Some years ago, during a training session in Life Coaching, we were asked to go back to a time and a place where we could remember feeling really good and positive about ourselves.
It was really easy for me. When I was working as a volunteer with teenage girls, one of the things I enjoyed most was being the coxswain for their rowing team on the lake nearby. We took part in a regatta where we pitted ourselves against teenage boys, and other volunteer adults. There were four or five boats on the water.
We won the race. The girls and I had worked so well together, and I am convinced that it was due to my passion and sheer determination that we should win, that got us across the line first. The team least likely to win, did just that! Together we had created such a passionate desire to win.
The sense of elation and victory - sheer bliss. I often wonder if any of the young women remember it the way I do? I felt as if I could walk on water! Omnipotent! What a fabulous feeling. For me, it felt as if I had done all the work, just with my voice - coaxing more and more - and MORE out of each stroke. Those young ladies worked so hard, and the harder they worked, the louder I shouted and called for more.
What is most striking for me is the memory of the physicality of the passion. I spend so much time thinking and pondering and wondering and analyzing and...and..and...you get the idea....
Today I watched a clip on Facebook - a young poet in a competition, delivering her work - with the most powerful, most awesome passion and conviction. Not one cell in her body doubted anything she was saying. She embodied the whole piece of work and delivered it in awe-inspiring fashion. She had me riveted for each and every second.
I found it difficult to make a comment about it to the person who posted it. I watched the clip a second time. And a third time, trying to understand what part of it that was literally leaving me dumb-struck. Her message was enormously powerful. Yet, it was not only the message that was having such an enormous impact on me.
It is her PASSION - the delivery of the lovely poem was filled with raw emotion. No sugar coating. Pure, unadulterated passion.
It is this aspect of Me that was being unlocked in the watching of the video. It has been missing from Me for so long, without my realizing it. When I was a young girl, our church produced a play each year - firstly to raise funds and secondly to foster a sense of community. I loved it. Getting onto the stage and adopting a new persona and delivering my lines. I loved the learning of those lines. I loved the getting dressed up for the part I was playing. I loved the applause. I loved embracing the character. I loved the passion it all required.
I am still passionate about many things. I love life and all it has to offer. I love my friends and family and well, heaps of things. I love them all..........
But it is a very long time since I experienced that overwhelming passion to get out there, do what needs doing and revel in it!
This passion can no longer be denied. I am not sure what form it will take, but I allow it to burst forth in a way that enriches my life .
I do not know about you - but I am going to watch this space!
