Until you love something, you’ll never give everything you have for it.
Passion fades. Love only becomes more powerful, regardless of the outcome.
Love is the highest of all human motivations. The lower motivations — avoiding punishment/pain, seeking reward/pleasure, and duty — aren’t even comparable to the power of love.
Love takes the attention off of you and places it on someone or something else. When you love something, you put it before yourself. Very few display this level of devotion, where you’re willing to be and do whatever is required.
Where is your love directed?
Give-Up Your Notion of “Authenticity”
If you want to make improvements in your life, you need to fundamentally change as a person.
The idea of “changing yourself” is off-putting
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Your identity isn’t fixed. Without the belief that you can growth and change, all of your choices would be meaningless and irrelevant.
If you truly love someone, you’ll be who you need to be for that person. Your thoughts will be directed toward their happiness, not how they can make you happy. Your creativity will be towards creating meaningful experiences for them.
If you love a particular cause, you’ll be who you need to be to bring that cause forward. You won’t let your current deficiencies stop you. You’ll get educated. You’ll acquire skills. You’ll develop relationships. You’ll fail. You work. You’ll look foolish.
It’s not about you. Kierkegaard, Socrates, and Levinas all believed love is fundamentally directed toward something outside oneself. An over-focus on yourself keeps you stuck in your head and worried about your own feelings, rather than out in the world doing good.
Forget yourself and get to work. Become who you must be for the people and causes you love. It is only in devoting yourself wholly to something outside of yourself that you become self-actualized. It cannot happen is a self-absorbed and self-concerned
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I’m not depressed. I’m just stating the facts. I’ve been selfish.
“Love is the only thing powerful enough to overcome everything holding you back.” — Chris Chann, professional skateboarder
Love is powerful enough to make hard and sometimes irrational decisions.
Love is powerful enough to commit to something for the long-haul.
Love is powerful enough to get you out of bed at 5AM and get to work.
Love is powerful enough to learn things and acquire skills to benefit the lives of others.
Love is powerful enough to change you into someone more and better than you currently are.
Love is always directed outward.
You Love What You Invest Yourself In
People often ask: How can I know what I WANT TO DO? How can I know what I’m passionate about?
These questions are misdirected. They’re overtly focused on themselves and their own happiness. Happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue as the unintended consequence of devotion to something or someone else. Viktor Frankl believed this too, explaining it as the very reason for both survival in Nazi concentration camps and for success in life.
Rather than worrying about what you’re passionate about, invest yourself in something you believe