What Is The Meaning Of Passion

What is passion?

That is the question many people struggle with when it comes to understanding what passion means. It seems like every person has their own definition, making it hard to define this word consistently.

Many think that passion is something you feel while doing a activity, like how some people say they love eating because they enjoy tasting all the different foods. They believe that if you are hungry then you must really like food so you can probably guess why they claim to love spending time in the kitchen.

However, there’s more to it than just feeling good while doing an activity. This way of thinking about passion is wrong.

It takes much longer to find the true meaning of passion. In fact, it isn't even necessarily related to activities or hobbies. Some say that passion is just being willing to put effort into things that matter to you.

This theory suggests that if you are passionate about something then you will keep going back to it and investing your energy in it. Because of this, some describe this as wanting to belong, which is described as a desire to connect with other people who share your beliefs and interests.

In terms of psychology, passion is defined as motivation or incentive to do something. Without this push, someone may not go out of their way to do a thing. For example, if you wanted to watch TV but didn’t have anything important to watch, you would probably give up.

Examples of passion

Let’s look at some examples.

I want you to take a moment and think about a time when you felt passionate or connected to something. It can be for a movie you watched, a song you listened to, an athlete you invested in, or anything else.

It is hard to remember those moments because we get distracted by other things. We become disconnected from what made us feel that initial feeling.

If you ever feel that way again, try thinking back to your original inspiration. What was it? Was it someone, somewhere, or something?

It is important to recognize this part of yourself so you do not forget how to feel it.

Consider passion a state of mind

Recent studies suggest that people who feel passionate about what they are doing in their lives are happier than those who do not. What makes someone feel passionate is determined by how they define passion.

Some say that to identify true passions you have to know yourself, but there’s another way to look at it. Being passionate means having fun exploring all parts of your life — not just studying hard or working hard, but engaging in activities that make you happy.

It's like making room for more things in your life – creating space to enjoy other experiences, both internal (feelings) and external (things).

Given this definition, anyone can develop their own ideas of what creates passion. You get most of them from everyday life.

For example, talking with friends, reading books, listening to music, going to movies, playing sports, and learning new skills are some ways most people experience passion.

Passion is not the same as enthusiasm

‘Passion’ has become such a clichéd word that people often use it without defining what it means. Many associate passion with something emotional, like emotions. But this definition is too broad because anything can be an emotion (joy, sadness, fear).

Many believe that passion is motivated by reward or incentive in the form of money, praise, or rewards for your work. This definition is too narrow because some things are meaningful to you even if they aren’t rewarded monetarily. For example, someone who loves traveling could spend their life chasing after free flights and hotels.

This definition also ignores the fact that there are instances where no reward exists and you still have passion for something.

Look for passion in others

We develop our own sense of what makes us feel passionate by looking at the things that make other people feel passionate.

When we were kids, most children wanted to be like their parents – they copied everything their parent did. As we grew up, we sometimes lost touch with this instinct to imitate.

As we’ve seen, one of the major factors in how we define passion is being engaged in something you believe in or are confident about.

But there’s another way to identify passions – identifying the things that other people consider important sources of passion.

These sources of passion can include relationships, career, hobbies, and so on. They’re not just things that give you an emotional boost, but that matter deeply to you.

Become a good listener

As we know, passion is defined as an intense feeling or emotion that you’re willing to do things for.

But what are they doing for? What are they giving up in order to experience this passionate intensity?

In other words, how is the person using their energy to feel passionate about something?

And more importantly, why is it important to them? Why does it matter so much to them?

It takes someone who is genuinely interested in something to be a good listener. You have to care about the person you’re listening to before getting any real insights into what makes them passionate.

You also need to respect their opinions which can sometimes be difficult if you don’t agree with them.

But if you really want to find out what makes someone else passionate, then try asking them about it and see what you get!

Good listeners are not only pleasant to be around, but they also come across as trustworthy, intelligent, and self-confident – all qualities that inspire trust.

So next time you’re trying to figure out what makes your friend/relative/colleague passionate, ask them! They might even tell you something you didn’t realize made them strong enough to lose sleep over something.

Try doing things that inspire passion

We often confuse passion with motivation.

Motivation is what gets us into work or keeps us working until we reach our goal. It’s great to be motivated, but if you do not feel passionate about your job, then it will show in how well you perform it.

And I don't mean just feeling like you need to take good care of yourself by eating breakfast every day or having some sort of ritual before starting each task, but something more substantial than “I want my paycheck at the end of the month.”

Passion means to really love what you are doing and to lose track of time while you are doing it. You forget about other things because you are so focused.

It's also probably hard to keep doing something that you no longer enjoy very much. If you can’t seem to get through an hour of watching TV, maybe try learning how to cook? Or taking up knitting instead of listening to music while you wash dishes.

Find your passion niche

We’ve talked before about how finding your life purpose or career path means figuring out what you are passionate about and then learning more about that field, developing it, and creating an income stream to fulfill your goal.

But there is another way to define the meaning of passion — something we can refer to as “passionate engagement.” This idea was popularized by Stanford professor Carol Dweck.

Her theory goes like this: Some people have a personality type that benefits from having a set mission and goal in life. They develop strong internal motivators to keep them working hard because they understand their role and why they exist.

For example, someone with this type of personality can be motivated by results, not emotions. A person with this trait may aim to achieve success so well that they even begin to ignore the emotional rewards that success brings.

Other individuals feel motivation directly from happiness and enjoyment of the work themselves. These types of people find joy in doing whatever task has to be done, without extra inspiration.

Know when to be passionate

We often think that passion is having a strong feeling about something, but this isn’t it. Having passion for something means being willing to invest in it — consistently investing time into it, energy into it, and continually trying to achieve your goal with it.

Having passion for something means staying invested in it even if you don’t feel like it. You have to believe in it and want what it offers more than anything else.

It’s not just about feelings either; it’s also about action. When we talk about passion, I always emphasize actions over emotions because passions are things that matter to us beyond just our emotional state.

They make me do things that I wouldn’t otherwise do – like start my own business or move away from home. They’re why I’m writing this article right now instead of sitting at my desk doing nothing.

And they’re the reason why I’ll keep working on my career even though I didn’t feel like it yesterday.