Passion?

So all of this relational chatter got me to thinking and pondering... and meandering and mulling...

Eventually my mind ground to a halt at our passions. Relational passion is alike, yet oddly different, from other passions in life...but I digress.
I want to talk about our passions in life, for ourselves... what puts the light in our eyes? What excites us even as it frustrates, tires, and consumes our valuable time?
I have three constants in my life as far as things I am passionate about.
1) Reading/writing - Sadly I can't separate these two, because for me they simply go hand in hand. It's not the case for alot of folks. I know univ. students who write their brains out and never touch a book outside of a text, and I know readers who won't touch a pen if a gun was aimed at them. I have been writing and reading as long as I can remember, and one of my great and quiet joys in life is to know that the stuff I write will make someone laugh, smile, think, or have some sort of semi-enjoyable experience. I just love it. LOVE IT!!!
B) Music - Yeah yeah, everyone loooooves music. Its the tie that binds the vast majority of mankind across the diverse spectrum of our lives/cultures/socioeconom
ic diversity/religious affiliations and so on. Me... I just love how it can make me think and feel... and I find myself waking up with songs in my head and something always bubbles to the surface in my day, whether at work, home, or killing myself working out... my mind is playing a soundtrack. I remember an example of being in training with the army and having to climb up and down Garbage Hill 3 times with 60 lbs on my back...and the song that kept me moving, oddly...was The Police, Every Little Thing. As the Chili Peppers say.. music is my aeroplane. If I had to give everything else up in my world, I would keep music. It is the physical manifestation of my emotional states. It really has become the soundtrack to my life, and Im ok with that.
#) My more recent and arduous of passions has been Martial Arts. Last night I took an unholy beating and today I am paying for it... Ooooh how I ache! Some people wonder why I do it, how I can put my body through such vicious punishment and go back for more? Well, I'm not sure why exactly... Oh I can give you the general list.. I love the endorphin rush, I need a challenge, it makes me feel alive and healthy, etc. But I think there is a simple and barely defined need (hardwired into me anyway) to be Challenged by the hardest, most extreme measure conceivable. Of course the only one who can beat me every single time... is myself. So I am forced to beat my old records, times, weight lifts, etc in a way to keep going, to push and fight, struggle along to the next level. Goal setting in an atmosphere of rigor and pain is crucial I think. Without it we flag, fail, and walk away. There is something really amazing in my mind when all of a sudden I can kick over the top of a bag that not too long ago I could barely hit at the middle, and being faster than I believed this old body had in it.
To me, Tae Kwon Do is Chess...alot of thinking and strategy (when fighting opponents) and its like full contact chess. You know when you mess up... that foot to the side of the ribs or head.. hard to say otherwise. But its also a rewarding experience when you can fight off a Blackbelts assaulting combo's only to land a few of your own.
I know alot of folks aren't into combat and confrontation, and thats fine. The challenge is in the goals you set yourself, whether you choose to spar anyone else or not.


So... passion, anyone?

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