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The
deepest passion of every human being is
to love
life, to love God, and to love people.
Where did my
passion go?
We are all born with a passion to love God
and people and to live with enthusiasm. Loving imperfect people,
however, is always, eventually, painful.
The most common reaction is to close our
hearts and love people solely on our own terms. While this path
brings safety, it also suffocates passion. Most of us have
purchased emotionally safe lives, but paid for it with hearts
that are closed, musty, and waiting to come to life.
A far less common response to the pain of
relationship is to open our hearts and learn to love people
surrendered to God. This path is filled with legitimate
suffering to be sure, but is also the only sure path to a life
of purposeful passion. This path requires wisdom and skill.
How do I recover
healthy passion in my marriage?
There
is no better place to rediscover passion than in marriage. Most
of us marry people who initially create deeper pleasure than we
have ever experienced, only to leave us in deeper pain than we
can remember. The gold of a passionate life can only be mined
by skillfully moving into the pain and emptiness of marriage.
Most of us need some guidance and skill here.
Strategies to Recover Passion in Marriage
How do I cultivate
healthy passion in my children?
Children are born with a natural and
healthy passion for life. The challenge is to move children
from the pursuit of self-centered passion to the pursuit of
passion that flows from selflessly loving other people. How do
we do this? The first challenge is to teach children how to
work with their Sexuality, which I define as their core longing
to love and be loved that reveals the life of God.
Strategies to Help Children Cultivate Healthy Sexuality
A second strategy is to teach spiritual
disciplines to our children.
Spiritual Disciplines for
Families
How do I mentor my
teenager in living with healthy passion?
Teenagers are all about awakening to their
core passion for love. Teens flourish when parents transition
from dictators/managers to mentors. Teens can be mentored to
seek healthy passion through a 4 step process.
Strategies to Guide Teenagers into Healthy
Sexuality
Timothy F. Hogan,
Psy.D. PLLC
(Practicing in Southeast Michigan)
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