The Most Passionate Moments in Our Lives Aren't Time-Dependent

4 minutes

Last update: 23 February, 2018

The most passionate moments in life can’t be measured in minutes, days, or years. Instead, they’re measured in things like a whispered, “I love you,” a walk in the rain, an afternoon reading, an unexpected hug, or a look that says everything without a single word. Happy moments leave beautiful imprints in our hearts that no one can ever take from us.

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote that “the world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” However, far from being happy as kings, we sometimes seem more like shipwrecks in the ocean of life. Maybe we should strive for a child’s innocence and a writer’s mentality in order to fill our lives with more passionate moments and openness to new possibilities…

“Happiness is realizing that nothing is too important.”
-Antonio Gala-

It’s possible our lives won’t shine with the same brilliance it did when we we younger. When we put a seashell to our ears, many of us no longer hear the sound of the sea. Becoming an adult often means doing away with childish dreams and trading them for a life of resignation. Where did the magic go? What happened to the energy that was supposed to make us as happy as kings?

There are no shortcuts to happiness, and magic formulas don’t exist. Instead, the secret to living a passionate life is fostering and appreciating “passionate moments.” At the same time, let’s remember that passionate moments aren’t the ones that we can program into our cell phones. And destiny doesn’t just hand them out at random.

You must seek out passionate moments. Since we aren’t surrounded by happiness, we must create it inside of ourselves. We don’t have to be gods or kings to be happy; we need only be open people.

Passionate moments as pictured by glitter.

Movement: The key to happiness

Earlier, we mentioned Robert Louis Stevenson. Henry James, another celebrated writer, said that he had the soul of a child and that his love of adventure allowed him to live a passionate life despite his poor health.

In fact, he understood that it’s essential for one’s life to be lived with humility and passionate moments. We could deduce, then, that happiness is a question of attitude. Really, though, it’s much more.

Our brain is almost constantly changing form with everything that we do, think, and feel. It’s not enough to just “be positive” if you want more resilient, flexible thinking. Excitement, too, shapes our neural networks, showing us ways to act and react to stimuli. Something that scares or threatens us in the beginning may turn into — if we want it to — a challenge to be overcome.

To live is to move, to let certain things go, and to react to others with bravery. But when we allow ourselves to wallow in negativity, we get passive. We get trapped like old ships in on the shore of unhappiness. Nothing happens on that shore. Nothing new happens, nothing appears on the horizon to make us feel alive.

Our most passionate moments; the language of our hearts

The word “passion” is an extremely beautiful one. Very few terms encompass so accurately that feeling between what we feel and what we do. Passion is a feeling of deep satisfaction along with indescribable happiness and pleasure while doing something.

“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.”
-James Joyce-

You don’t have to live an exciting life to be happy; you need passionate moments. Recently, self-help books are flying off the shelves, and although many of them encourage us to be more optimistic, we realize that it’s not always so simple. It doesn’t take much for our old enemies to reemerge: fear, frustration, disappointment, sadness…

Passion is that force inside that makes us love like gods while we live as mortals. It’s the energy that brings us the true happiness we need to start each day with a purpose: to keep advancing, to keep growing, to enjoy the present.

To nourish this side of life, never stop being curious; never stop looking at life through the eyes of a child. There might not actually be an ocean inside of a seashell, but if you listen hard enough, you just might hear one. All you need is to be a bit more open. Trust that the magic still exists if you want it to.