Moving to WordPress

I will be moving the "Follow Your Passion" blog over to WordPress...looking forward to sharing with you there!!!

Stay tuned

Cynthia Cosco

Follow Your Passion Slowly

Since my Mediterranean cruise I have been thinking about my hurried life. Yes...I say hurried. I feel as if I am in a hurry all the time. Gotta get things done - hmmm...does that sound like a song? When I was in Italy, I realized I was starting to de-stress. The things I was worried about or thought needed to get done "right now" didn't seem so important. My passions are still my passions and I should take the time to enjoy them.

What's the big hurry anyway...? This blog post is all about enjoying the journey. I remember when I began my journey.  The excitement was so intense as I took each step to follow my passion for wine making...unbelievable! I took in every moment possible. I soaked up everyone's advice. I thought through all I needed to accomplish.  Now I feel like I am in a hurry much of the time - not sure where I think I am going but I am in a hurry to get there - LOL  Call it having more to do or chalk it up to now I am the mentor for others. My time in the Mediterranean has given me the opportunity to re-set.

Greece

My advice to those who feel like you are in a hurry...slow it down and take your time...Think it through. What's the hurry? Life is so much more fun and satisfying if you savor it...you can still follow your passions and have a full time job with real life responsibilities...it's the focus inside your heart that let's you take the time. You just may not get to where you want to be right away and that's OK!! Take a deep breath and enjoy the scenery...

Take the time to enjoy the journey!!

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

The Time Has Come

The time has finally arrived for the Passaggio Wines Cruise...I will be leaving tomorrow for an exciting adventure to Italy...can't wait to tell you all about it!

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

Boston...Our Hearts are With You

12 Habits of Highly Passionate People

I started the "Follow Your Passion" Facebook group as an opportunity to help others in their quest of following their passions, those going through the evolutions of career change or those who have hit discouraging moments and are in need of uplifting encouragement and advice. This group is all about helping…we aren’t saying that everyone has to quit their jobs in order to follow their passions; we are simply saying “Follow Your Passion.: If you have read my previous post...you'll understand what that means. If you haven't joined the "Follow Your Passion" Facebook group and you would like to, just send a request to the page and I'll add you.

I asked the Facebook group,"What are the top essential habits of highly passionate people?" These are the answers we received...I love them all. I took the twelve answers and put what I believe to be their meaning. Take a look...

1) Patience - hone in on passion with patience. Be intentional in waiting for those moments when you can honestly say this is my passion. Do not let it be mistaken for a wild fling. Be ready by giving that passion time to develop. Without patience we would not make the right decisions. Important: Patience does not mean "putting it off until tomorrow." Realize when it’s time and get started!

2) Persistence- sometimes we don't realize how close we are to success! We must realize what motivates us and use it to our advantage. I love the old saying by Franklin Roosevelt - "When you have come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." There will be times when you feel as if you don’t have the strength to go on.  That's when it may be time to take a break. Tie that knot, hang on and rest for a minute. Then get back at it!!!

3) Dedication - staying the course. Being diligent to your cause. It requires commitment and perseverance. Just remember to stop and smell the roses once in awhile.

4) Optimism - this makes me think of the saying "Is the glass half full or half empty?" Having a positive attitude gives us greater joy on a day-to-day basis. Hanging out with positive people makes for a better optimistic view of what's going on around you.

5) Open-minded - being receptive to new ways or new ideas. Flexible. Willing to change.

6) Leave the naysayers behind - these people will always be around us. Finding those who will counter balance them is the key. The naysayers may be some of the most important people in your life so the best thing is to just let them be. Find people whom you can connect with and talk to about your dreams and aspirations. Find people who will encourage you along the way.

7) Stay focused on the goal - Life has a way of adding distractions along the way. We must first determine our goal and use our time wisely to achieve it.

8) Consistency - we all need structure, focus, and experience. Being consistent helps build your technique, your form and your skills. Sometimes we must consistently refocus our minds and keep on the task at hand. This allows us to keep from getting distracted. It's a lot easier to be consistent with the things we love...

9) Belief in oneself - never give up. Never forget you have it within you to succeed. Your self confidence stems from the belief of who you think you are, who you want to become, and what you believe in.

10) Be Amazing - you are amazing. You are an inspiration to others. Be authentic. An amazing person makes a difference in other people's lives.

