Passion and Purpose
A Guide to Finding Your Purpose in Life
Henery X (long) in his list of 50 inspirational quotes, includes
4. Our purpose is what we’re most passionate about.
Passion
I’ve pondered that word “passion” for many years, I’ve asked myself often what does it mean to be passionate about something? The definition I’ve come up with is that which consumes me. It is that which gets me out of bed in the morning, that thing that I can’t wait to get to, that which keeps me going late into the night.
I couldn’t find just one thing that I’ve been passionate about. At various times, different things have grabbed me. As I reviewed my life, I notice many passions coming, staying for a season, and then fading away or being sharply curtailed.
(As I share some of my passions, I hope you’ll be stimulated to share some of your passions, or perhaps you have only one. Have you always had the same one? Let me know in a response below or private message.)
English — a correspondence course makes all the difference
My first love was English. We moved into a new house (new to us) when I started 2nd grade. We found a complete ICS correspondence course in English Grammar and Rhetoric in the attic. I struggled with English in 5th and 6th grade. My mother, wanting to help, dug out that correspondence course and started going through it herself. It was extensive and quite good.
In those days people bought correspondence courses, completed the lessons and mailed in the assignments. Later they got corrections and comments back in the mail. We didn’t have money to actually subscribe, so she just figured out the answers as best she could.
I saw her working on the ICS and got curious. Soon, both of us were doing the lessons. She stayed a few lessons ahead of me and would correct my work. A high school graduate herself, and not so long ago, she had a good command of English grammar.
We had some great conversations about English and the answers to some of the questions. We didn’t have the answer sheet, so we had to figure out the answers ourselves. Rather than hating English, by the time I entered 7th grade, I began to love it. I went from getting Ds and Fs to getting As.
Chemistry
In 8th grade our teacher introduced us to chemistry. Our small school had a portable chemistry lab that the teachers wheeled from classroom to classroom. I loved the experiments. Seeing things change form or change color amazed me. My good friend Tim Fountain and I decided to buy some glassware and set up our own lab in his basement. We had great fun, too, working through various experiments.
One evening we did an electrolysis experiment breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen. We collected the hydrogen in a test tube. To prove it was hydrogen, we held a lit match up to the mouth of the tube. The hydrogen ignited with a loud bang and sent the test tube flying across the basement and smashing against the cinderblock wall. Tim’s dad came running down the stairs to see what had happened. That ended our chemistry lab. I didn’t have any room for it at my house, so we boxed up our chem lab and put it away. I don’t know what happened to it. We both took chemistry in high school and did quite well.
Electronics
In high school I developed an interest in electronics and studied for my ham radio license but never got it. I loved electronics. It became my passion. I built a radio and a signal generator to tune it.
Astronomy
Along the way I developed and interest in astronomy. I eventually got a 6-inch reflector telescope and spent many nights viewing the moon, planets, stars, star clusters and galaxies. I thought for a while I might become an astronomer.
Later in life I built a color TV and several test instruments from scratch, following directions, of course. I thought I would become an electrical engineer and had my sights set on that as a career, then Fate intervened.
Photographic Science and Photography
I got the opportunity to study photographic science and engineering and ended up getting my BS in that field instead of EE. As I studied the science behind photography, I became interested in the art of photography and began taking photos. Photography became my new passion.
Project Management
I joined the Air Force and eventually became a project manager in charge of testing photographic equipment and supplies. I learned how to manage large projects and project management became a passion.
After leaving the Air Force, I got a job with a company that processed photographic film and made a good living as a process engineer. I travelled around the country helping our processing facilities improve. We worked to find ways to be more efficient and produce a better product.
Love and Money
Some time ago, back when I was struggling to find meaningful, financially rewarding employment, I read a book by Marsh Sinetar titled Do What You Love the Money Will Follow. I didn’t really believe it then and I don’t now. I wish it were true, but I know too many starving artists.
If you have a passion and apply yourself to it, you will get better. Then if all the stars align properly, you may make money at it, but no guarantees.
However, if you have a skill or talent and you can find a job that utilizes such a skill, you can earn a decent living. Most people follow that path.
I know someone whom I consider a world-class writer. She worked as a technical writer for a major computer company. That work paid the bills. While she enjoyed her job, it did not fulfill her passion to write what she wanted to write, so in her free time she wrote children’s books and became a successful blogger. Now she’s also a writer here on Medium/Illumination. She has a passion to write. Her name? Holly Jahangiri
Purpose and Passion
As Henery says Our purpose is our passion.
