How to Find Your True Passion

Love is the ultimate passion

Love is the answer to the question of how to find your true passion and also, the ultimate passion of life. Thus, the quest for finding one's true passion in life ultimately becomes one of how to find love. Love has a complexity, multiplicity and diversity of expressions, so where does one begin to look to find love?

Perhaps we comprehend in part, the Passion of Christ with His intense, divine Love for humankind. At best, our most elaborate human expression of love, barely expresses any passion at all, in comparison to His pain and suffering, coupled with the ultimate celebration of joy.

We, as human beings, tend to settle for lesser passions, which become the primary focus of our lives. Living life without a passion of some kind, would seem to be nearly impossible, because there has to be something that every person, as a human being, is truly passionate about, at least to some degree. We may or may not recognize that particular passion in our lives.

Looking at human expressions of love, or looking for human expressions of love, one sees many different ways that true passion can be expressed. A passion is often manifested in terms of one's emotion.

We can begin by asking a person, what he or she loves. That may or may not reveal what one is passionate about or what one's true passion in life actually is. That simple, but extremely complex question, may assist that person to focus on his or her true passion in life.

Most people have some idea of what they are at least, mildly passionate about, but not everyone. They may state that they like something, enjoy doing it or are interested in pursuing that interest, at least to some degree. But actually finding one's true passion? That is another question. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack and a very tiny one at that.

"What is your true passion in life?"

That is not a good question to ask anyone, because the answer that you will probably get will be, "I don't know." 

Ask yourself that question first. Do you know what your passion in life really is? You probably do not know either.

It is much easier to look for something when you know what you are looking for, isn't it? Essentially, what this is stating, is the reality that if a person knows what his or her passion in life is, then it is a whole lot easier to find it. But then, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Love, by its very nature, is extremely evasive, so the quest to find one's true passion in life in terms of love, is not an easy one. Fear and love often go hand in hand. Hate is the ultimate expression of fear. Joy is ultimate expression of love. This becomes a web, where the four emotions demonstrate a certain degree of entanglement.

When one begins to search for his or her passion, there can be an intense driving force that triggers that inquiry. It can be almost like an obsession, something beyond a person's control. It is like the poet having to write poetry, because he or she has no peace of mind, until what must be penned has been penned or the artist not resting, until he or she has painted a picture that has to be painted.

Passion can range from a quiet level of interest or desire, to a much more intense passion that is akin to human love, which can vary in range from the quiet blossoming of a tender, beautiful rose to the intensity of an angry sea of hopelessness, rage and despair.

At the best of times, passion appears to wear some kind of a mysterious mask and remains almost unfathomable, until such a time, as there is revelation that just appears to happen.

Fervor is often used to depict passion in a way that is a warm, but steady kind of an emotion that one feels. Ardor, on the other hand, suggests something that is exciting and warm too, but for some reason it does not seem to last very long. Enthusiasm demonstrates a rather lively and eager interest in something. Zeal is also synonymous with passion and it has an element of relentless pursuit. (1)

One might suggest that one's passion in life can appear to change. It is like a child who is passionate about ice cream, at one moment and then, toy trucks, a few seconds later.

Does one's true passion have that changeability too?

Perhaps it is the difference between liking something, at the moment and loving something more, the moment one's focus changes. It is not wrong for a child to like ice cream and to love toy trucks. As a matter of fact, it is fun to watch the transition of expression on the child's face, as he goes from one passion to another.

Love enters into the realm of sexual interest or desire, which some may assume to be their passion in life. Its expression can be on many different planes of existence, including literary or artistic, rather than on a purely interpersonal level.

Passion can be interpreted as the way a person feels about something, totally apart from the realm of love, on any plane. This gamut of feeling can go from mild feelings to very intense ones. For example, one can be happy or unhappy, when employed in an area where his or her primary focus is on something that he or she feels strongly about.

Again, totally apart from love and its expression, one can have anger, grief, sorrow, pain or sadness associated with those feelings. For example, a painting can trigger pain, because it represents a horrific event. There is no apparent love or hate involved, but there is passion in terms of feeling.

Because one seeks to know his or her passion in life and may or may not recognize what it actually is, there is an element of revelation required. A person can work forever on something and not realize that he or she is actually expressing his or her passion in life. Then, suddenly there is a knowing or an all consuming knowledge.

To find your true passion is more like finding your calling in life. Are you called to be a poet, a writer, a teacher, an artist, a musician or whatever? How do you know?

The reality is that you will know. Knowledge reveals one's true passion.

Going back to the topic of Love, but on a divine plane, such knowledge comes in terms of revelation. Love reveals one's true passion through knowledge.

Finding one's true passion is not a quest that one can venture on lightly, because it may become all consuming, by its very nature. Some people have a passion for space travel and will try to get there, even if it ultimately costs them their lives. Others are on worldly quest for material goods. Some people just want to know God.

Maybe you are a person, who wants to take the most perfect photograph in the world. Or, perhaps you want to write the most outrageous novel of all times. Perhaps your ultimate passion has to do with designing an electric car.

Ask yourself, if you are trying to figure out what your one, true passion in life really is, what do you think about when you go to bed at night? How about when you wake up in the morning? Is there something that you really want to do, in fact would love to do, more than anything else in the entire world?

Then, go and do it.

You may have just found your passion in life. My guess is that it will be love related, in some way. Quite possibly, you may love it and hate it, at times, too. You will love it because it is what you want out of life or in life, but you may hate it because it eludes you.

Life is kind of complex, but it is fun. Figuring out what your true passion in life really is can present a challenge.

Love is the ultimate passion.

(1) Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, MA, 1983