I had a very exciting conversation with a young lady today. She was telling me that she had once began her studies to become a veterinarian but gave up because she was having too many difficulties with the studies. She obviously does have a learning difficulty but she had determined that her difficulty was simply too hard to carry on with her task so decided to lower her expectations a little to switch and become a veterinary technician.
As she was telling me her new goals, which she has been working on for about a year now, you could visibly see her lighten up and you could hear the excitement in her voice. In fact, she told me that wanted to tell many people of her new goal in life.
The excitement I heard, and that I related back to her, was her passion. She was iterating her passion. And it was contagious.
I have no doubt that Amanda will go on to finish her studies and will become a veterinary technician.
And I am pretty sure that she will specialize beyond that.
Why?
Because she was and is in the zone of her passion.
Passion is that objective that you have to have. You eat it, drink it, dream it … and live it.
And passion will carry you through in times when otherwise you might want to quit or give up.
And I know passion.
And I think we all know passion.
When is the last time you ever dreamed something so hard that you couldn’t let it go?
When’s the last time that you really lit up when you were talking about something … or someone?
When is the last time that you wanted something so badly that you knew you couldn’t live without it?
That’s passion.
A story is often told of a young boy who desperately wanted to learn a martial art. It is said that he sought out the training of a wise, old sensei.
In the boy’s search of the old man, he did find him. And he found him fishing in the middle of a stream.
The boy waited patiently on the side of the stream for what seemed like hours … simply in pursuit of being recognized by the old man.
Finally, the old man looked over at the boy and said to him, "boy, what is it that you desire?"
The boy anxiously responded to him, "Oh great master, I desire to learn your martial arts."
The old man simply looked away and continued fishing … seemingly ignoring the young boy.
After a while longer, he again looked over at the young boy and said, "boy, what is it that you desire?"
Again, the boy responded, "Oh great master, I desire to learn your martial arts."
And again, the old man simply looked away and continued fishing.
Finally, after another hour or so, the old man looked over at the boy and said to him, "boy, what is it that you desire?"
And, as the boy had before responded, he said "Oh great master, I desire to learn your martial arts."
The old man motioned for the boy to come out into the water with him.
The boy, desiring NOT to show his excitement, waded out into the water to the old man.
When the boy reached the sensei, the sensei violently grabbed, pushed, and held the young boy’s head under the water.
The boy struggled violently as well.
..until at last, four bubbles come from his mouth
…then three bubbles
…then two bubbles
… then one bubble
At which the old man, grabbing the boy by the hair, lifted him out of the water … obviously (and literally) dying for air.
And the old man looked at the boy and said to him, "Son, when you want to learn the martial arts from me … as much as you wanted that next breath of air … come back and I will teach you.
This is an illustration of the power of passion.
Passion causes us to come back when all Hell is coming against us.
Passion is that thing that causes us to NOT give up when nothing else seems to be going our way.
Passion is what finds us successful.
Why?
Because passion creates within us an "I’ve got to have it … or die trying" attitude.
So again, I ask each reader today … what are you passionate about? And what’s it going to take to see your passion fulfilled?
And when you have answered those questions … carry on …. and see your passion come to fruition.
His Remnant 