Uber-non-problematique

Along what I have been wondering about in the past days (and, if you have been reading this blog for a while, you must know I have many curiosities :) ) is why we are passionate about different things. Why we wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to see someone we love to the airport. Why we stay up late at work and find pleasure in a good solution to a database problem. Why it is so thrilling to listen to a Moby song you haven't heard in a while. The reason we gleam with enthusiasm when we start working on a new project – and why we enjoy it so much. Why we crave and cannot help telling all our friends about a new bar or restaurant, and eat there as if it were the honey of gods. Or why I can't wait to blog about something that has stirred my mind.

Where does all this joy and this passion come from? This is not to say that all of us feel it, not by far. It is yet the kind of feeling of wholeness that gives a lot of energy and push into the day. Some only talk about it – or even overdo it... but passion cannot be faked. At some point you still get exhausted and tired like a consumed candle. How is it then that you find your balance – and more, the energy and power to smile and bring not only yourself up, but also the people around you.

A possible answer is love. If you love – and have the warmth and generosity to share it – not a conditional act, but just give it away, freely, there is more return than you will manage to contain. Another answer is mental self discipline: being an inspiration or a desolation for yourself and for others is a matter of choice. In my favourite training I insist on Passion leading to Focus and then to Attitude. The inside fire burning transforms itself in self-fulfilment and to an attitude that then inspires others.

Hey hey I saved the world today

Everybodys happy now

The bad things gone away

And everybodys happy now

The good things here to stay

Please let it stay

(Eurythmics, I Saved the World Today)