Passion vs. Logic

Finding needs and then fulfilling them is intuitive to our nature.  However, in our daily lives, we are faced with the challenge of doing what we feel a high level of passion about or what we might think is logical. 

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One might be passionate about a loved one and want to be by his or her side all the time, yet the logic directs him or her to do something else, like having to go to work. Speaking for myself, I am most challenged in the scenario when it comes to trying to make a dollar to support myself and my daughter or just getting out there to express myself creatively.  It would be easy to title my “dollar days” with a more logical mindset and my “art days” as a passionate one.  But the common denominator is that they both take time and energy.  Making the right choice starts with asking myself the right questions to find what is truly needed.  In the past, I would jump to what I thought were rational answers before finding the right question.  I would spit out phrases of “I have to,” “I’m going to,” “I need to”. These phrases are answers and agreements that are true tests of my will.  In time, the question became, “What will I do to activate happiness in myself and others?”  I found myself constantly stripping things down by trying to find the right question.

       I have heard people say, “There is no such thing as a good or bad question.”  I agree in certain circumstances, yet I do feel there can be one question that just feels like the right question.  The question that I usually face is, “Should I do what I am passionate about or what is logical?” Well, as the cliché goes, “There is no right or wrong answer.” Before I started to make some of the most powerful changes in my life, I first needed to change my internal voice and speak with more wants and needs and less “I have to...”   For example, instead of saying, “I have to get up early,” I now say, “I want to get up early.”

        The work balance is a tough one that I often struggle with, especially when I am not too crazy about the work or the environment.  My ceaseless passionate side would say, “I want to go outside and paint today,” but the logical side might say, “Get to work so you can pay your rent on time.”  This internal conflict is when the sharpness of my vision helps me find the balance.  I try to use what I call the “1/4 principle.” For example, there are times when I am doing a carpentry job, and for every 8 hours I am working on someone else’s “home base,” I set aside at least 2 hours to work on my own. This takes an additional amount of discipline, whether it is rising earlier to paint or write or work on my own “home base” with whatever tools are needed.

       Our relationship with man-made tools (regardless if the tool is a hammer or a computer) can be sometimes unhealthy, especially over long periods of time.  This is not to say that the tools of nature are always the healthiest.  But the difference with nature is that we have more possibilities to be flexible. And with flexibility, we can change. With change, we can have hope. With hope, we can love, and with love, we can have happiness.

       Now, think about our chances of having this cycle with an inanimate object like a hammer or computer.  Clearly, this is a logical approach, but at times a logical approach is important to unemotionally see what is needed to reach happiness in one’s life.  However, becoming locked into only using logical approaches can be complicated because it is equally important, if not more important, to have a passionate approach as well.  Actually, passion is not an approach. Passion is a feeling.  So often, we need to find the balance between passion and logic.  We need to be asking ourselves, “Are we killing ourselves with logic or passion?” Get this balance right, and your pleasures will be infinite.