Obsession vs Passion
Our focus this week — June 25-July 1: “Passion”
Today’s MotD: Obsession vs Passion: I understand what these two words mean and have a general idea of their differences. To help me with the wording, I ask AI to come up with a simple breakdown of the two. Here’s how it responded:
Obsession
- Consumes you – It feels draining, compulsive, and out of control.
- Fear-based – Often rooted in anxiety, lack, or the need to control outcomes.
- Isolating – Pulls you away from balance, relationships, and self-care.
- Rigid – Leaves little room for flexibility or joy; failure feels catastrophic.
Passion
- Inspires you – It feels energizing, joyful, and aligned with purpose.
- Love-based – Comes from curiosity, creativity, and a sense of abundance.
- Connecting – Enhances your life and relationships; you feel present.
- Fluid – Allows for growth, mistakes, and adaptation without self-judgment.
For me, being creative, playing with my art supplies, and in particular anything mandala related…that’s passion. I get excited when a new idea for a mandala comes to mind. I look forward to all aspects of it. I feel inspired by them.
Obsession, aside from being a men’s cologne fragrance back-in-the-day, for me was when I was in my 20s and I couldn’t get enough of watching football…especially the Dallas Cowboys (I grew up in the era of Roger Staubach…if you know, you know). I was so obsessed that I had to stop everything to watch their games…often times, I would watch the game alone in my room. Not just sit quietly and watch, but I would yell at the tv, agonizing over the bad plays and physically jumping up cheering on the great ones. And after the game, I’d be so depressed if they lost and up on cloud nine when they won. Looking back, it was some crazy-making behavior.
Then one day, while watching a game, alone, trying to will my team to win the game, it dawned on me from a deep place inside of me, that the game will turn out the way it’s going to turn out whether I watch the game or not. (although I understand quantum physics would probably tell me differently)
Once I had that awareness, though, I felt the shackles of my obsessive behavior fall off my body. And over time, I almost completely let go of my interest in football. Unless I went to a game, watching it on TV feels like a waste of time (to me). Nowadays I only pay attention to (not necessarily watch) two teams: Oregon State University Beavers and Seattle Seahawks. Oh, and I’ll watch the super bowl…mainly for the commercials. What was once an obsession is now something of interest on occasion. Do I feel like I’m missing out ? Not in the least.
How about you ? Are you able to discern for yourself what’s an obsession vs what’s a passion ? How can you tell when something is an obsession for you ? How can you tell when it’s a passion for you ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 