Passion or powerful, directed emotion is what makes the world go around. Nothing of any significance happens without some type of passion in the individual behind the work! Have you ever stopped to think what it is that you are most passionate about? Every person on Earth has a talent unique to that individual which is ripe for development once you discover what it is. So the question is, have you discovered your unique talent? And, if so, are you developing that area of your life or being distracted away with artificial passions?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best. “Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea. This talent and this call depend on his organization, or the mode in which the general soul incarnates itself in him. He inclines to do something which is easy to him, and good when it is done, but which no other man can do. He has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of any other. His ambition is exactly proportioned to his powers. The height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of the base. Every man has this call of the power to do somewhat unique, and no man has any other call.”
Finding your true calling isn’t a mystery that you need to solve because while you are pursuing it, it is pursuing you! If you take some time to think you will begin to see the clues. Maybe there was a subject in school that was a breeze to you and required very little study at all. Maybe there is an activity, that when you do it, time seems to stand still with hours passing by as if they were minutes. Or perhaps there is something that you do that feels more like play than actual work. While the hints may be endless, your job in life is to find them out.
Your calling in life is your unique contribution to the world, which loses something without it. Maybe the book didn’t get written that would heal a million minds. Perhaps the invention that would revolutionize human life died within the soul that contained it. Or the love you could have taught your children didn’t pass on to a hundred generations. You won’t like to hear this, but there is another aspect of life that works tirelessly to keep you away from your calling. It cannot stop the information from flowing to you, but it can distract you and waste your life. Those distractions often come in the form of artificial passions. Sure, they float your boat but they never lead you to your real destination. They serve simply as distractions. We all have varied interests and things that make our heart beat faster, but shoot, an amphetamine can do that! How many people can you think of that still have a dream in their heart, ever buried by their job; their obsessions; their fantasies?
One sure way to locate your passion is by asking who will receive the greatest benefit from it. A calling cannot help but benefit others as God would have it no other way! Passions that satisfy you and you alone are most likely counterfeit. Now, don’t get me wrong here. Your true calling will provide you with infinite happiness but that happiness cannot be at another person’s expense. It cannot! I often chuckle when religious folk purport what it is “you” oughta do, whether you enjoy it or not. The Good Lord knows exactly what you love and being perfect, puts those things in your heart to carry out with all that you are! And here’s the bonus, the things you are called to do, you can not only do, but you can do well.
Obviously your unique talent will require some honing; some development. It may take years as you would expect from your significant contribution (not to be measured by worldly acclaim but by the human heart). That is, of course, unless you don’t ever get to it. The world is going to sling a hundred different options your way to squelch what you have to offer. Most will appeal to your ego or the almighty self. Some will demand your participation in causes that seem real but aren’t real (i.e. the energy crisis in the 80’s that caused us to lower speed limits to 55 mph) And, although it seems, oh so noble, in reality it was a cause that wasn’t real. If you follow your heart (your heart) you cannot go wrong. Your real passion will not only hold a tremendous appeal to you, but will hold an even greater appeal to those who need it most.
Of paramount importance in this passion finding business is you. Sounds like a contradiction, I know. No-one knows better than you what is “it” for you. Sure people will participate in giving you hints, maybe lots of people, but at the end of the day (cliché intended) only you are going to be able to solve your riddle. But, man oh man, when you figure it out it will thrill your soul for days without end. Not just for the prize but for the journey…
Your calling, your passion will always be completely unique to you and whether it is world-changing or even one life changing, it is your call for this life. Your success in life won’t be measured by the amount of money you made or how many people you affected, but rather by the love in which you gave yourself fully to the cause and for that reason, I hope you find it.
Just some good, passionate thoughts…
Powerful stuff here, Tony….hope this ends up in your book!
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