A Life of Purpose and Passion: Misconception #2

{Photo found via Pinterest.}

This week, I am doing a series on the top five misconceptions about a life of purpose and passion. You can see the previous post here.

Misconception #2: Passion is selfish.

When asked (in the abstract, of course) about people who live with passion, some respondents immediately believe that the passionate person must be quite selfish. To follow a passion must mean using only yourself as a compass for what to do, and not taking into account the needs of the community. They will tell you that the person with a true servant heart does what is needed, not what they want to do. Passion is a luxury to pursue only when everything else is taken care of, and when will that be?

First of all, why are they mutually exclusive? Can't we take care of our responsibilities to the community and also pursue a passion? And might we be passionate about serving the community?

Second of all, who's to say that the passion will not also serve the community? A recent assignment in my eCourse asked participants to spend 1-2 hours doing what ever they wanted, as long as it was moral and legal. They "had" to find the time to do it because it was an assignment. The results were fascinating. When they gave themselves the time to do what they wanted, they keyed into a passion and worked at a very productive level. They produced a very high quality output. Second, more than one person discovered later that someone else could really use what they produced. It turned out that their community really needed the results of their passion.

Perhaps when we are able to accurately identify our passion and act on it, that's the still small voice of God telling us what our community needs, and that we are the ones best suited to create it.

What is your passion, and when will you act upon it for the good of your community?

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