Yesterday Petrona put a comment on my post about following passion that I had some trouble with. It’s from Amos Bronson Alcott,

“We climb to heaven most often on the ruins of our cherished plans, finding our failures were successes.“

I did some further research (ok, I actually just read the wikipedia page, but that counts, right?) and I can understand the comment a bit more in light of his life. He was a family man, like me, with many strong-willed and intelligent daughters (many of you may have heard of one in particular: Louisa May). However, his life was very idealistic and he struggled to bring his vision to life without much success. To quote him again:

“None of us were prepared to actualize practically the ideal life of which we dreamed. So we fell apart.” 

And to me, that’s the difference. Practically. I don’t sit here and think that your following your passion – or, to stay with the theme of the day, pursuing that which you love – is going to automatically make everything fall into place. I know there are those who do believe that (The Secret comes to mind) and I think they, like poor Amos, are writing themselves a prescription for failure.

At the same time, I also completely can understand that even when his dreams failed, Alcott found happiness with his family and probably, at the end of his life, took some satisfaction in daring greatly. It reminds me of another quote from a novel I’m guiltily enjoying, when the protagonist was asking the Goddess of the Roads for some advice:

“What I can tell you is what I tell anyone in your position. When you get lost, and you will get lost, keep going and don’t stop till you hit the end of the road. There will be something there, even if it’s not what you were looking for. And something is always better than nothing, isn’t it?”
Excerpt From: “Kill City Blues: A Sandman Slim Novel” by Richard Kadrey

Wherever you are on the road of love, I hope you keep going. It’s worth it.

Happy Fourth of July! How about celebrating with a bang by supporting Love Life Practice?