4 
4 Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.
—Jennifer Lee
I’ve always loved music, especially R & B. My father loved Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, and R. Kelly to name a few, so I grew up on soul music. Every other Sunday afternoon or so we would do a big family cleanup and he would let all the old-school jams play down. My mother loved performers, especially Prince and Michael Jackson.
Music affects me the same way! It’s been my true love ever since I can remember, and even now, when I’m unable to make music or work on my music, it is always on my mind some way, somehow. 
I didn’t know the weight of it when I was younger, but music was definitely my first taste of what passion felt like.
Both music and acting are highly creative forms of self-expression. They make me feel alive and, in fact, I’ve built my life around them. I have learned that to have passion like that is a gift. It provides the fuel that drives me to find something greater for myself; my purpose in this lifetime.
When we have passion, we are listening to our hearts. We have discovered the fire inside that is powerful and drives us to create the best lives possible for ourselves!! Our passions give our lives direction, meaning, and joy. They connect us to others and they motivate us to pursue our dreams.
You probably know this by now, but sometimes we forget that our passions are far more important than our possessions—especially material things like money, cars, or diamonds. I think this is because the media pushes us to believe happiness is based off products simply because they want you to BUY, lol. It’s not personal, just business for them, but the gag is that you truly find your purpose by doing what makes you happy. What makes you happy is like a compass needle that directs you where to go in LIFE.
Passion helps to create who we are and defines who we are not. Our passions guide us throughout our lives. They are a constant source of inspiration. What could be greater than to live passionately, expressing our gifts each and every day, doing what we were born to do and sharing it with the world? I mean, if you’re not doing that in any capacity, then what are you doing? 
I am not judging, just asking, because if your life doesn’t involve passion, how can it be meaningful? How can it be enough for you?
Following your passion is an intuitive process. It is about listening and responding to what is in your soul, not just planning out everything in your head. 
Expressing our passions is how we show gratitude for being on this earth. It’s how we become beacons of light to one another while we are here trying to figure it out. By sharing your gifts with the world and expressing your uniqueness, you are saying “THANK YOU FOR MY LIFE!!”
IDENTIFYING YOUR PASSION 
So we ask ourselves, what are our passions and how can we build our lives around them? When we wanna find out what truly moves us, we must ask ourselves the best questions to pick our own brains. Sounds pretty simple, I know! But sometimes it is so hard to get a grasp on it. Yet that is so essential. 
I’m not talking about what you “should want” or “shouldn’t want” based on expectations other people have for you. I’m talking about what makes you come alive! Your passion isn’t a duty, it’s what lights the fire in your soul!! It’s all about honestly tapping into whatever excites you. Maybe that’s writing poetry, painting, or acting. Whatever stirs your soul is a passion that can help you find your purpose in life.
You know the feeling I’m talking about. It’s the thing, THOSE things, that bring you joy. Our passions are part of our DNA, and they often make their presence known early in life. Truuuuust me, G, I was a young drama queen long before I was a Scream Queen. 
The creative form of expressing it can change over a lifetime, but the passion is always there.
Think about what you were most drawn to doing as a child, an adolescent, a teenager, and now as an adult. What has been there consistently? What have you tended to nurture, consciously or unconsciously over the years? And what was it that others saw in you? What did your teachers and mentors encourage you to nurture?
What subjects were you best at in school? What talent did your friends and family members praise you for and encourage you to pursue? What comes naturally to you? Communicating? Talking to children? Writing sheet music? Photographic memory? Organizing?
No matter how obscure it seems, write it down, because I promise you, in life there is a perfect place for everything!
TRUE PASSIONS LAST A LIFETIME My family has always been creative. Making music and analyzing films and television shows was very normal for us. We loved it so much that we started to guess the directors and producers of different movies and TV shows that we loved before the credits ran! My favorite game was when we would be on a long car ride and one of us would say a quote from a movie and everyone else would have to guess what movie it was from. We played the same game with songs! These games came in handy, especially when we drove all the way from Illinois to California. Four days and three nights! 
Many of my best memories are of my sister and me watching my mother write and record songs. She also wrote and recorded some with us when I was around seven or eight years old. Since pursuing music was my mom’s dream she had all the latest recording equipment. 
We wrote this one song called “Summertime” that I can remember a little bit of, lol. It went like this:
I can’t control the emotion
Something stirred so deep inside
Ya know I find it hard to sleep at night
Toss and turn until daylight.
And when I see the sun
Just like magic I am sprung. 
How do I remember that after all these years? Because it sprang from the heart! It wasn’t about the sales or the popularity. It was about the love. We created it for no reason other than the joy of it and the love of doing it together.
I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by people who nurtured that spirit. My grandmother was the one who really got the credit for letting me become SO “creative.” She knew how much I loved to perform. She loved that “extra” part of me, but idk if she was laughing with me or at me or both, hahahahahahahahaha. My grandma was hella shady on the low. 
