PASSION is what the sun feels for the earth”, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the 19th century poet said, “When harvests ripen into golden birth”. Passion is what our soul is searching for, is what the soul thirsts for. Many of us long to get swept away and live passionate lives, that’s why romantic movies, juicy novels, soap operas have so many viewers. We would love to live the life of a celebrity, and abandon reason in the pursuit of reckless pleasure. Rush of to the Andes mountains with a Latin polo player rather than pick up the children from school. For some, passion is running naked with the wolves… it’s so extreme! I remember this one scene from the movie Titanic, when Kate Winslet jumps out of her lifeboat, just as happy to sink or swim with Leonardo Di Caprio. In that moment any woman would have traded places with her. Remember the movie Wuthering heights? Certainly passion gripped the audience hearts as much as the actors.

Yet if you think about it, passion could also live in the deep quiet corners of our lives. I have seen people passionate about gardening, cooking, writing, bird watching, spiritualism, mountain climbing or some other sport. It can also be a pulsating energy that fills up our lives and moves in rhythm with our heartbeat.

Certainly, be aware it is not a self sacrificing emotion, a self immolation process. Often women can indulge in some serious self sacrifice to keep her family happy. When you labour hard to always keep others happy at your expense, then the self diminishes. No one is saying you must abandon duty in exchange of desire, but rather it’s about finding a passion in the wonder of our everyday lives. Find activities, friends, hobbies, charities, that add value to your life. Look in the mirror for the child you once were, the girl you once were, the dream there once was. Afterall, we become the choices we make.

Sometimes we need to make tough choices and abandon our happiness. We may have to give up the person we love, the home we love, the very thing we love. Well then, the soul need not die a slow death. Look at nature, how she renews herself daily. Learn to find yourself in the little joys, in the everdayness of things.

If we are truly anchored in what’s precious, what’s real, what’s important, then the soul will soar one day. Passion will find its way to your heart. You may find it hard to believe, but the sun does rise everyday to shine on us, to tell us to be grateful for the new day. To tell us here is another chance to go after another dream, to find the reason to live, to be happy. It’s all about attitude and gratitude.

Remember the next time you look up at the night star and offer a prayer, ask for passion to enter your life. True passion is magical and mystical, it is and can be lasting. The human race was conceieved in passion. Weren’t we?

Bubbles Sabharwal is a theatre director