Some say that when we are born God wraps us up with small and big gifts. The talents embedded deeply within us which we will discover throughout our lives. We will use those talents and gifts to serve and give to others as one of the main purposes of our life.
A gift to me means something that will always make you happy. If that is the case, then we can say that those God given talents are gifts which will always make us happy, right?
Sometimes we discover those gifts by accident; other times we look for them and sometimes those gifts and talents find us, they are part of our purpose in life. Those talents or gifts can be identify as the things you have passion for.
To understand the true meaning of the word “passion”, which you might not understand in the context of this blog, it’s important to explain it so I can make my point.
The word “passion” is generally associated with a deep and overflowing feeling that overcomes any physical or psychological pain. The word “passion” comes from the latin passio, which means to suffer. At the same time, this word is related to the verb to suffer and shares its etymological root with the word patience.
Another definition is hunger or an intense desire to pursue something. Keep the definition that resonates the most to you as we dive deeper in this blog.
Do YOU know how many gifts and/or talents you have? Which ones are they? Can you name them? Do you know what you’re really good at? Do you do what you love to do? Is there something you would like to do but you don’t do it? Do you have a goal you want to meet? What would you do, even if you didn’t get paid? What do you dream of doing that you are not doing today? What did you want to be when you grew up?
As for me, I have found several passions throughout my life. My first passion was my career, industrial engineering. I loved every single minute of the 17 years I worked as an engineer. I don’t think there was one task that I didn’t do without PASSION during those 17 years. It was during that time that my first definition applies: to suffer and patience. Both of those words were there. Sometimes the goals and expectations were too high, lots of work, long hours, lots of effort and sacrifices. Patience has always been my biggest challenge and the hardest thing to manage, to have; but it is the key to success.
When I left my job to go to the Dominican Republic, I knew I had other gifts inside of me. I had many other things I wanted to try, I wanted to do and I hadn’t had the time to pursue them due to the demands of my job. After a long research, patience and schooling; I discovered and introduced myself to the handmade jewelry world. And to this day, I keep loving and enjoying it. Making handmade jewelry has filled my heart with happiness every time I deliver a unique piece of jewelry to my clients.
But I am not only passionate about the jewelry I make; I have also decided to enjoy my favorite sport: tennis. I want to reap the benefits that tennis brings and that I couldn’t enjoy in the past. I am taking formal training sessions, practicing regularly and attending tennis clinics; all of which have made me very happy.
I could play tennis all day and every day. The feeling I get from hitting the ball and landing my shot in the right place, the sound the ball makes when it touches the racket and you hear that perfect pitch, that’s something you feel! A well served ball to score a point, your body covered in sweat and the feeling of just being there in the court, under the sun or under the moon is priceless. Oh! and all the new friendships I’ve made also have no price.
There is something inside of me that all those who know my jewelry know about me. That is my passion, my admiration and my taste for colors, different color combinations and what they make me feel. This year I decided to start painting in watercolors. It’s been several years since I’ve had that wish ever since I watched my oldest son paint for many years. However, what really brought me here was when I fell in love with two books that I purchased called: Essential Words (2008) and Essential Words II (2009) both by Paulo Coelho. Both books contain the author’s resonated words about his books, but the illustrations are in watercolors- beautiful! Can you imagine that I let 12 years go by and it was just a matter of buying the materials and sitting down to paint?! But let’s not talk about the lost time and let’s focus on new abilities gained and happy hearts, which is what passions make us feel.
To close this blog I want to tell you that you are reading because of my other passion: “writing”. Everyone knows that writing a blog and maintaining it on a web page is more work than fun, I don’t get paid for this and maybe a lot of people don’t even read it. But it is my other passion and I love doing it. No matter the outcome, what I feel when I write makes me so happy. I started writing poetry when I was 15. I find that writing is soothing and something I truly enjoy.
Now after sharing all this with you, did you think and come up with your different passions? How many do you have? Do you know how to find them? Do you want to find them? I can help, but that will come in my August blog, stay tuned.
I’ll leave you with the following thoughts in case you have not found that gift yet, that hidden passion:
“What is yours, will come your way no matter what”.
“What you are searching for will find you sooner or later”.
Find your passions and be happy, that is your purpose in life.
With everlasting passion,
Jackie
