It has occurred to me that whenever I speak of a labor of love (such as this weblog), I am referring to passion. Based on that association, it must follow that every smidgeon of every activity I have done for the past year or so must qualify as such, since I've not earned a penny for most of it. To clarify, I'm trying to be funny here (got right by you, didn't it?); obviously, there is much that we do of necessity, just to survive, that we never get paid a red cent for, and which we would hardly define as activities of passion.
I have engaged in a fair amount of volunteer service work in my day, and I think the benefits of engaging in these activities are as essential to my well-being as any paycheck I ever picked up. I'm not bragging here, I had to do it. Not as in I had a court order dictating it- it wouldn't quite be "volunteering", then, would it? Rather, I have been, I believe, answering a natural call. I think from my Mom's side of the gene pool, I got this need to feel helpful, and from my Dad's side, the stubbornness to make it happen. Anyway, what I'm slowly getting around to is that it makes me feel better when I take the time to do stuff for someone else. It has become a passion of mine, but it begs the question: "Is it selfish or altruistic?" The answer (in my humble opinion): Neither. And both.
Check it out..... I do something that helps somebody (in theory, making them feel better), and I experience pleasure (or satisfaction, or joy, whatever....) for having done it. What does it matter the motivation? Who cares why I did it if everybody wins? I really don't need to know how many angels will fit on the head of a pin.
Okay, I wasn't going to talk about service work; I was going to expound on engaging in one's passions without having any expectations. Sounds like a topic for another post.
In the meantime, some pretty pictures to look at:
I have always liked the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song that inspired this painting:
The coolest ever kids' bedroom, I think, is this one:
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