Passion and the vision

I was reading about the new Patti Smith autobiography, Just Kids, and was amazed at all the things this woman did in her life, not just the quantity of things, but even more so the variety of things. For those of you who weren’t around when Patti Smith was popular in the media, she is most famous, certainly to me anyway, as a musician. Her album Horses is on many of the “100 top rock albums” lists. But, in addition, she was a painter, a performance artist, an actress, and a writer. She even co-wrote a play with playwright Sam Shepard. She says, “I was born rebellious.”

When I read about someone like this, I wonder about my quiet little life. Do you ever have similar feelings, sort of amazement at what some people accomplish in their lives, and more than a twinge of jealousy?

It always makes me wonder why I am not like that. My first wife was certainly like that. At 21, after earning her bachelors degree, she started a drug rehab program with a group of nuns. After she got her MPH (Masters of Public Health), she started a home day care program for out-of-work women (welfare moms). I was always amazed, watching her, experiencing her passion and creativity, and, as usual, feeling more than a little jealous.

I was recently reading an article (http://tinyurl.com/ygyz3vl) about persons who do extreme sports, BASE jumping (parachuting off bridges and skyscrapers), hang gliding, rock climbing. Such people, according to the study, frequently have deficiencies of dopamine. This deficiency means they need more excitement than a “normal” person just to feel alive. The author labels such people Type T personalities.

Maybe those people envy my type of life, (there are downsides to being Type T), but I doubt it. I think they are too busy living their own lives. And, anyway, books aren’t written about us quiet people, and we aren’t seen on ESPN 2, so how would they even know about us?

But just because you don’t have a top rock album, and don’t BASE jump off of bridges, doesn’t mean you don’t have urgings, urgings to create something big, to do something special, to give your life more meaning.

You don’t need to have been born rebellious, like Patti Smith, and you don’t need to have an inadequate amount of endorphins like extreme athletes, to have a more meaningful, fuller life.

You just need to discover your purpose. Most of us (yes, I believe most of us – Patti Smith’s autobiography is so popular because her life is unusual, because she is unique) just need to dig a little bit deeper to discover our purpose. We have to work at it. But we can find it; it is there. There is no need for us mere mortals to settle for “just getting by.”

It is this “purpose” that I am referring to when I write and speak about the vision.

Once we discover our purpose, why we are here, the reason for our existence, our life gains so much more meaning. There is passion in our lives. We become filled with energy. But until we know what that purpose is, there is no way for us to fulfill it.

Vision is the first factor of self motivation, because it is the most important factor of the three. In my next posting, I will give some strategies on how you can discover your vision, your purpose for being here, so that you too can find passion in your life.