And when your passion satisfies a need in the world, you become successful. And, you may actually make money doing what you love. But, even if you don’t, following your passion will satisfy a deep itch within you. There’s really nothing like it. I agree with Henery — it’s why we’re here.
Writing on Medium
Recently, I found another passion — writing. Thanks to Medium and Dr Mehmet Yildiz welcoming me into the Illumination family, I have a home for my stories, articles and poems.
To become a good writer, you need to be a good reader and read other good writers, analyze what they write and determine how you can apply what you learn to your own writing.
Read well to write well
To write well, you need inspiration. I get inspired when I read. That’s how this article started. Reading through Henery’s list of inspiring quotes, the one about passion and purpose jumped out at me.
I keep a list of writers that I’ve found inspiring. These people write the kind of stories I enjoy and are writers I want to emulate. I read as much of what they write as I can. Some that I’ve found especially inspiring are
Agnes Louis, Amy Marley, Aurora Eliam, CMP, Alison Tennent, Catherine Delia, Chowa Sekai, Corrine Roberts, Dew Langrial, Dipti Pande, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Rosennab, Gurpreet Dhariwal, Holly Jahangiri, Joseph Knecht, Julia E Hubbel, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D., Kay T., Kevin Buddaeus, LauraRaduenz, Mary Holden, Michael Ritoch, P.G. Barnett, Paul Myers MBA, Priyanka Srivastava, Rasheed Hooda, Ryan Fan, Salam Khan, Saloni Joshi, Shantanu Kulkarni, Sherry McGuinn, Simran Kankas, Suntonu Bhadra, Terry Mansfield, Tim Maudlin, Timothy Key, Tree Langdon ♾️, Trista Ainsworth, George J. Ziogas, Umberto Urso, Zsanyla Cabansag
And there are many others. Illumination is full of good writers.
I also have a list of poets whom I follow. Some are also in my writers list. Below is a list of them and one of their poems that I especially liked.
Amy Marley “First Cup of the Day”
Dipti Pande “Be The Assertive You”
FILZA CHAUDHRY “Aladdin’s Lamp”
Harley King “Goodbye, My Love” To get to know Harley better, by all means see this.
Ibrahim Alkuraya Haiku: “Inner Solace”
Indra Raj Pathak Haiku: “Listen”
Jamie McIntosh “Embers of Empathy”
Joanne Troppello🌻 “Broken Beyond Repair”
Kayo Zaduban Haiku: “The Pack”
Kevin Buddaeus “The Golden Pen”
Lisa Bolin “Scattered Leaves” “Layers of Me” “Poetry Sculpture”
Lowen Puckey “Foreign Syllables”
Najib Arman “In a Study of Unitary Rules”
Neha S.Saberwal “This Too Shall Pass”
Patrick M. Davis “Sunlight Haikus” (3)
Priyanka Srivastava “The Taste of Rain”
Sarah E Sturgis “Her Heart Was Kindness”
Selma “Joyology” (I love the photo — Kokopelli a feature in much southwest Native American culture.)
Vinitha Dileep “Another Realm”
Vinitha Dileep “And Thus Ends My Day”
Willem-Jan Ageling Haiku: “Birds”
I’m constantly finding new writers and poets to follow and adding to these lists. The poems cited are just ones that struck me when I read them. I know that if I go to the profile of any one of these writers and poets I’ll find something worth reading that will inspire me and uplift me, and that will make me think.
With so much to enjoy and do, I have no problem keeping my ‘butt in the chair’. In fact, my wife has suggested on more than one occasion that I set a timer so I’ll remember to take a break now and then. That’s something I need to do.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Henery X (long), I think I’ve found my final passion and purpose: keeping up with other writers on Medium/Illumination, improving my writing and contributing what I can.
One last word — Reciprocity
When someone does me the favor of reading my story, clapping for it, highlighting or writing a response, I try to repay them in kind. But there are more people following me each day, and, regrettably, I can’t keep up. My intentions are good, but this old brain and these old fingers are slowing down. So, even if you don’t hear from me, know that I care and appreciate your kindness.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. Perhaps you found a new writer or two to follow, if so, I’ve achieved my goal. Let me know what you think in the responses below.
You can find all my stories, poems and articles here.
Happy Reading, Writing and Connecting!
