I wonder if the 2 days that's gone by since this was posted is a reflection of the fact that nobody's passionate about anything any more. Because that's probably what I am about to write.



I dunno. Real passions? What's left? It's hard to think of anything that *really* gets me excited. I was passionate about my job a few years ago but I guess I kind of burnt that up. I was highly motivated to do research, highly motivated to talk about it, even highly motivated to write about it and dedicate time to proposals. For a time I felt I was doing something important; making an impact. Gone. I can still say I enjoy it from time to time, that's for sure. I get to go to cool places and play with cool toys. I can still say it's interesting and that I'm lucky to be doing it. Compared to the alternatives. Nowadays it's interesting and still occasionally engaging but nothing I'm really passionate about.



Music? That was the real thing. There was once music that could totally change my perspective on, well, everything. That really could make me think differently. Finding music and sounds that I hadn't heard before was maybe the biggest and most important part of life. Well that's more or less gone as well. Nowadays it's interesting and still occasionally engaging but nothing I'm really passionate about.



What more? This year I guess I'm rediscovering literature. I've probably read more books this year than any year previously. And it's not over yet. I do get a bit annoyed with myself if I don't manage to read a meaningful amount in a day. But again, while the trend is in the opposite direction to the other 2 (getting better instead of worse) I'm still not sure I'd say I was really passionate about it though.







So yeah. Is the lack of responses on this thread due to people going well, X, I like it but I'm not sure I'd say I was passionate about it? Is that what everyone's thinking? If so, why?
hayes, Sep 10, 2008 @ 23:24

It's people, isn't it. People. That's all you can really be passionate about. Nature? And people. That's all there is, right. Really. Everything else is just padding.
hayes, Sep 11, 2008 @ 13:37

Hm. Here are some of my passions:

-Letting fruit rot

-Making paper-clips chains

-Stealing elderly people's cane and asking for ransom

-Cucumber-juggling (funny in the dark)

-Extreme-knitting

-Watching the 24 hours of le Mans backwards

-Growing hair on my toes

-Organizing shopping-carts upslope speed competitions at the Verbois dam

-Surfing the static wave of the Seujet dam on my ironing board

-Watching Steven Seagal's movies

-Taking some Snus (swedish thing: tobacco in small bags to put against the gum) and waiting to be able to stand up again

-Ouija-boarding novels (Buy the last one: "dofje0 pi SghJG/&")

-Writing a french based Man/Woman dictionnary (Langenscheidt already edited one, but in German)



That's the about the most important ones... Now, I have to get back to another trimming the lawn with brussels.



Syd.

Syd_Brown, Sep 12, 2008 @ 11:24

This morning I started thinking it would be much easier to respond had YouMeCo asked what we passionately hate. I figured that since I've always been full of hatred and bile and misery I'd be able to do that no problems. But even then, all I could immediately come up with was the Tampa Bay Rays. Then the McCain/Palin double-act and almost all the music that's currently marketed under the genre soul/R&B. Of course there's loads more, but that's what's really making my piss boil right now. And town centres on Saturday afternoon. And single occupant cars. And the Tampa Bay Rays.



Syd_Brown! Pssst, over here: where are you getting your snus from? Actually, any Swedes with snus want to go for a beer soon? Preference: Göteborgs Rapé; second preference: whatever you've got.
hayes, Sep 12, 2008 @ 12:53

[quote]

Syd_Brown! Pssst, over here: where are you getting your snus from? Actually, any Swedes with snus want to go for a beer soon? Preference: Göteborgs Rapé; second preference: whatever you've got.[/quote]



I'll be Flying to Sweden around the 11th. Since Swiss authorities allow up to 600g of snus through the border, I take snuggle (legally, of course, but I like the word) some for you...



I'm on Scruff. Never tried the Rapé (but I will). I take that seldom because of its devastating effects on my feeble constitution...



Whenever you want for the beer and snus, if you accept half-breed of corsican-nordman-belgian-german...



Syd.



Syd_Brown, Sep 12, 2008 @ 13:00

I'm mainly passionate about myself to be honest, what I can do, what I like, what I don't like. I love my emotions and my perspective and how my perspective changes regularly. I am also passionate about differences, which is where people come in. As passionately tense as I can become over extreme differences I encounter in other people, I still find them a lot of fun. People are interesting, yes, definitely. I love nature, because of how I feel in nature...calm, easy, relaxed. I love doing what I do...which is a whole lot of different things because it all comes back to me in the sense that I get to know myself. So yeah, I'm passionately and deeply interested in myself, always have been and always will be.:)
AnnieM, Sep 12, 2008 @ 16:57

YouMeCo, for such a simple question, I can’t believe how I’ve been banging my head to develop an answer.  :hehe:

 

I read somewhere that Passion “is a gift of the spirit combined with the totality of all the experiences we've lived through. It endows each of us with the power to live and communicate with unbridled enthusiasm. Passion is most evident when the mind, body and spirit work together to create, develop and articulate or make manifest our feelings, ideas and most sacred values.”

