Finding your Passion

“It is only when we act fearlessly can the unimaginable become obtainable. Find what you’re passionate about and share it with unconditional love.” These heady words are on Sam Pullenza’s webpage as part of a longer quote. The key three are finding your passion. In a world where passion is often figuratively beaten out of us when we are children, where we hear, “You can’t do that” or “That’s impossible” far too often, Sam Pullenza rediscovered his passion after a ten-year hiatus.

“I’d always been artistic as a child,” said Pullenza, “and I painted ten or so pieces in high school. We’re taught what is all of our lives, and sometimes that what is may not be what really is. Sam went on with his life, holding down jobs that brought in good money but required 60 hours a week at times. He had his two kids, Mason, 12, and Charly, 18, to support, and painting somehow got away from him.

Enter good friend Josh Shelton, whom Pullenza had collaborated with on two children’s books, and who introduced Sam to meditation. Here’s where the story really begins: One night while meditating in the tree-born foothills of Forest Ranch, Josh suddenly pulled Sam out of the meditative state. Together, they saw two bright orbs, about softball size, rising up off the ground about twenty yards away. The orbs began to slowly move through the trees, in and out and around, until they finally catapulted into the sky. Sam and Josh were astounded and touched by the unknown. That night Sam decided to return to creating art.

The experience reconnected Pullenza to significant icons in his life: Sacred Geometry, the Flower of Life, and the philosopher Plato’s Platonic Solids and the building blocks of life. “No significant change can occur until you decide to follow your passion,” said Pullenza. That night in Forest Ranch reignited a new passion.

He went back to painting with fervor, and he now creates abstracts as well as other types of paintings. For two or three years he gave away over half of his artwork. People would come by and fall in love with a piece, and he’d simply give it to them. “I enjoy providing beauty to people who can’t afford it,” Sam said. “But, eventually, I hid my work and focused on trying to make some money.”

And that is what he’s doing these days. He has shows running at Art Etc. through September 1; at Movement Arts of Chico; and at the Naked Lounge through July. You can find Sam at Lotus Flower Imports or when he helps put on the Chico Healing Arts Fair. One thing is certain, Sam Pullenza has found his passion.