One of my favorite sayings from one of my favorite poet and philosophers, Dr. Seuss, is: “You have brains in your head…and feet on your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”
This of course affirms our co-creative ability which we’ve been talking a lot about recently. But the question you might find yourself asking is…where is that? What direction am I choosing to go in? And will I be happy when I get there? Will it be all I hope it will be?
Some people have a really clear idea about where they are going and are firmly on the path. They know beyond a shadow of a doubt that to which their lives are committed. Others don’t have a clue. Some keep switching paths. Still others are just going along for the ride, wherever it takes them. Many of us have been in each of these places in our lives.
But the only way we’ll know what direction we are moving in…and if we want to continue in that direction or begin a whole new path…is to get really familiar with who we are now…what drives us…what really makes us happy. To do that we must first connect with our inner wisdom. That’s what we started doing last week with discovering our own worldview…and really what this whole series is about. Getting to know who we really are and what we truly want. And allow that to emerge.
Now, not a lot of people can tell you what they really want and what direction they are headed. However most can very easily tell you what they don’t want! Most folks can share in detail about they don’t want this illness in their body, or their how others are mistreating them, or the lack of money to do what they want to do, or their frustrations with an unfulfilling job, or the negative people in their life. And this is all accompanied by lots of emotion.
But that’s allowing ourselves to be “pushed by the pain.” Which, sometimes can serve us…if we really know we’re done with that experience. There’s value in stating, “This really sucks, and I am so done with it!” But most the time, dwelling on what’s going wrong in our life actually serves to keep us stuck in it.
Instead we want to learn to be pulled by a vision. A vision of a life where we are fulfilled….where we are expressing our full potential.
Abraham Maslow talked about the fulfillment of one’s life purpose as a “need” not just a desire. “Self-actualization” as he called it, is living a life where we are expressing our full potential.
And what shape that takes is unique to each one of us. That’s what makes life so interesting. We all have unique gifts and talents, which when those things are in service to a higher vision…God’s vision for our life…not only makes us happier than we could ever imagine, but also we become a beautiful and essential piece in the cosmic puzzle that fits together with others…in ways we can’t even know…for, I believe, the ultimate purpose of healing the world.
Myrtle Fillmore talked about this in one of her healing letters:
“God has much to be done, and He will reveal the plan to those who seek it, and will open the way of progress and success to those who are willing to give up preconceived opinions and to grasp the Truth as the Holy Spirit reveals it….work is for the purpose of expressing God-given faculties and powers and loving service in the way that is truly beneficial.”
Jesus said it quite strongly according to the Gospel of Thomas, “If you do not bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you.”
I’m sure we’ve all seen how bitter some people are at the end of their life when they have spent their whole life living someone else’s vision. When maybe they’ve worked in a profession, not because they loved it, but because that’s what their father did, or what their parents or spouses drove them to do. All the while they were ignoring what made their heart sing.
Living our purpose doesn’t necessarily have to do with our career (it’s nice when it does.) I know some here are post-career, but none of you are post vision. The important thing is find what that unique vision is within us that wants to emerge…and bring it forth. We’re never too old for that!
Discovering what it is within us that is our unique expression and bringing it forth into the world is vital to us and to the world…and it is 2nd skill in Spiritual Intelligence: Awareness of our Life’s Purpose.
All the leaders we’ve been talking about these last couple of week…Gandhi, Mother Teresa, MLK, Mandela, Jesus…these leaders we all admire could easily tell you what their life’s mission was. Everyone else knew it too. They made choices and moved into action from that awareness. And ultimately they were steadfast in that mission even when faced with great challenges.
Now our mission may not be as grand as Ganhi’s but it is no less important. We all have an essential role to play! When we discover it…and begin to live it….we will be living in alignment with Spirit. We will blossom and life will open up to us. We’ll find our genius. And there’ll be nothing than can stop us! And our lives will have blessed the world!
Laurie Beth Jones says in her book, The Path: “A personal mission statement acts as both a harness and a sword – harnessing you to what is true about your life, and cutting away all that is false.” I would add to that, harnessing the power of your Higher Self…and cutting away all the things that waste our time or prevent us from expressing our magnificence.
She also said: “It is highly probable that you are already living your mission at some level. The goal is to increase that awareness, so that you can live your mission to its fullest extent, rather than halfway.”
So let’s explore how we can open to discovering what our life’s purpose or mission is, and…what we can do to help bring it about…to live it!
And the good news for those of you who believe in planetary alignment and that kind of thing, we are supposed to be in a time this month, around the lunar eclipse (which happened on Wednesday) where celestial bodies are aligning in such a way that portals are opening up allowing frequencies that connect us with a deeper expression of our truth, and our purpose.
So we are being supported by the heavens right now for our true purpose to emerge. Following are some guides that may be helpful to you in discovering…and living…your life’s purpose.
- Identify: What are my gifts, talents and abilities. This is only a clue for some. Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t know what her talents and skills were until she followed her heart into service.
- Pay attention to what makes you feel “in the flow”. What gives you a feeling of aliveness?
- Listen to the still, small voice. You’ve got to get quiet enough to hear it. Either through meditation or maybe walking the labyrinth or other sacred spaces. Open and listen. Then, when you feel connected to that presence of peace and wisdom within, ask this question: “What is it that is seeking to emerge through me and into the world?” Or, “What is God’s vision for my life?” Open and listen. Keep listening. You might want to pose this to your inner self: “At the very end of my life, I want to look back on my life and feel good about (fill in the blank.)
- When you receive something, write it down in your journal. It very often becomes clearer as we write.
- When your mission, or purpose begins to get clear enough…Formulate a mission statement (refer them to The Path). Keep it simple and memorable. Memorize it. Tell others about it. For example, mine is “To awaken in this lifetime and to help others awaken to their Spiritual Truth.” It’s broad enough to include many different ways I can do that, but it’s the basic principle that fuels me.
- Finally, keep referring back to your mission before you make any big, or even any little, decision. Let all your actions in life be informed by your mission. The real test comes, of course, when faced with challenges. Let your answers come from your life’s purpose.