Grateful Heart - Day 6

Today I find myself grateful for passion. I think passion is not only a gift but an imperative. I feel like without passion for something, we're kinda just wasting space. For me, my passions lie in a few fields. I have a passion for politics but not the politics in the traditional sense but of ways of living and caring and going through life in a way that nurtures and cares for ourselves and others. I do get involved politically because I take very seriously my role as a citizen and feel that I cannot expect to just settle for the status quo unless I try to affect change where I feel it is needed.

I have a passion for reading. I am a voracious reader and always reading at least 2-3 books at a time. I somehow keep the stories straight in my head and find even a few minutes every day to crack them open and engross myself into the story or the learning that is being presented to me.

I have a passion for learning. I want to learn til I take my last breath. I don't think the day will come in my lifetime where I will wake up and say, "I have learned all there is to learn. I now feel content that my knowledge is the greatest it needs to be." Simply won't happen. In fact, what I DO know is that the more I know, the less I realize I do know. :) I love being a student of life, philosophy, communications, relationships and history.

I have a passion for children. They simply drive my world. I realize now that I focus on the children around me. I listen to them, observe them, try to learn from them. I try to understand what they see in the world and how it might differ from my perspective. I try to open myself up to their world and just sit there for a while. I find them fascinating and never boring!

I have a passion for writing. It has waxed and waned over the years but it is a constant. I have kept a journal off and on since I was 14 years old and they have become a timeline of events, feelings, growth and memories. It isn't enough for me that I simply walk through this life; I feel compelled to record my time here in some semi-permanent method.

So, for me, passion is a gift and I wouldn't have it any other way. I would hope for those around me that they search for and find their passions and cultivate them throughout their lives.