I’ve written about perspective and wisdom, as you may know, if you’ve been reading my musings. Passion however is maybe the human trait that makes us most interesting. Passion is desire given a name. Its fear managed. Its what makes us love, its what makes us excel in the arts, in business, or in sports.   Some say that there is a fine line between genius and madness. I think that fine line is passion controlled versus passion uncontrolled. Contained by perspective, wisdom and improved on by practice, passion is what can make us great.   Think about the athlete that excels at his or her sport… its by passion that they excel, it also is at that border between perfection and destruction that we see passion play out and we are fascinated to watch. A batter in baseball fails more than two thirds of the time, yet he is great to succeed just that one third of time, because we know and understand the passion for their sport that they have conquered.

When we listen to a great musician we know we are hearing passion, we want to not just listen, but we want to watch, we want to see how they are engulfed by their music, and they become that music, and always so close to the edge of madness. Think about why we pay hundreds to go to a concert when for a few bucks we can listen to a perfect rendition of their work in the convenience of home? Same with a dancer, how close are they to failing, yet they perform faultlessly because they’ve controlled that passion we are witnessing through practice and perspective… they know what they can do and what they cannot instinctively… and because they’ve been to the other side of that edge before. Passion uncontrolled can be destructive and consuming, passion controlled is productive, wonderful and the greatest of all human traits.

I saw a dancer once and it occurred to me how she was controlling passion, managing her dragon as it seemed to me. Making passion productive. In our minds, our hearts, our souls we struggle to find, control, manage our dragon. We must put ourselves in the proper and perfect state of mind to manage our passions. Proper level of restraint, control, with perspective and wisdom as we dance with our dragon. We keep it where it needs to be, we use it when it is productive, and we keep in line…

Passion is a Dragon

Settle thoughts, settle heart, keep in line

Look to the future, remembering the past

Be in the present a perfect state of mind 

 

Passion is a Red Dragon that must be named

Contained, controlled and yet wild just the same

Work on it, train it, the dragon must be tamed

 

Fire in my soul lets the dragon fly as needed at time

Dance with it, control and make it work, others see

But keep in the present a perfect state of mind

 

See the sunset beautiful and perfectly framed

Then settle, enjoy and let the dragon dream

Sky dark, moon and stars more than can be named

 

Deep at night, the dragon stirs in its sleep

Keeping it alive, listen to it influencing me

Productive, think, protecting me in my castle keep

 

See joy and laughter and love of friends

Be in the present a perfect state of mind

Comfort in soul that such beauty never ends

 

Dragon sleeps but still there to awaken in time

Events and time, emotions and rhymes

Be in the present always a perfect state of mind

 

Mike