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.

That is still one of my favorite quotes from Angela (Claire Danes’ character) in My So-Called Life. I can’t believe I don’t own the complete series yet. Slackin’ I suppose. Insert hint for Christmas gift idea here. *grins* Anywho, this originally aired in season one, episode seven, Why Jordan Can’t Read.

Follow this link to watch the full episode. Or you can fast forward to around the 35 minute mark to hear just the quote.

Need more to feed your MSCL addiction? Then check out the two websites below.

My So-Called Life fan site (everything you’d ever want to know about MSCL) http://www.mscl.com/

My So-Called Life on Hulu (full episodes, hells yeah!)
http://www.hulu.com/my-so-called-life

Upon closer scrutiny, however, you will discover that the decomposing tree trunk and rotting leaves not only give birth to new life, but are full of life themselves. Microorganisms are at work. Molecules are rearranging themselves. So death isn’t to be found anywhere. There is only the metamorphosis of life forms. What can you learn from this?

Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal. (Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks)

Whoa! Take a minute and really digest this quote. Yes, it’s deep, but extremely profound. So often we here the phrase, “It’s life or death,” that we forget the two really aren’t opposites of one another. The last sentence of this quote really threw me for a loop. I wanted to post the quote and spread the message; however, I haven’t fully digested its meaning (for me) just yet. I plan to edit this post once I’ve had more time to formulate my response.

But it’s a cool quote, don’t you think? What thoughts or feelings did reading it bring up inside you?