Being Passionate in a Balanced Lifestyle                                              by Triz Remedios

 

The problem with the word passionate is that it conjures up visions of extreme behavior, and irrationality.  Passion is an intense feeling towards someone or something.  The artists, philosophers, visionaries, all the doers on this plane of existence are all passionate about their goals and deeds.  It seems that anyone who is serious about their dreams possess the passion to realize that dream.

 

Now how does one live passionately and maintain a balanced lifestyle?  After all, aren’t the two concepts really at opposite ends of the scale?  Isn’t passion, by its very nature, an imbalance of one’s thoughts or feelings?  Doesn’t passion askew you to one or the other side of balanced?  I mean, isn’t that the nature of passion?

 

As a musician, I find the thrust of my existence towards the music in everything.  My life revolves around all that is music.  Things have a tempo, or are in harmony, or melodious, or dissonant.  The momentum of my life unfolds like a symphony; the people around me are the players in a symphonic orchestra.  Sometimes we are putting on an opera with drama and tragedy, other times it is a light musical with lots of singing and dancing.  Everyone has a role, myself included.  There are times when I am a bit player on the sideline.  Other times I am the conductor, director, performer, composer and the like.  Conflicts occur when there is a discrepancy between who is playing which role.  Isn’t that the case with most conflicts?

 

Joey thinks he’s the boss when really he’s the janitor, and yet the janitor actually has much more to do with running the show than the boss has.  So, who’s the boss here?   How does Joey play out his role?  All of this depends on the passion Joey has for his role in this drama.  If he is balanced in his role then he may see his place in the scheme of things and go quietly about doing the things he does.   If he is passionate about expressing his real control over things then we’ll have a major conflict.

People like things in the right place.  They do not like chaos in the workplace, or in their relationships.  They like everything in its place and everyone where they are meant to be.

 

The beauty of chaos is that in those particular moments we feel truly alive.  It is at those times when we as human beings let the passion out.  It creates an imbalance in the universe that stirs everything up, a whirling, a vacuum, a wave, motion.  It is in riding this wave that life is felt.  In this imbalance we become truly alive, being in the moment, not calculating, or analyzing, or deciphering.  The chaotic nature of passion is what hooks and reels us into living within these intense moments.  It brings the light into one’s eyes and opens up the senses to breathing in life.  It is the envy of those who merely exist and who do not dare to scramble the order of their well planned existence.  In the chaos of passion we find order, and power.  This creates art and realizes dreams, bringing to life what one only dares to fantasize about.

 

The challenge is staying centered in passion so that all unfolds with ease.  Passion has a driving force that makes things happen in a colorful manner.  In this state, staying calm and grounded allows for the next opportunity or moment in which to express who we are.   Being comfortable and relaxed in our skin enables a full expression of the true nature of our being, our vibration, our song.   This expression of our being is our purpose.  It is who we are and why we are here.  It is the note or notes we sound to complete the harmonies that unite all of us in one colorful chord.  This is the sound of Earth, of Humankind, of Spirit beings.  The very nature of our soul sounds when we express this self.  We arrive there through passion and if we remain balanced within the passion we then manifest a new order of things to come.

 

Being centered and grounded within passion allows us to ride the wave of energy much as a surfer rides the wave to shore.  In being grounded we find a balance which flows with the intensity of passion, yet keeps us very much alive and alert to the newness of the moment.  The power of passion awakens our soul, but it is balance that enables us to blossom within the passion to express our true nature.   Expression of our true nature is being who we are, nothing to do, nowhere to grow into, simply being.

 

 Triz Remedios, Master Musician & cofounder of 2/4 Sound Works. She lives in Mississauga, Ontario where she works and plays as a Musician and has a private practice, as well as transformational workshops for groups.                      ©2003  All rights reserved                                BACK