Pat Robinson wrote this about 4 years ago and posted at the AlwaysUnschooled Yahoo Group today so I asked her if I could put it here and she said OK. I just loved it as it is rings so true for me.
Here is goes:
Selfish Passion
I have a confession about a selfish passion of mine. It seems to have developed to the exclusion of many other worthy and enjoyable goals which I have held in the past. My passion is so integral to my Being now, that it is inseparable from my core needs.
I would have thought that I was sacrificing my other pleasures,challenges, and well deserved indulgences, if it hadn't become such a prominent aspect of my life. I thought that I "should" continue to be involved in my prior avocations, with due awareness of their continued importance, in my current and future life. But my passion seems to have become so rewarding and fulfilling, that I don't choose to participate in many of my prior activities. And my prior loves don't have the same significance that they once had.
My passion challenges me physically in the same way that exercising with the goal of climbing Mt. McKinley once pushed me further than I thought possible.
My passion challenges me mentally in the same way that the acuity of critically ill patients once demanded my most attentive and intellectual self.
My passion challenges me emotionally in the same way that caring for indigent people who had to choose between buying medicines or food or paying housing expenses, drained and empowered me to do more.
My passion challenges me socio-culturally in the same way that assimilating a third world culture required me to question all my assumptions.
My passion has supplanted the multitude of experiences which I once considered a whole and full life. But, I am becoming aware that my passion actually fulfills my goals of stretching my strengths beyond what I thought humanly possible.
My passion displays the beauty in every little thing, when I thought I must search and travel to find the beauty of the world.
My passion has provided me with opportunities to find the courage, and confidence, to follow my own path.
My passion has developed compassion for both, myself and others,beyond the judgments that I "knew" as right and wrong in the world.
My passion has demonstrated the hope of the future despite any insurmountable challenges of the moment.
My passion has shared the trust in all the goodness of life.
My passion has surrounded me with the joy of innocence that I lost a sa child, and opened my heart to its delights.
My passion has developed talents that I never knew were available tome, although I always demanded more of myself; but I never demanded as much as creative problem solving with another demands.
My passion has cultivated an imagination of the world as it could be.
My passion has endowed me with a reverence in wonder and miracle more devout than any faith could.
My passion has amplified my understanding of my significance in the universe.
My passion has produced more love than I dared to believe was possible.
My passion has given me the gift of faith in humanity.
My passion is being my son's mother.I have no other passion that holds more self-indulgence and personal growth.
Pat Robinson
Thanks Pat! and thanks to Heather Brown for the picutes.
