I probably have my mother to thank for my neverending passion for life. Her and the myriad of self-help articles and books I’ve read over the past 20 years. She always taught me to never give up, to go for my dreams, and most of all, to believe in myself. She constantly reminded me to stay true to myself, to not conform to everyone else’s ideas, to lead, not follow.

I’ve taken those early lessons and put them into practice my entire life. If a job started to suck the joy from my life, I quit. If a person started to darken my optimistic ideas, I ended the relationship. Of course, I’m not immune to allowing the necessities of life (food, water, shelter) to push my passion to the side for a short amount of time, but I’ve always come back to what really gets me excited about life, and I refuse to allow materialistic pursuits to outweigh my dreams or kill my spirit.

Yeah, that means I’ll probably live in this old, fixer upper house for the next 20 years and I’ll drive the same car for 15 years and I won’t be able to compete in any fashion contests. But, I’ll get up every morning looking forward to that day’s events and I’ll be greeted with a loving, respectful smile from my daughter and I’ll be able to stop to enjoy the beautiful sunrise on a crisp, autumn morning. It’s a no-brainer choice for me because I understand the power of living a creative life, motivated by my passions.

It really is tragic to watch so many adults walking around half-dead inside. Many are so status hungry they’ve forgotten the true reason for what they wanted to do when they grew up. They’ve forgotten the pure joy bubbling up inside of them as a child while playing and dreaming of the day they’d build things or invent things or heal people. And I know for a fact, a lot of adults have totally forgotten the importance of things like fun and naps. Our spirits as children seem immature to the majority of the population when, really, a child’s spirit holds the key to sustaining the gift of life.

How many adults nowadays could have fun without spending a dime?

I daresay not a lot.

It really does make me sad to see people missing out on what’s truly important in life. We all start out super excited about the next possibility life has to offer us, and for some reason, along the way, we stop caring for that creative and unique part of ourselves. We don’t nurture it. We don’t feed it. We allow it to die a slow, miserable death, leaving a gaping hole in our souls, which we then attempt to fill with large salaries, fancy cars and “dream” homes.

I read an article the other day that really enlightened me as to the motivation in some areas of my life. The article, “Energize Your Life by Understanding Drive vs. Passion,” opened my eyes to the difference between my drive and my passion. I realized that many times in my work life I’ve allowed my strong work ethic and drive to overshadow my intense passions. It was the small reminder I needed to keep fighting for my dreams, to remain loyal to who I am, and most importantly, to never take for granted the life I’ve been gifted.

So I ask, are you leading the life you always dreamed of?

And I’m not talking about material junk. I’m talking about the dreams that give you goosebumps, that get you excited to get out of bed, that remind you how great life really is – are those the passions by which you’re being motivated? If they’re not, if you’re living the life you think you should live, then I invite you to resurrect your spirit, your creativity, your uniqueness by reconnecting with your dreams and passions.

I laughed out loud when I read this quote. It is such an easy thing not to speak ill of others yet so few actually keep their mouths shut. Why is silence such a hard price to pay for so many? Is it pride? I think it is our ego and pride that won’t allow us to just zip it. I’ve met people who you had to practically drag a compliment out of them, but they’d be the first to put in their negative feedback. I don’t get that. Are we hard-wired to easily speak ill of others but only speak in a positive way (make someone feel good) on rare occasions? Hmm, this one will have me thinking for a while. However, I am definitely going to try to tell more people something good (especially strangers) and speak a lot less negative criticism. After all, speaking ill really only hurts the person who spoke it.

Right on! No one is perfect; perfection is an illusion. Why then do so many people try to deny, rather than embrace, their mistakes?

It probably has to do with our darn egos. When we make a mistake, we show the world that we are mere humans, imperfect and fallible. Perhaps we were raised to believe if we make a mistake, it’s always a bad thing. This probably ties into why so many of us are afraid of failure. Mistakes and failure go hand-in-hand and most people try to avoid both like the plague.

I think we might just need to adjust the way we view mistakes. Instead of it being the end of the world, we should view them as little gifts from our subconscious. How else would we find out we don’t yet know everything there is to know about something, if we never made a mistake while doing it?

How would we ever find out that Situation B was what we wanted if we first didn’t make the mistake of getting ourselves into Situation A? If we were more open to the idea that mistakes are the greatest teaching tool never invented, we’d soon discover the process of making mistakes, learning from them and moving forward is possibly one of the most liberating experiences ever.

When we become more comfortable with making mistakes and accepting our failures as stepping stones, we truly embrace the possibilities that exist all around us. As we stop being so afraid of mistakes and failure, we start becoming aware of everything we can yet attempt, and possibly fail, but still try. After all, the trying and doing are the fun parts. And who knows, you might NOT make a mistake, you might NOT fail. The chance of success should be very exciting and motivating enough to face your potential mistakes head on.

What do you think? Why do we feel the need to defend our mistakes or place blame when we make one?

I really enjoy Ryan Gosling and most of his movies, but I was so surprised by his role as Leland that I had to tell everyone I knew about the film. Most people just shrugged me off with, “It’s just Leah and her silly Indie movies,” or more often, “her WEIRD movies.” Anything that’s not the Hollywood cookie cutter flick tends to turn most people off to watching. Not me. I love just about every kind of movie there is and if I haven’t experienced anything like it before, even better and I’ll try it out at least twice.

If you haven’t seen The United States of Leland, I highly recommend it. Don Cheadle, Kevin Spacey, Lena Olin, Jena Malone and Michelle Williams are also in it.

I’m rambling. What I connect with in this quote is the fact that Leland is saying maybe human beings have the ability to be good and bad all on their own, without a God or other religious deity out there watching over us. That we each have the ability to choose our own paths. This quote had me thinking for days and days, still does really. I mean, can you imagine the possibilities…

I’d really like to hear what other people think of this quote, so please share your thoughts. All I ask is you refrain from full-blow arguments or attacking another person’s viewpoints. I’m about as close to an atheist as one can get but I totally respect Christians, Catholics, etc. and their beliefs.

Whatever gets you through the day, but I’m just curious what thoughts this quote provokes for you, if any.