Passion & Commitment

We scream 'passion', shout 'desire'... 'We say we 'love' this, and 'want' that - but have we ever questioned ourselves on the price of passion, of desire, and of love?!

Passion without commitment is unlikely to fuel effort. I remember being passionate about painting and most people, including my parents, teachers and friends, recognised that I had talent. I realised, too, that I was artistic, that I was much better in drawing/ painting, than most people my age. Mom did send me to weekend artclasses, and that further strengthened my belief that I was GOOD at it.

To day, after more than 4 decades since my weekend artclass days, it is such a shame that I have remained an artistic person, but without having stretched my talent further. Why? I lacked the commitment, then, to push myself further, to be the best that I could be. I allowed other factors to influence me, to distract me, and to derail me...Passion wore thin after a while, as more and more distractions clouded my life.



Let's move on to something more serious than art, say- work.



We often declare a little too quickly, shout a little too loudly, about how passionate we are about our work. "I love what I do!" That's great, but that's not enough. Where there is passion, there must be commmitment - to be your best, and to do your best. Then again, I think we use the word 'commitment' a little too loosely. Commitment, my friends, comes with responsibilities, hardwork... and it often requires us to walk the extra mile. Yes, sacrifices.

I guess we won't be displaying our commitment banner all over town from now on.

It is not my intention to discourage anyone from being passionate about what he/ she does, but I do want to caution him/ her, lest he/ she uses the word without meaning it.

Same Heart. New Beat

Is it really so difficult to ignite our passion? A friend of mine said this in a resigned tone a couple weeks back, "Hey, I've got an old and tired heart, plus an equally old and tired body to match... Passion is not in my vocabulary these days!'

... and to think that I actually got 'affected' by that remark! I went home, feeling a little discouraged. By the time I went to bed, I thought I actually felt rather depressed. The fact that I am half a century old; the fact that my heart had been bruised onced too many times (not necessarily by men) was beginning to weigh me down...

Then I heard an upbeat song (not that I am all that familiar with today's music) coming from my daughter's room. Never mind the lyrics, but the music itself was enough to tranform my emotions.

Before I realised it, I was up on my feet and ready to complete the work that I had put aside for days. That night, I worked with such passion. Not only did I complete my work, I thought the quality of work done was simply amazing, too.

That's right. It may be the same old heart, but let's put a new beat to it.

Just because there's snow on the roof...



I'm too old...

I'm tired...
I've past my prime...
... and the 'sighs' go on and on!


I guess I am writing this to ME, as much as I am sharing it with those who chance upon this article.

Most people associate age with numbers: I'm going to be 20; I'm pushing 30; I'm coming to 40; I'm reaching 50; I'm inch-ing 60... Well, are you referring to your chronological age, biological age, emotional age or mental age? I may be 50 years old (choronological age) but I look darn good for my age - can pass off as 40 (bialogical age), maybe. Emotially, I feel like a 30 year old and mentally, argh, may be just touching 20!

Age is but a state of mind, but seeing is believing. So, keep yourself looking good and feeling good. That calls for proper nutrition, taking charge of your health and fitness, grooming and dressing well, and living life to the fullest. Hey, if you don't take good care of yourself, who will?!

Sure, we all have untold problems relating to ageing that perhaps the rest of the world would never understand, or find out, but we owe it to ourselves to make the best of what there is before us; and make good of what is lacking or slacking...

Don't let age, or ageing, weigh us down,slow us down, or worse still, stop us from living life to the fullest.

Remember, just becase there's snow on the roof, it doesn't mean there's no fire in the furnace!

Passion Killers

I had been waiting impatiently for the door to open… As soon as it did, I rushed in and headed straight to my favourite department – the lingerie section.

It was the Metro Jaya Grand Sale, with up to 60% discount on selected items.

Rummaging through a pile of plain, cotton underwear, I went, “Small : hmmm, may be can’t fit. Medium: no stock, Large :no stock, Extra-large: yes, plenty…. Colours? Only white”.

I settled for a dozen of whites, and extra-large! At 60% discount, you can’t expect too much!

As I was queuing up to pay, a disgruntled voice came from behind, “This is the reason why I divorced my ex-wife… Lady, what you’re holding are PASSION KILLERS!”

Are you wearing one of those passion-killers today?

…and I am NOT even referring to those extra-large panties, or those equally passion-killing boxer-shorts, worn by the Chinese coffee-shop owners back in the 60’s.

I am talking about all the NEGATIVE things that kill our passion to live life to the fullest.

Some of you may agree with what I am about to share with you; some of you don’t; some simply won’t. But this could make a difference to how you want to live your life.

I believe we are born with the passion to live life to the fullest.

Remember what it was like when we were children? We were buckets of enthusiasm, and we could derive so much fun out of the simple things in life…

And then we had to grow up – that’s the trouble! We let unhappy experiences rob us of our passion and our enthusiasm. We let systems and procedures control our action; we allow culture and religions to condition our behavior… While some of those values have molded us into better people; other ideologies have invaded our lives, as they also halt our ability to imagine, to explore, to venture, to create, to have fun.

Look around you, and look within you. Have you lost some of your passion, if not all, over the years? Are you merely conforming to norms and old habits these days?

Careful, my friends. While you ‘house’ your family, you may have imprisoned your mind, jailed your thoughts, chained your imagination, locked your passion – because you are too busy looking for those 60% offer items, like I did.

In our professional life, we strive to climb the ladder of success. Without passion, how can we fuel our effort to achieve our goals?!

In our private life, we yearn to keep our relationship healthy, fun, intimate …. Without passion, how can we expect to ‘fire up’ a desire so powerful to keep the partners happy and satisfied?

Ignite your passion NOW!

… and this is the reason why I picked this theme for my blog.