My sister, Sandy, and I have had discussions about this question: “What words do you hate?”. We both agreed that Polish words describing certain body parts and pretentious French words, such as croissant (pronounced kwah-sahn, rather than, kruh-sahnt), were definitely high up on our list.

Another word I’m not fond of is “passion”. It’s over-used. Not to mention that I feel embarrassed, because, at my age, I haven’t yet found mine, let alone followed it.

Saturday morning I decided to attend an informal class on decorating heart cookies at Anchor Church.  I don’t bake often. I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. I went to be in the company of church ladies. Well, what a surprise! I enjoyed the experience and was pleased with the results of my first attempts.

After this little class, I can’t say that I found my passion, but I did feel a bit more motivated and inspired.

Here are my conclusions:
• Passion doesn’t exist naturally waiting to be found. It’s an effect of what you do.
• We shouldn’t measure ourselves against others (Don’t think that your passions aren’t as good as another’s passions).
• Avoid distraction, anger and procrastination because these are ways of avoiding the fear of discomfort and the fear of failure.
• Try new things. Step out of your comfort zone. Make things. Build. Learn new skills. Welcome new adventures. Make new friends.
• Have an “I’ll try it!” attitude.
• If there’s even a flicker of interest, pursue it.
• Don’t push yourself to the impossible “perfect”.

If you’ve kept up with our posts, you already know that I love apps. And, there’s an app that coincides with this post. It’s called “Curious”. This free app is for the “lifelong learner” that teaches you everything from how to train a dog to how to flirt in Italian.

So, I’m limiting the word “passion” in my vocabulary. I’ve decided it does not give my life purpose. I will focus on small triumphs and appreciate the little scraps of joy that I experience every day.