POSITIVITY
  • Workshops
    • 3 Pillars of Positivity >
      • Mindset
      • Purpose
      • Relationships
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Shop
  • Connect
Magic Words

PASSION

6/13/2022

0 Comments

 
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey
​Read the full story ⬇︎
When it was too tough to break by hand, he would burn firewood over the rock and then pour water over the hot surface. The thermal stress would crack the rock into manageable pieces that could then be carried away from the mountain. 

But most of the time, he just used a hammer and chisel.

Dashrath would wake up early in the morning to spend a few hours chipping away at the mountain before heading to work in the fields. After plowing the fields all day, he would then return to the mountain to chip away some more until sunset.

His neighbors in Gehlaur, a small village in northern India, thought he had gone mad—which was partially true.

Dashrath was mad.

Angry.

Furious.

In 1959 his wife, Phaguni, was seriously injured and needed medical care, but the nearest hospital was in Wazirganj, more than 56 miles away on the other side of the mountain—a journey they would have to take on foot. But before Phaguni could get the help she needed, she passed away in her loving husband’s arms.
​
That day, Dashrath resolved to ensure no one had to ever again endure his wife’s fate. “If it took all my life,” he said, “I would carve us a road through the mountain.”

The Origin of Passion Also Gave Us Patience
​“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones,” says Confucius. For most people, this is just a metaphor, but for Dashrath Manjhi, it was instruction.

“When I started hammering the hill, people called me a lunatic,” he said, then added, “But that steeled my resolve.”

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once said: “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion,” and when we look at the origin of this word passion—derived from words meaning “to suffer, bear, and endure,”—we can appreciate the implication of this statement, for the origin of passion also gave us the word patience—an apt description of a man who hoped to move a mountain.

It’s been said that Hope has two beautiful daughters: Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to step up and make a difference.

Yes, Dashrath was mad.

Angry.

Furious.

But he also had the courage to do what no one else was willing to do: step up and make a difference. Dashrath entered willingly into his passion—patiently carrying small stones away from the mountain, every day, for weeks, months, years, and decades. 

Follow Your Blisters
Though Joseph Campbell’s popular adage is “Follow Your Bliss,” even he recognized that anything worthwhile takes work, prompting him to remark years later: “Maybe I should have said ‘Follow Your Blisters.’”

Dashrath’s story is a reminder that following your bliss isn’t an easy path, for it welcomes great trials, enduring suffering, and the ultimate death of who you were before the fires of passion consumed you. As Brianna Wiest reminds us: “Your new life is going to cost you your old one,” but this letting go is not in vain, for “all you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are.” After all, a caterpillar isn’t meant to die a caterpillar.
​
“To become something else, you have to stop being what you are now; to start doing things a new way, you have to end the way you are doing them now; and to develop a new attitude or outlook, you have to let go of the old one you have now. The first task is to let go.”

Change can be painful, yet few things are as painful as staying stuck where we don’t belong, and it is the passion for what you stand to gain that empowers you to let go. As Dashrath once said, “I started this work out of love for my wife, but continued it for my people. If I did not, no one would.”

His passion was the very thing he couldn’t not do—for what started as an expression of love for his wife had transformed into a gift to the people of his community so others would not have to suffer the same fate.
​
When Dashrath followed his bliss, he entered willingly into his passion—patiently carrying stones away from the mountain and collecting blisters along the way.

Final Thoughts
In 1982, after 22 years of patiently chipping away at the mountain, Dashrath finally broke through to the other side, creating a 360-foot long road that served as a shortcut to Wazirganj—now only 3 miles away.

To move a mountain, you begin by carrying away small stones—and for Dashrath, all he needed was a hammer and chisel and the burning fire of passion.

Reflection
What’s your passion? How are you following your blisters?

Want More?
Experience abiding joy by mindfully transitioning through change. Questions or comments? Email us at [email protected] to discuss your challenges, goals, and obstacles.

#positivity #fascination #joy

References
  • Be Amazed. (2021, December 2). He spent 22 years digging through a mountain with a hammer and chisel [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/UUkIBdJ4r2w
  • Gethin, W. (2018, March & April). “Follow your bliss or follow your blisters?” Resurgence Magazine. https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article5073-follow-your-bliss-or-follow-your-blisters.html
  • Mascarenhas, J.A. ( 2018, October 9). “The man who moved a mountain.” The Better India. https://www.thebetterindia.com/18326/the-man-who-moved-a-mountain-milaap-dashrath-manjhi/
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    JONAS CAIN, M.Ed.

    Facilitator

    Jonas Cain, M.Ed. is a storyteller, magician, musician, and facilitator of fascination, helping people experience abiding joy through fascination, curiosity, and wonder.
    ​
    ​
    Connect with Jonas to discover more.

    Picture

    Magic Words

    All
    Acceptance
    Action
    Adapt
    Adventure
    Affirmation
    Ally
    April Fools
    Atonement
    Attention
    Authenticity
    Balance
    Banner
    Beautiful
    Behavior
    Belief
    Birthday
    Boat
    Books
    Boundaries
    Breathe
    Care
    Celebration
    Challenge
    Change
    Character
    Cheese
    Choice
    Clarity
    Climb
    Commitment
    Communication
    Compassion
    Compliant
    Confidence
    Connection
    Courage
    Creativity
    Discernment
    Discovery
    Disruption
    Dominant
    Doubt
    Dream
    Education
    Empower
    Encourage
    Engage
    Enjoy
    Enjoyment
    Enthusiasm
    Excel
    Excellence
    Explore
    Facilitate
    Fascination
    Fear
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Friendship
    Gap
    Generosity
    Gentle
    Grand
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Happiness
    Health
    Hermit
    Honor
    Hope
    Humility
    Humor
    Independence
    Influence
    Influencing
    Initiative
    Inspiration
    Integrity
    Interest
    Invention
    Invest
    Journey
    Joy
    Kindness
    Lane
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Listen
    Live
    Love
    Magic
    Mentor
    Mindfulness
    Mindset
    Momentum
    Motion
    Motivation
    Necessity
    Opportunity
    Passion
    Pathway
    Patience
    Perseverance
    Persistence
    Perspective
    Play
    Positivity
    Possibility
    Preparation
    Presence
    Prize
    Process
    Purpose
    Quantify
    Recognition
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Relax
    Remembrance
    Repentance
    Resilience
    Resolution
    Resources
    Respect
    Responsibility
    Reward
    Sacrifice
    Sail
    Smile
    Stasis
    Steady
    Storm
    Summit
    Support
    Surprise
    Talent
    Teamwork
    Thanksgiving
    Ticket
    Time
    Today
    Tools
    Transformation
    Trust
    Understand
    Value
    Vision
    Wind
    Wonder

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

Picture

​JONAS CAIN, M.Ed. | ​Facilitator of Fascination
​[email protected]

#POSITIVITY

WORKSHOPS | RESOURCES |  SHOP  | CONNECT

© 2025
  • Workshops
    • 3 Pillars of Positivity >
      • Mindset
      • Purpose
      • Relationships
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Shop
  • Connect