For February and March, we have three separate themes. The inspiration for the themes is taken from ‘The Velvet Rage’ – Overcoming the pain of growing up gay in a straight man’s world’ by Alan Downs. In one of the final chapters, ‘The Road to Contentment’, Alan says ‘contentment in life rests firmly in the pursuit of Passion, Love and Integrity’.
Passion is described as ‘the repeated experience of joy in doing something’. It is present when we observe that the same activity consistently brings us joy.
‘Love, like passion, is felt only after noticing the ongoing experience of joy. Love is about noticing joy in the presence of another person. When the experience of another person regularly stimulates joy within us, we begin to feel we love that person’.
Integrity means to ‘integrate all parts of oneself, or more formally, the state of being undivided. For the gay man, it means the absence of hiding parts of ourselves, no longer splitting and allowing all parts of ourselves to be known.
So this month and the next, let us share stories on ‘passion, love and integrity. You can send in stories on either of the themes, or all of them.
What story within you about where you have experienced (or not demonstrated) ‘passion, love or integrity’ is crying to be shared? All stories are welcome. To share it, send your email to outtales@yahoo.com.
OutTales around the Fire 