#tedxkc

The talk of discovering/finding/following one’s passion is ubiquitous. Passion, somehow or rather, ties in with happiness. It’s what people think they should know by a certain age so that they can path their future with it and be happy. Perhaps, it doesn’t really matter as much as it seems, to find your passion. Here, Terri Trespicio talks at TEDxKC about how the journey of finding one’s passion would in return blind one of many opportunities that may be life changing. Instead of looking for your passion, “look for problems that need solving”,  Trespicio says in her talk “Stop searching for your passion”, which you can watch below.  

I love how she describes passion as something “where your energy and effort meets someone else’s needs”. 

Watching Trespicio’s talk reminded me of a podcast that I listened to months ago. Psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski at Yale University talked to Hidden Brain about her studies in work and job crafting on the episode How To Build A Better Job. According to the podcast, “job crafting can help you make the job that you have right now more meaningful and more satisfying”. In Wrzesniewski’s research, she compared people who are doing exactly the same job in the same organization and came to a realization that some participants see what their work as just a job or a career, whereas some sees the exact same work as something more akin to a calling. (As it will be too long to list the details, please go ahead and listen to the podcast to have a better understanding.) She has also learned that “people who see their work as a calling are significantly more satisfied with their jobs. They're significantly more satisfied with their lives. They work more hours. They miss fewer days of work. They're more engaged in what it is that they're doing.” 

So all the years we thought passion is what makes us happy in a job turns out to not be the most true. To have a more satisfied life, it is to believe in your work, believe that it will make an impact on someone else. And we probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to discover that if we are so blinded with the idea of looking for THE ONE.

Rupi Kaur es una escritora y artista residente en Toronto, Canadá. Siendo inmigrante de la India, el lenguaje para comunicarse con los otros niños era un problema, por lo que pasaba muchas horas sola. Pero una vez que descubrió los libros, estos se convirtieron en sus mejores amigos. Desde los 5 años hasta los 17, su pasión fue dibujar. Después comenzó a inclinarse por las letras y vinieron años de hojas y hojas de poesía, hasta que, en el 2014, publicó su libro titulado ‘Milk and Honey’ el cual se ha convertido en el Best-Seller del New York Times. 

Su pasión es la expresión, por lo que la poesía no es sólo su medio para hablar, también usa la fotografía, la ilustración, el diseño y la dirección creativa de videos. Los temas recurrentes son la feminidad, el amor, la soledad, las pérdidas, los traumas y la sanación. A veces, son relatos personales y otros, son experiencias adquiridas a través de viajes en su vida.  

En la brevedad de sus poemas, los mensajes son precisos y fuertes, la percepción de su franqueza crea una emoción suave al conectarse con su mensaje. Acá abajo, te dejamos una pequeña selección de los poemas de su libro ‘Milk and Honey’