| Is being passionate a good thing? I have always | | | | I think it would be unfortunate to totally block off all |
| thought so. After all, passion has driven us to create | | | | passion. While I am a great advocate of rational |
| many of humanity's greatest achievements. Da Vinci, | | | | thought, I cannot imagine living a life without passions. |
| Mozart, Beethoven, Newton, and Edison, were all | | | | We may build walls to protect ourselves from |
| passionate people, who created many masterpieces | | | | passionate encounters and the ensuing unhappiness, |
| that we still enjoy today. However, all of them did not | | | | but those same walls will stop us from enjoying life to |
| lead very happy lives. While passion drives us to | | | | its' fullest. |
| create great things, it also drives us towards many | | | | "Better to have loved and lost than never to have |
| strong negative emotions including greed, jealousy, | | | | loved at all." ~~ [Tennyson] |
| anger, envy, and pride. Many of these negative | | | | I cannot say that I have found the perfect answer |
| emotions are considered sins, thus should passion also | | | | between passion and control to lead a happy life, but I |
| be considered a sin? | | | | can say that life is happier today because I have more |
| The Good | | | | control over my passions. Here are some of the things |
| | | | that have helped me most: |
| 1. Passion drives us to fight for and create great things | | | | |
| that ultimately help improve our quality of life and | | | | 1. Support network: When someone is addicted or |
| advance our society. | | | | overly passionate about someone or something they |
| 2. Passion allows us to experience things more fully | | | | really need a support network of friends and family to |
| and participate in greater joy and ecstasy. | | | | help pop them out of their current obsessive frame of |
| 3. Passion helps us push ourselves to the limit and | | | | mind. The support network will also be there to help in |
| achieve all that we can achieve. | | | | the subsequent pain and healing process. |
| 4. Passion makes us come back and try again even | | | | 2. Set up a schedule: Set up a schedule for yourself |
| though we may have failed many times previously. | | | | where you engage in various activities that are of |
| The Bad | | | | interest to you. This keeps you from being overly |
| | | | focused on any one passion. By controlling your time |
| 1. Passion can sometimes cause us to perform | | | | and attention, you also control the extent of your |
| despicable acts because our need to fulfill our desires | | | | passion. This can also make you a lot more productive |
| is so great. | | | | because a variety of activities will allow you to view |
| 2. Passion allows us to experience greater highs, but it | | | | things from many different perspectives. |
| often causes us to plummet to greater lows. | | | | 3. Practice controlling strong emotions: One of the best |
| 3. Passion always pushes us to keep climbing the next | | | | places to practice this is in online communities. The |
| hill, and does not leave us the time to enjoy where we | | | | advantage of online interaction is that it is less personal, |
| are at. | | | | and you can more easily walk away from online |
| 4. Passion makes us want more than what we have, | | | | discussions than real-life encounters. Online discussions |
| which often leads to unhappiness. | | | | also tend to be more controversial, and it attracts a |
| 5. Passion makes us overly reliant on others because | | | | greater variety of personalities. Initially, get involved with |
| we feel too strongly about them, and/or what they | | | | discussions that you are less passionate about, and |
| can give us. | | | | practice walking-away when you start to get angry or |
| 6. Passion gives others power over us because they | | | | frustrated. Once you have better control of negative |
| can use the object of our passions to manipulate and | | | | emotions, you can start participating in more |
| control us. | | | | passionate topics and ultimately practice in real-life |
| 7. Passion often robs us of self-control and thus robs | | | | discussions. |
| us of our freedom. | | | | 4. Evaluate long-term goals: Always be aware of your |
| Embrace nothing: If you meet the Buddha, kill the | | | | long-term goals and do not allow short-term passions |
| Buddha. If you meet your father, kill your father. Only | | | | to undermine your long-term plans. Whenever you feel |
| live your life as it is, Not bound to anything ~~[Hindu | | | | overly strongly about someone or something, consider |
| Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, | | | | how it fits into your overall life plans and take the |
| 563-483 B.C.] | | | | course of action that will lead to long-term happiness; |
| Passion Tempered with Control | | | | not shorter term gains. |