from within yourself, rather than finding the ideal medium for expression out in the world.

We lose a lot of time in life over this confusion of "what exactly is my passion and life purpose." There is this feeling that one's passion should be self-evident from the moment one lays eyes on it. And that a burning desire for it just persists in our consciousness on it's own, carrying us through all the hardships and difficulties of the path.

The truth is, if you want an extraordinary life, then you have to endure extraordinary hardship. And nothing outside of you is ever going to get you through that. The only thing that will make you endure are the resources that you find within yourself.