Passion!?

What does passion mean to you?

"The time you hesitate it through"- The Doors

At first I thought that passion means eyes, that you are guided towards what you love through seeing things that spark ones joy. However, not all of us have the ability to see visually (our physical realm) yet are still capable of seeing within, feeling, therefore feeling passion. Passion is a feeling no matter how you may receive it, through eyes, through touch, through smell. No matter who we are, we experience passion, the fire burning within us to do. I feel a lot of the time many of us experience passion but are afraid to translate our passions mainly due our own self critiques followed by others critiques. If not many, I definitely do feel this way most of the time. A fear of sharing my passions which stops me from doing anything about it at all which is so silly. However, why am I doing what I do?

Reminder: Just because someone does it a way does not mean it will be in alignment to your way.

Fear is like a huge bucket of water being thrown onto a flaming fire. -Celine Wanjiru

Why am I doing what I do?

I am doing what I do because it allows me to reflect, reflect on past versions of me, or even people I may have encountered. I create because it feels like shedding, I feel like if I know a lot of what I do and feel, why am I not finding ways to communicate it to whoever choses to listen. The results of my journey may guide or inspire someone else's journey.

On that note, I had the privilege to do a photoshoot with my grandma [oma], Adje Hoefnagels. She is 77 and still thriving off her life's passion. 'Life' a word I thought of when understanding what passion means to me. Aliveness, breathing, moving, existing, being. My grandma is an extraordinary artist, my favorite expression of hers besides her attention grabbing stories, is her artwork [her painting of the violets]. She paints so beautifully, you can feel her presence piercing through her art work. Growing up, she shared her passions with us [and still now], her doing so allowed me to explore my expressions through paint as well. Even though we have different visions, she has been my biggest inspiration on what it means to be an artist. She has treated me to various museums and art exhibitions which showed me the history of The Netherlands through astonishing paintings and how much those artists still impact the artistry expression we see today.

My oma says that passion to her means:

"Iet's waar je helemaal jezelf kan zijn."- Adje Hoefnagels

"Passion is something where you can fully be yourself."

Through her experience of life these are her wise words about passion.

Simple yet complex af.

Captured by me [Celine Wanjiru]

Model: Adje Hoefnagels

Who am I? How do I get to know self? What do I enjoy doing? How do I do this life thing? What is my passion?

-Just be yourself!

URGH HOW? -Just be.

Be? How?

-What you are doing right now. Existing.

Huh? I don't remember the last time I felt passionate.

-Exactly the way you said that, the way your body glitched, the way the voice in your head said "Huh?". That is passion.

Isn't that just thinking?

-We are not moving to find our passion, we are moving to keep our passion flowing even when we have no where to place or express the results of our passion.

Ok,

-Your existence is passion and you have the choice on what you want to do with it.

But what if-

-That didn't happen?

...

Wan Love!

"Everything we want is just around the corner, carry it all"- Jimi Hendrix [20$ Fine]