11) Supportive friends - share your passion with like-minded, positive and supportive people. I like to call this my supportive community.

12) Wine - my belief in Great Wine is that it brings something magical to the table when you share it with Wonderful friends and Awesome food...

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

Follow Your Passion - You Just Don't Get It!

Why do other bloggers write about Following Your Passion as "crappy advice?" If you Google "Follow Your Passion" you will find a number of articles on why it's the wrong thing to do or why it's crappy advice. Maybe somebody is just missing the whole point! There are two articles I found provoking enough to cause me to put fingers to my keyboard: 

Article #1 - the minimalist  

In one of the questions in this article they talk about Steve Jobs and a speech Steve made at his Stanford Commencement address. He told students (paraphrasing) "You’ve got to find what you love, don’t settle."  The writer goes on to say that if you go back and read the social media and press that surrounded that event people took him to say "follow your passion" The writer also says if you read Steve's biography it is not what he did. His passion at the time was eastern mysticism and that he stumbled into Apple computer to try and make a quick buck. I did find more of Steve Jobs quote during this speech which was not in this article. He also said "the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking."

Article #2 - dilbert.com the scott adams blog 

This writer of this article clearly does not get what following your passion is all about. He says "...Passion sounds more accessible. If you're dumb, there is not much you can do about it, but passion is something we think anyone can generate in the right circumstances. Passion feels very democratic. It is the people's talent, available to all. It's also mostly bullshit. Consider two entrepreneurs. Everything else being equal, one is passionate and possesses average talent, while the other is exceedingly brilliant, full of energy, and highly determined to succeed. Which one do you bet on?" This writer gives us an example of when he was a loan officer. His boss taught him that it was not good practice to loan money to someone who was following their passion. The example he gave was "you don't give money to a sports enthusiast who wants to open a sports store to pursue his passion for all things sporty. That guy is a bad bet, passion and all. He's in business for the wrong reason."

My confusion and concern with these two articles has to do with the loose use of the word “success” and the writers’ interpretation of success = passion.  It begs the following questions:  How do we define success in our lives?  How do we define passion? Do success and passion go together? 

Success - I believe success is a personal achievement. It's something that we make ourselves. It is about the lives we touch every day in our own communities. It is about respect. It is about love. It is not about money, how much of it you made, what wealth you achieved…it is a personal journey that means something different for each one of us.

Passion - I believe passion is inside each of us. It's an intense emotion that keeps us moving forward. Our passions are what drive us to reach deep within ourselves to move in a direction that makes us happy and feel fulfilled. Whether the passion is something we do as a hobby or something we do as a career...it drives us. Whether the passion is something we use to help others or we use to further ourselves...it drives us. 

How does the parent who has a passion to stay home and raise the kids define him or herself…a “success” or a “failure”?  Can others put a monetary value on his/her choice? Can that parent pursue other passions and still be a stay at home parent? Of course they can! Can you be successful in your career like Steve Jobs and still pursue other passions? Of course you can. 

Sometimes, like Steve Jobs, what we call successful careers are handed to us while we are pursuing other passions. Does that mean all of a sudden we are not following our passion? Do we consider "following our passion" a scale for career? I hope not. We can be "successful" in our careers, enjoy our jobs, and make a good living. Our passions do not have to dictate or define what we do for a living or where we work. We cultivate the passion in our lives each and every day. Life is about the never ending pursuit of happiness. We learn and grow. I believe Steve Jobs was right in his quote " ...if you haven't found it yet, keep looking." 

The person who walks into a bank to ask for a loan because he or she wants to start a business based on "following their passion" should be given the same opportunity as that person who walks into the bank to get a car loan. The main reason the bank issues any person a loan is because the person has the means to pay it back. It’s the well-thought out and the well-written business plan that reassures the bank when assessing the level of risk. Passion is what will drive that person to make it work.  Just because a person is following their passion does not mean they are automatically at risk of financial failure in their business venture. That gross generalization is demeaning for all of us who are out here doing what we love and finding our definitions of success in following our passion.

We must not put passion and success in a nice square box with a bow on top. We all define them differently. We all reach our life's goals differently. We all touch others lives differently. We all succeed differently.

Our lives change and so do we...

Cynthia Cosco

Five Ways to Show The Power of Passion

There are many articles on the web about following your passion. Follow Your Passion, Don't Follow Your Passion, Why Follow Your Passion is Bad Advice, Are you Living Your Passion, The Career Tip to Following Your Passion, etc, etc...

