Have been thinking about this - the comment on my last post - and I am not sure if I agree. I'm not saying I disagree either - just trying to unpack it a little.
What are my passions then? Well along with the ones I mention in my profile - international development, youthwork, the obvious answer has to be home, family, work ... then of course there is chocolate, red wine and Daniel Craig ... but somehow I don't see Looking for Linda as being an exploration of any of these - tempting as they may be.
Perhaps though the obvious answer is not the correct one. Perhaps there is a difference between a passion and something we are passionate about? And perhaps chocolate, wine, 007 are not passions at all - I suspect that is the case.
What is this blog about really? I'd say it's about trying to make sense of the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings that assault my brain on a daily basis. Not just daily. Hour by hour, minute by minute. Always thinking, wondering, considering, worrying. Longing to stop and sense that still small voice of calm.
A wise friend advised me recently to take time out from taking things in. For the thinkers amongst us I suspect there is a temptation to always want to take more in. To read, absorb, assault our senses with yet more information. TV, radio, internet, books, papers, magazines - and yes - blogs.
Taking time out from this, allowing ourselves to consider some of the information we already have in our overcrowded minds - and hearts and souls perhaps - can be perceived as laziness, self indulgent. But the tradition of retreat - taking time alone with ourselves or our god - is a respected way of stepping back from the hurly burly of our every day lives in order to grow stronger spiritually.
How have we got here from considering passion? What is the passion driving this blog then and driving me to look for linda?
It has to be the desire to hear again that still small voice of calm. This blog is an opportunity to take time out, to step back, to try to order and make sense of some of the random thoughts. Blogging has already made me see fellow bloggers in a new light. Yes - I admit I did see it all as slightly self indulgent and had a sense of "who do they think they are that others would want to know what they are thinking...."
But I am starting to sense that blogging - well this blog - is not about attracting a wide audience of followers. Others are more than welcome on the journey. But if I am sharing my passions with anyone... it has to be me.
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