A tiny residue of human effort is lasting in business, art, music. What makes the difference is deep interest, fascination, love, energy and creativity. Love and focus lead to a dedication to nuances and subtleties —  the hallmark of truly worthwhile work, work of unusual beauty. Work becomes sacred through love.

Love enables you to persist with a creative work. Pour love into a work, and it eventually gives energy back. That’s faith in action.

You get back at least as much love as you give. But you’ve got to give first. You sacrifice before you connect with the sacred. Part of what is sacred is your self, your life. That is Joseph Campbell’s(*) first step —  the step toward the gods, the step out of and over your boundaries before you know you will be supported. The sacrifice at the beginning of a sacred journey is a surrender. You give up the thing or things that while important to you are less important than a really full life. You give up what stands between you and who you know you could be. You confront very real fears, and continue.

There is a price for an open heart, just as there is for a closed heart.

. . .

Do you pour your love into your current work? If not, given the chance, what work would you pour your love into?

* A Joseph Campbell Companion, Reflections on the Art Of Living