 

That said, I struggled to narrow down what I am most passionate about, with all the things I love in my life - Family/friends? Travel? Hobbies?  What makes me feel passion like a fire-storm with desire and intensity? What forces me to see others as who they are, who they are becoming and often, who they can never be?  What enables me to overcome obstacles (both real and imagined) and see the world as a place of infinite potential? What puts a skip in my step and makes me feel like I can conquer the world? 

 

Answer:  True Love

 

It is the one thing that will make me do anything to obtain or maintain it.  To have true love for someone is to unselfishly, unreservedly, unquestioningly and unconditionally love and serve that person.  Nothing could feel more precious.

 

I just wish it could last longer than time allows  ;)

 

Angie
ayl1968, Sep 13, 2008 @ 00:53

Yo Youme,

I thought it would be easy to answer, but it's not...

There are some things I was passionate about at some stage, but they're gone:

• Work. When I began working for P&G 10 years ago, I was passionate about the work content. I could think / talk / dream about new marketing concepts for washing powder for months. It just seemed so important and exciting...But as exciting as washing powder might seem, the excitment is all gone.
• Sports. In my younger (slimmer) days, I was an addict, and I loved anything that has to do with doing sports. Gone. Pass the TV remote control.
• Healthy eating. Oh, how I loved it. How many books I read about it, and how many talks I had about it...Gone. Pass the big-Mac.  

There are 2 things I can say I'm passionate about these days tho:

• Growing glocals.com and making it better. I'm one of the folks helping run the site, and I just love it. I can spend days talking with siteAdmin and other folks about new features, or new concepts, or new directions, and can't get enough of it. I think I'm so passionate about glocals cos it allows me to combine 3 things I love: Web, People, & Entrepreneurship. 
• Good books. Yea, it sounds boring. But when I put my hands on a good book, I get excited. I love it when I begin reading, and it hits me that 'wow, this book is going to be one of those great ones'.

OK, I think that's it...Would be interesting to read more replies...
Nir Ofek, Sep 13, 2008 @ 03:51

here's my list:



- architecture and buildings: I don't know where it does this feeling come from, but I find all the procedure that leads from a group of bricks to a building fascinating!



- wandering: take a train, get off in a place you don't know and start walking around without using a map. It's amazing how many good discovers you can find!



- maps: give me one and you'll make me happy! (although I hardly use them when I'm outdoors)



- dancing: no need to explain, at least for all the ones who know me :D



- organizing activities: choose something you like and share it with your friends!



- holidays: spend some days with them, and even unknown people will become your closest friends! No need to go to the other side of the world, the next town is already worth!



- find and discover new things: EUREKA! :w00t:



for now it's all, see you soon!
marcomarco, Sep 13, 2008 @ 14:31

:D  Thanks to everyone who finally put fingers to keyboard and shared your thoughts.  As Hayes stated I was quite disappointed to have zero responses for 2 days.  But then I went off to (rainy) Ticino for my Glocals in Ticino weekend so was offline (felt liberating! and no, I did not meet any of the members from the Ticino area) and just now remembered I posted something worth checking. 

I find all your passions very 'interesting'.  Apart from Syd_Brown's list (where I’m afraid if I tried paperclip chain making I might find it addicting) I share a piece of your passions within me too.  I’m glad I’m not the only one grappling with this question; to pinpoint exactly what we’re passionate about, what makes us happy, what keeps us going from one day to the day.  Without passion, you lose the will to work, to eat, to go out and be social, to care for yourself and your loved ones, to TRY to save the world from global warming and ecological / economical / political meltdown.  Too much passion though in things we believe in can lead to self destruction, conflicts with others or even war.  So a healthy dose of Passion (and chocolate) keeps the doctors away.

So…. Nir: your top 3 "then & now" passions made me laugh!
Marco: yes! give me a map and i'm happy for a long time!
AnnieM: my best friend once told me at the age of 12, that 'you have to love yourself, because if you don't who is?'  At the time, I thought that was the most self-conceited thing to say. But in fact, she's right! If you can’t love yourself, you will find it difficult to love others. And I now can say I love myself, but not too much cuz then it turns into selfishness.
Angela: definitely the interconnectivity of all those components are all inter-related!
Hayes & Syd: …. You two behave with whatever it is you’re about to snuff :)
Angie: YES!!! I do believe “true love” is the key to happiness; and Passion = True love. Like Whovian, I’m still on my mission to find my true love of my life too. 

Looking now at Hayes’ point how life is all about “PEOPLE”, this may be the 'key'.  I’ve met such wonderful People these last 22.5months (exactly) through Glocals, and has definitely triggered an emotion inside me that I’ve not felt nor explored before.  I see Nir & Oded’s passions in Glocals bringing thousands of locals & expats together, making our community an even more pleasant place to live.  I see the passion (and dedication) in Rob_M and JackieChen Feeding the Needy every month for the last 6 yrs.  Their passion can even be infectious as so many are eager to support them regularly. Then there is a group of members supporting Orphanaide Africa through different events that they organize (I caught this bug myself).  Oh, and let's not forget Iolly's ever-increasing number of events that she creates to greet and connect new and veteran members.

