Several years ago, I visited a new spiritual counselor. The first time we met, we talked about my life, my dreams – and the challenges and limitations that concerned me. We were about halfway through the session when I said, “Listen, I know this will sound crazy but I think I was sent to my job to change the energy.”
“You were,” he said. “Do you have any idea how powerful you really are?”
That simple statement, delivered with frankness and empathy by a man with authority to “know” such things, changed everything for me. If he thought that I could be the powerful being that I imagined I could be – maybe I could.
Maybe…
I was already working my powers.
I was.
And so are you.
A life that illuminates you
You have the right and the power to choose a life that illuminates you, and through you, lights the world
You are your own greatest treasure
Imagine that you came here with something specific to do—a gift to give to the world. What would it be? Are you giving it? If not, what’s stopping you?
What if I told you that you are supposed to live your dreams? What if I went so far as to say: God doesn’t want you to work at a job you hate or stay in a relationship that feels dead or live in a house that’s depressing and dark. (And by God I mean the loving and responsive Universe of which we are a part)
“But I don’t know what to do,”
Or, as people often ask me. “How do I know what I’m supposed to do?”
“You’re doing it,” I answer. That’s the crazy thing about mission, about purpose – we live our purpose every single day and it has nothing to do with what job we have, what we wear or whether or not we have figured out our ‘brand.’ You can’t help but live your purpose – even if you try not to.
What we want to do is make it easier. What we want to do is live that purpose on purpose.
Clues
1) Ask yourself: What do I love?
Look for the things you love doing, the kinds of people you love to be with, the stories – books, films, TV shoes – you’ve loved. What places have you loved? What kinds of clothes? What foods do you most enjoy? These are the clues to your happiness. And your happiness – your pleasure – your enJOYment is a clue that you’re on the right track to your purpose.
You see, God set it up so you could be happy. God wants you to be happy. Why? Because that’s how God experiences happiness – through you.
2) Ask yourself: How can I get more of that?
How can I do more of that, eat more of that, meet more people like that? What changes would I have to make in my life to attract, create, build, collect more of the things, people and experiences that I love?
3) Then, Choose toward love
Each time an opportunity arises to go somewhere, to buy something or to put something in your mouth, ask yourself: Does this choice bring me closer to or farther from the things, experiences and people that I love?
Make your choice TOWARD love.
In this way, one choice at a time, you begin to develop your life consciously – you begin to live on purpose, you begin to live your life as one gesture, toward the things, experiences and people that YOU love.
And that’s a wonderful way to live.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
This post is so …. complete. Amy, I feel such a sense of connection here right now. Your message is powerful – yet so beautifully and simply delivered. It’s like I’ve walked into a room where everyone’s sitting in a circle – and all heads turn as I enter, and everyone smiles warmly as space is made for me. I feel welcomed and safe and loved.
Thank you!!
Thanks, Sally – and Megan. I wrote this one so fast and so fully that I wasn’t sure it was going to come across. Thank you for “seeing” the message and letting me know. That’s such an important part of this growing we’re all doing – looking into the mirror of ‘the other’ and reflecting back what we see.
This is so beautiful! Choose towards love. I’m going to write that down and keep it at my desk. The simplicity is amazing. Thank you!
Amy, this is glorious and gorgeous. You are tapping into the heart of the sacred here, the sacred stories that reside deep within each one. Your words are releasing the power behind the stories, so long hidden in that safe place where we’d never look — that is, within. WE are powerful beyond measure, meant to illumine and be illumined, to be the treasures for ourselves and for others. Thank you for your words of wisdom.
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru
So wise and so right on, Amy. What a gift you give to people, with such clarity.
Ofcourse, ofcourse, ofcourse – >>>> one choice at a time, you begin to develop your life consciously<<<<
LOVELY! like the author herself!
THANK YOU!
Blushing a bit now… (but don’t stop!)
Beautifully written-gentle but straight-forward delivery. Love the new work/the new site/the consistent positivity! Thank you so much for sharing your gifts and your light.
And thank you, dear Julieanne/Shekinah, for stopping by!
I love nearly all of this, and only have the slightest quibble . . . really, only a slight one.
It seems to me as I look at the lives of people who have made a great spiritual impact that it might not be the case that they were “happy,” or that their lives were full of “happiness,” at least in the way most of us use the word happy most of the time. In fact, it seems to me that people who have made a great impact have often lived lives that were difficult, and that they might seldom have described themselves as “happy.” I think of Van Gogh; Mandela in prison; countless martyrs who have laid down their lives in defiance of dictators or injustice.
I DO think that if we choose toward Love, we will find a satisfying life– Love will draw us toward others, toward those places in All That Is that need our contribution. It will, one hopes, be satisfying and will cause us to feel happy– but perhaps it won’t. I think Mother Teresa’s recently released diaries show that even as she comforted tens of thousands and offered them all that love could offer, she herself felt distant from the Divine and empty of personal joy nearly all the time.
I think we hope that choosing toward Love will create Happiness within us– but I think that the example of those we could easily admire and wish to emulate shows us that whether or not it makes us happy, we are to always choose toward Love.
Blessings! Keep up the good work– your thoughts always provoke me to think, and wonder.
Allen
Allen – Oh, how accurately you quibble. When I brought this post through I was swept up with the idea of ‘happiness’ as that bliss that comes from blending our life energy with the light/love/life energy of the Divine.
But that doesn’t last long. As you point out, the spiritual path is NOT an easy breezy one. It certainly hasn’t been for me, nor for those you name in your beautiful comment. I am often caught, even (and perhaps, especially) when I am doing spiritual work) in doubt, and I often lose my way. It’s the memory of that bliss – of having felt it and known it, however briefly – that inspires me to keep walking.
This post is intended as a spark – a call to consider that everything we do has a bit of mission in it. And that every day of our ordinary lives we may find ourselves walking on the path of purpose.
Such a wonderful post. You are always uplifting and filled with things to ponder.
Thank you, thank you and keep on writing Amy! I think maybe we need you!!
I know I do,
Sue
And I, lovely, sweet Sue, need you! Thanks for all you do to support my work – and me.
Good energy in this post Amy.
I love this post and the one I just read about finding your pond. Although I am clear about what I came here to do, I sometimes feel lonely for a physical sense of place.
By any chance, are you going to participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge at http://www.ultimateblogchallenge.com? I’m going to and I plan to try to read as many participating blogs as I can. I would love to read this blog every day!!
Jeanine