I believe in the power of following your passion. We all have different ideas of what that actually means. Some believe that you cannot follow your passion and make a living. But is that what it's really all about? If you are pursuing your passion just to chase the almighty dollar - you may not succeed. I truly believe there is more to it than that.

I was invited to pour my wines at a TasteTV event on Saturday 9th, 2013. What an exciting time watching the attendees walking around, tasting wines they had never heard of, and meeting people they had never met. I was able to share with other people who have various passions. I heard some awesome "follow your passion" stories, and I was able to share my story as well. I saw the strength in passion.

If you are having difficulty in believing in the power of passion, and you feel it is not working for you, consider these Five Ways to Show The Power of Passion:


1) Share your successes or failures - it brings about a sense of community
2) Show others that you really care - listen to them with not only your ears but your eyes and your heart
3) Use your passion to give back - help those around you who may need inspiration or encouragement
4) Spread good news - it's contagious
5) Connect with others - bridge gaps and distances between people

Passion is a driving force. Following your passion is not about the money. It's about finding life's path that is caring, sharing, connecting, loving, and fulfilling. It's inside each of us.

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

Napa Art and Wine

Passion - how do you define it? Each of us has a definition for it. My good friend, Linda Cordair, owns an art gallery in downtown Napa. It's a beautiful gallery. Quent Fine Art is located at 1301 First Street, Napa, CA. 

Linda's passion - art. She breathes, eats, and drinks art. She also loves helping others follow their passion. Linda sent me a text today that said "Check out" the Quent Cordair Facebook page. I did and to my amazement she had a photo of a beautiful piece of art with two bottles of my wine.

The Facebook status read:

Purchase "The Return of Joy" by Tamara Bonet this month and we will include some of our favorite Passaggio Wines as a thank you. 

See a larger image of this amazing sculpture and additional details at the Quent Fine Art Website.

If you haven't been to the Quent Fine Art Gallery, take the opportunity to visit. You won't be disappointed. When you walk in Linda may just hand you a glass of wine and let you enjoy meandering through her beautiful pieces of art. 

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

A Few Good Men (and Women)

Those who have gone before us and made history...those who have made a difference in our country...those who have made sacrifices...these are the people who have followed a passion they could not ignore. They had a deep understanding of what it really meant to "Follow Your Passion"




There are thousands of men and women who have impacted our lives in one way or other. It's almost impossible to name them all. Here are a few good men and women of the past who have touched our lives.

Just think how different our world would be today had it not been for:

1) Jesus
2) Mother Teresa
3) Abraham Lincoln
4) Rosa Parks
5) Martin Luther King
6) Benjamin Franklin
7) Thomas Edison
8) Albert Einstein
9) Leonardo Da Vinci
10) Christopher Columbus
11) Neil Armstrong
12) John F Kennedy
13) George Washington
14) Alexander Graham Bell
15) Louis Pasteur



What's your passion?

Cynthia Cosco

Girls Gone Wine

When Girls Gone Wine, a wonderful group of women just following their passion, said they were coming to visit +Passaggio Wines in San Francisco I was so excited and pleased that they would choose me among all the great wineries they have visited. When I mean visit the winery, I mean storm the winery. This group of ladies, made up of various wine industry talent, is such a vibrant and fun group. They showed up at +Dogpatch WineWorks around 12 o'clock ready to taste my wine and spend some great time together.

Wonderful friends, great food, awesome wines....made for a wonderful day!!!

Girls Gone Wine

+Thea Dwelle, +Jerae Knutson, +Leilani Carrara, +Rachel Voorhees, +Grace Hoffman +Liza S, +Sarah Doyle, +Elizabeth Olson, just to name a few, were among the 13 ladies who graced the winery this past Saturday.

It was my pleasure pouring Passaggio Wines for them and showing them around the winery. Afterwards we all went to The Chocolate Lab for lunch...oh my!!! Check out a couple of these dishes...

What a memorable day!!!!


Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

Rose Colored Glasses

Looking at the World Through Rose Colored Glasses...

1951 Nick Lucas

2011 Passaggio Wines

Have Fun

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco

Make It Your Best Year Ever

I wish you the best year ever....

Follow Your Passion

Cynthia Cosco