This led to her encouraging me to sing and dance whenever her friends or clients were visiting her home. She would declare the need for a talent show at some point while company was over, and then would shout, “NEXT ON THE PROGRAM IS MISS LAUREN KEE-YAH-NAH PALMER!” Then she’d say, “YES YES YES!” and clap her hands and stomp her feet and make music for me as I did my thing, which I had perfectly planned out of course! 
My grandmother loved music, but she wasn’t a quote-unquote singer. She could hold a tune, but she never claimed to have the best voice. According to all family accounts, our musical talent came from my grandpa George, who died when my mom was only ten years old, long before I was born. But regardless of her talent level, my grandma would sing. I remember her singing hymns and old church tunes all the time I was growing up. Even when we moved to California she would sing to us over the phone, “I’ve been missing you, I’ve been missing you,” and that would make us so sad. 
When my twin siblings were born, each had a theme song. My little brother’s was “You’re so fine, fine, fine.” My little sister’s was “Renny, is that your name? Renny, uh-huh uh-huh!” 
We were always coming up with reasons to use our creativity, lol, and my love of performing made me the proverbial life of the party and/or busybody. 
You have no idea how much I loved those days. Grandma Davis was something else! She was my biggest fan! 
The shows we put on really gave me a feeling of LOVE and support along with the freedom to feel like it was all right to be myself and to express that self through my gift = passion. Everyone around us encouraged us to be creative. Their support and enthusiasm inspired my sister and me to find what excited us and to go after it.
My sister discovered her brilliant imagination very early on with her dolls. She loved dolls up until she was, like, twelve (sorry, sis, hahahahaha) and while we were confused by it, we were also intrigued, lol. She created the most elaborate and entertaining stories with those dolls. Legend has it that one of her first was named Keke, hence my family nickname. 
I used to love to watch her play but ultimately I’d get mad because she wasn’t playing with me, #HOLLUP HAHAHA! I always wanted her attention.
I loved music and singing, but I was also into hairstyling and fashion. Not only was grandma a hairstylist, so were my aunt and a couple of cousins, but MY MOM didn’t get those genes, haha. 
Very early on I realized I was particular about my hair and I learned how to do it myself, trying new things constantly, lol. I cared very much about expressing myself and doing it with style.
The encouragement from those around me really helped me feel I could express my creativity in any way I wanted. In fact, I grew up feeling that I SHOULD always be creative because that is how connections are made. We connect to others by expressing who we are to the world. People connect to that openness and that sharing. I loved feeling connected to others, and it’s something that still drives me today. #OBSESSEDWITHTHAKIDZ. 
FULL ENGAGEMENT AND TOTAL FOCUS For me, early on, I wasn’t really thinking about all of this, because I didn’t even know what passion, creativity, and connection meant as a kid. I just knew it felt so right doing what I loved to do, whether it was singing, acting, or performing at backyard barbecues!
Can you remember one of the most basic of things that you have always enjoyed doing, even if you think it’s silly? Don’t be scurd, cuzzzzzz. 
My interests and desires have gone through many transitions since I was a kid. But to really understand what we want, we have to learn to listen to ourselves.
What has stayed with you? Have you always loved drawing and painting? Music? Do you have a strong fashion sense? A love of decorating? These are all passions that can inspire creativity in you. They are things you are naturally drawn to. You might also consider your responses to these questions:
• What engages you so completely that when you are doing it you lose track of time and place?
• What excites your mind, body, and soul?
• What makes you so focused that you shut out everything around you and people have to drag you away from it?
If you’re STILL having trouble deciding what your passion is (omg, you killing me, dude 
), take a deep breath and relax. Don’t kill yourself—learning about you should be fun—you’re interesting, right? 
Once you woosah, ask yourself: What could I do in life that would be so fulfilling and enjoyable that I’d do it for no money? What do I enjoy so much that I’d look into finding extra time for it? What would make me happy as is, without attaching it to a future goal or outcome? It can happen, FR FR! Sometimes people have passions that they can’t pursue as a career so they do them as hobbies or in their spare time. The trick is finding a way to build your passion into something you can do full-time, for a living (very, very possible!!!). That way you get to pursue your passion all the time, getting your spirit filled on the daily!!
BE PATIENT WITH YOUR PASSION Don’t be discouraged if that doesn’t happen right away. We all must be patient for that to develop. Sometimes you have to hone your skills before you can pursue your passion as a career. It’s almost like a universal test of your dedication.
You have to be patient and stay prepared for the opportunity to build your life around your passion. You may hit a few walls. You may lose (things that were really never yours anyway; else you would have them). You may get knocked down and have to review your expectations.
I’ve done all that. In some cases, the world hasn’t even opened to certain passions of mine. But I know for sure that timing is everything and if you keep working and growing and developing your talents, you will be ready when opportunities come. #PREAAAAAACH.