Love what you do or do what you love.

Would you rather love what you're currently doing? Or would you rather do what you love doing? Is there a difference? Or just semantically different? Recently I was browsing through a book, "Success Built to Last"; just through the introduction and the first chapter. The book is a compilation of the stories of leaders who have made lasting changes in the live of others.

Two words kind of jumped off the page for me- meaning and passion. Three words actually, the third one being action. Most of the leaders who were interviewed for the book were people who believed that their life had meaning and there was a higher purpose to the existence. They sought and found answers to the very fundamental question, "Who am I?" and also the next relevant question. "What am I doing here?"

Two very basic questions and yet questions that I'm sure many people can't answer. Or perhaps questions that people would rather not even have to confront. Questions that I too until not too long ago was not able to specifically answer myself. But obviously these questions are the very crux of our existence here on Earth. If we believe that nothing happens by accident and that everything happens for a reason, then it logically follows that our being here on this planet is also for a reason.

Its up to us to find out what that reason is. Finding out what we're passionate about is part of our purpose. How do we know what we're passionate about? A simple question we could ask ourselves could be. "what is the one thing that in doing brings us great happiness and satisfaction, and when we're involved in this activity do we lose all sense of time?" As in does this activity consume us until we forget our surroundings and people around us?

A friend I met very recently put this idea of pursuing our passion in a slightly different light. We were having dinner at the very lovely Taj Krishna- one of my favorite hotels in Hyderabad. They have wonderful service, the staff are very warm. Anyway I asked my friend what his passion was and whether he was following his passion. His answered that we can bring love and passion into anything that we do, no matter how seemingly menial the task. Including housework, or being with a friend who needs our help. Or our jobs. Especially when it comes jobs that we're doing but not liking.

So what's the solution? Either find something that you love to do, or bring love into what you're doing. A perfect example was our chef who came out to chat with us, and then sent us two complimentary dishes. He definitely seemed to love what his work. and we were the lucky beneficiaries of his creativity!