From Passion to Serenity

What a feeling,

being's believing.

I can have it all,

now I'm dancing for my life.

Take your passion

and make it happen.

Pictures come alive,

you can dance right through your life.

(Irene Cara, Flashdance)

I remember reading the book "The Passion Test" by Chris and Janet Attwood years ago who made the case that we should always express our passions, and if we don't, that we  should change assignments and jobs until we do again. I remember feeling mixed about this message at that time, popular as it was. After all, didn't the authors know that the Latin root of the word "passion" is "suffering" or "enduring", just as in the Passion of the Christ?

As I said, this was years ago and I have changed my perspective on this subject. For me personally, I realized that I had suppressed many of my drives, and it was life's passion that set them free. Passion for the other sex, or passion for being admired and celebrated. Since my spiritual super ego looks down on these things, I would never have admitted that to myself, but life set me free. Life has a habit of showing us what is important to us, just as the passion for dance got the life back into the heroine of the movie Flashdance.

Follow your passions, take risks, aim high, or life will kick you into the behind until you do anyway. Discover for yourself that passion eventually transforms into something beautiful. Over time this energy naturally transforms into a much more serene, but equally powerful force. I am reminded of the take-off of a rocket that initially can only be shot into stratosphere with violent energy, but once in space, advances naturally, propelled by its own motion.

I knew that I had made the transition from passion to serenity at a time when things finally clicked for me professionally, spiritually and personally. Around that time I heard Olivia Newton-John's "Magic", and I knew that my spiritual mission was complete. In HER words:

From where I stand

you are home free.

The planets align so rare

there's promise in the air

and I'm guiding you.

Through every turn I'll be near you,

I'll come anytime you call.

I'll catch you when you fall,

I'll be guiding you

You have to believe we are magic

nothing can stand in our way.

You have to believe we are magic

let your aim ever stray.

And if all your hopes survive

your destiny will arrive.

I'll bring all your dreams alive

for you.

(Olivia Newton-John, Magic)