I’m a Lord of the Rings fan – both the book and the movies. One of my favourite scenes is this one –
I find this inspiring. I think this is what we can do. If you have passion for life, you light a beacon. That beacon spreads light that changes lives. If I had to write down one tip for a better life it would be this – be passionate. Passion is flow. The Chinese have a concept of Chi – a kind of energy. Csikszentmihalyi espoused the concept of “flow“. In modern, Western terms, we are able to be very aware of energy. I often ask medical students to take a score from 1 to 10 where 1 is the worst possible energy they can imagine and 10 is the best possible and to tell me what figure they’d apply right now to describe their own energy state. They can all easily state a number. Then I ask them to do the same thing for their mental energy and they find that equally easy. Then I ask them how they came up with the numbers they picked. What did they assess, and how did they do that? What criteria did they use? Which parameters did they pick? They don’t know. We assess our own energy levels holistically and intuitively. We don’t have to break it down into components, and the strange thing is that the energy we are measuring is not measurable by either instruments or others. Only we are capable of assessing and experiencing our own energy levels.
I think this “energy” idea is related to flow. Flow can be thought of as the Western equivalent of Chi. When the flow is strong, and we are “in the flow” then we feel well, our energy feels good and we alive and healthy. When our flow is weak, we’re unwell. Passion is both a product and a cause of this flow. When we are passionate about life, our energies flow, our creative abilities surge, our resilience is strong and we touch, and are touched by, others. Passion is contagious.
Pass it on.
Heroes Not Zombies 
You reap what you sow. This applies to anyone, of any Creed or Faith. I do believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth “commiting” to. Not just mechanically carrying through the actions to do the deed, but doing it with your mind and heart also. Say what you mean, and do what you say you will when possible even if not the most convenient for you. Some would say the concepts touch on Karma, I prefer to think of it as reaping what you sow, or making judicious ripples in the pond. Think before you speak, and don’t say you will act if you don’t mean to do so fully.
Adding, a lot of people end up startled later on, when discovering I was telling the bare truth about something. They think I must be exaggerating. They look surprised, chagrined, and sometimes pleasantly taken aback when they discover I was telling the un-embellished truth about something after seeing it for themselves. I have to remind myself not to be defiant at times, because I realize that people aren’t going to fully believe what I’m saying until later. This can make me gruff/grumpy. Of course the people don’t understand why I’m “Hmphing” as I say what I say, and they think I’m just prickly. Other times I take a bit of “evil” delight in cheerily telling the precise truth, then watching them go discover it for themselves and do a doubletake. (Nothing horrid, just mildly “Whoza whazzit?!” moments.) I don’t think people are used to thinking the other person is telling the truth with no ornament. It is interesting to watch them begin to decide that maybe sometimes what the person says is really, truly what they say it is. I’m hoping to encourage others to say what they mean, say what is true (only when it isn’t harmful, truth can hurt as a part of healing, but if it only harms and doesn’t contribute to healing don’t say it) and speak as plainly as they can without understating the situation or thing they describe. I’d like to think that maybe people are following my example sometimes at least.
i think you’re right. 🙂
You know Katk, you’re right, the best way to do anything is to do it passionately, whole-heartedly. And what you say about hoping people will follow your example……I think that happens all the time. I think people respond to how we are. That’s why I advocate we do it consciously, take care to be aware of what we are doing and the impact it’s making.
hey, damewiggy, that makes two of us! I think I’m right too!
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-SiouxLegends.html
I saw this, and thought of this post. It speaks of doing things with your heart and mind. It’s interesting. My Maternal Grandfather was taught Shame growing up, he was 1/4 Native American, but “passed for white”. (They stopped sending Native Americans to Indian Boarding School the year after my Mother was born.) He died with the knowledge of our Tribe, but he did leave behind his Paternal Grandfather’s marraige certificate, and a photo which seems to imply that the Indian Ancestress was from North Dakota. This means she might have been Blackfoot, Crow, or Lakota Sioux. It was a larger tribe, we do know that. She never learned English, and husband and wife communicated using the hand signs of the Trade Tongue.
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