Sure I’ve meet lots of people during my big city life in NY, Tokyo and London, but mostly they're very superficial, but with those whom I’ve spend quality time, I’m still very good friends with to this day.  Through Glocals, I’ve spent countless days hiking up slippery steep mountain in pitch darkness, hiking along beautiful scenic paths, sailing on the lake under blue skies, traveling to other parts of europe, staying at friends’ house, picnicking, weekend camping trips... but always meeting fun loving passionate people.  So I can say for certain that being with such folks is my Passion. The Glocal community members have made me realize this. (Nir, thanks for saving me from therapy bills :P )

I'm still envious of people who have their passion as their career.  I can’t say I find passion with what I do at work.  As someone once said, if work were ‘fun’ it wouldn’t be called ‘work’.  If only I can make a living out of connecting with People.  If Glocals ever has a need for a permanent Welcomer / Greeter, I’d like to apply :)

If there’s anyone out there who’s passion is their work, I’d love to hear from you!!!
YouMeCo, Sep 16, 2008 @ 00:52

Hey Mimi,

So how do you make your living from music? Are you a pro singer / composer / etc?

nir
Nir Ofek, Sep 16, 2008 @ 01:35

One of the things that put me off in the beginning was that it's such a colossal question and, despite the fact that you did break it into 3 bullets (although I still think the first 2 are equivalent) it was still a little difficult to see what you really wanted. It may have taken off faster with a humble poster first. I mean passion, that's like what is TOTALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, right? It's like what makes it worth it for your scraggy and battered old heart to muster up the strength for one more push.



But passion is surely one of the words that's had its definition muddied. It's been eroded like a sandcastle to the rising tide, through constant over-use in all areas of the media and stamped over every advert. I have never witnessed double-marco look at a map but I hope I'm capable of feeling what he feels when he does. I guess he and I just answered the question rather differently. I can't be that dead inside. Unless marcomarco really loves maps a hella lot. I mean *really* loves maps.



I can't get away from the perspective that people are really all there is. OK, I don't dispute the fact that mountains and rivers and otters and stars exist, but they don't actively shape my personality. Or not close the way that people do. People are really all that makes being alive worthwhile. That seems to manifest itself in loads of different ways, as some of the other examples suggested. But if you can't be passionate about people then surely you're as good as dead.



I'm actually a bit surprised there wasn't one God answer. I know there are a good number of pro-Godders on Glocals; frequently they try to remind my wife of His impact late at night via the chat function. They don't seem to care about me. Maybe they think I'm beyond help :crying:

hayes, Sep 16, 2008 @ 02:20

[quote]

[b]

Whovian (16/09/2008)[/b]God ? Well (he/she/it)'s actually "spirituality" for me....

[/quote]



Oops, sorry Whovian -- I should have spotted that!
hayes, Sep 16, 2008 @ 13:22

For Hayes: I think you are passionate about the question. You have written more than anyone else. Very cynical, but you can be a passionate cynic I suppose.



Here is one definition:



Passion: A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.



In response to YouMeCo's question: I'm mildly passionate about my work because I work with maps and people. But it is indirect. I am passionate about encountering new places and cultures (I haven't seen nearly enough so my passion for them is unabated). And maps are a window to these things. I'm passionate about learning new things.



I'm passionate about Bush and his Administration because I hate what they have done to so many people, and the mess they have left the U.S. in.



There are so many things to be passionate about I can't write them.



I think passionate is not always about something but it is often a "state of being". I suppose I'm just a passionate person;).
Maplady, Sep 30, 2008 @ 15:37

Great topic.



I don't know if I would say that I'm passionate about people (Up with People?), but I am a huge fan of humanity in general. I do believe in a Creator God and I think that humanity is by far His/Her/Its best work. Snowflakes are pretty cool, but man (in the gender neutral use of the word) is capable of being greater than angels, transcending some of the absolutely horrific acts of which we are also capable with incredible compassion and heroicism. Though, I must say, sometimes people (in the general sense) can drive me absolutely nuts.



In conversations with others, I'm always a little surprised at how few people are working in the field of their passion. (Though I understand that sometimes you work a job to have time/resources to pursue your passion outside of work) I knew when I was 14 that I wanted to be a school librarian, so here I am in my eleventh year as a school librarian. Is it always fantastic? No. I work with people (who can really elevate or wreck a day), but I still wake up in the morning excited to come to school and share what I know about authors and stories and illustrators and information with my colleagues and students. Captivating children with a story is incredible. And when they're able to find the answers to their own questions because of what you've shown them, priceless.



I now feel like a Mastercard commercial. But, I so appreciate my situation. I have it really, really good.





[quote]Interested to hear your thoughts on:

• What is your passion?
  
  
• What are you passionate about?
  
  
• Does anyone out there have an occupation they're in that is also their passion? if so, what would that be?

(YouMeCo... on a road to discovery:Whistling: )[/quote]
misskate, Sep 30, 2008 @ 17:46

And to finish my thought (really should have taken more time to reflect), I would sum up my passion as service both to others and to the printed word, which is why school librarian is the perfect role for me.



misskate, Sep 30, 2008 @ 17:53