[Note from Rebecca: As we continue our tenth anniversary "flashbacks" to favorite articles from the first ten years of The SOGR NETwork and The Certain Way, our article today comes from 2003 and is based on a talk I gave in Olympia, Washington that year. Because it was a half-hour talk, the article is longer than usual, yet it was one of the most popular ever and I think you'll
find it enjoyable and really USEFUL, too. Let me know!]
Through this wondrous thing called the internet, I get to "talk"
with and work with people all over the planet, and whenever I ask
them what it is they truly desire to be, do, and have -- their
heart's deepest desires -- two things come up frequently:
* Most people say they want to be of service.
* An awful lot of them also say that beyond
some vague notion of that, they just really
don't know what they TRULY, deeply desire.
Well, way back in the 1800s, the American author and humorist
Mark Twain said, "I can show anyone how to get what they want. The
only trouble is I can't find anyone who can tell me what they
want."
I know what he means!
So it's a pretty safe bet that there are quite a few people
reading this right now who are in that camp. Maybe YOU, to a
greater or lesser extent. And if you don't know what it is you
REALLY desire to do, chances are you're not DOING it.
Consider this possibility, please: If you don't know -- can't
articulate clearly and specifically what it is you really want to
be, do, and have; what lights your fire; what it is you'd love to
spend your time doing if you could be doing absolutely ANYTHING --
then it's because you don't really know ...
... who you are.
And if you're not living with real JOY, if you're consistently
unhappy with any part of your life, it's because you are (perhaps
unconsciously) denying the full expression of your true, higher
self.
Because you don't KNOW your true self too well anymore. You've
lost touch, little by little.
Sounds a little grim, doesn't it?
But actually it's wonderful how this works, because when you DO
go within and begin to get reacquainted with your true self,
rediscover what you love to do and begin doing it -- really just
getting out of its way and releasing it -- then you will be
NATURALLY fulfilling your life's purpose, giving the unique gift
you came here to give, and being of service to the entire world.
Now while Mr. Wattles doesn't go into any detail about your
unique life purpose, he does cover the subject in various ways.
* He tells us that we don't have to waste our
time in jobs we don't like, and that, in
fact, we SHOULD not.
* He pounds away at the notion that each of us
has within us the necessary talent to do
whatever it is we would absolutely LOVE to do.
* He also notes that it doesn't take a lot of
energy or will power to keep your mind fixed
on something that really grabs you -- but
that it's VERY difficult to stay focused
positively on what you DON'T really want.
* And he gives a lot of ink to the Law of
Increase which shows us that every being is
either growing or dying, either moving onward
and upward, or falling back and stagnating.
A contemporary of Mr. Wattles, Charles Fillmore -- who wrote the
book, PROSPERITY, and co-founded the Unity movement -- called that
last one the Principle of Infinite Expansion, and he defined it as
"the principle of never-ceasing growth and development of God's
perfect idea that is firmly fixed in all Creation."
Now, whether you use the name "God" or any other to refer to the
Power that creates, regulates, sustains, and animates the universe
doesn't really matter. (Our friend Wally calls it God, the
Universe, the Formless, the Infinite, Supreme Intelligence, and
others.)
What IS important is that this perfect idea is in ALL creation.
Including you and me. God's perfect idea is already IN you, ready
to grow, develop and burst forth.
Your life purpose.
And the way that perfect idea makes itself known is through your
natural gifts and talents, through the things you LOVE to do. I'm
not talking about learned skills, but inborn gifts. (Although you
may get coaching or training to enhance those gifts.)
You know -- the things that you're naturally good at, the
activities that lift you up and carry you along so that it almost
seems effortless at times. The things you'd often rather do than
eat or sleep. The activities that bring you more than just
momentary pleasure -- they fill you with real joy and peace.
And that can be absolutely ANYTHING. It's different for everyone.
But so many of us lose touch with that joy as the years go by. We
"settle down," we fall into a routine, we grow up and give up our
dreams. Sometimes we get talked out of them or shamed out of them
or worse. Sometimes we just decide to be what people call sensible
or practical or responsible. Sometimes we don't even notice
they've slipped away.
We think we have to hold down a particular job even if we hate
it, even if it's killing us. We do it for the money ... the
so-called security ... the prestige ... to "keep up with the
Joneses" ... because we're afraid not to ... because that's "just
the way it is" ... because "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta
do" ... because we don't really think we can do any better ...
endless reasons.
And they all seem so, well, so REASONABLE.
I know a woman named Sue who is a social worker. She's been a
social worker for 12 years and she has hated every minute of it.
But she won't even consider doing anything else even though it's
making her sick -- quite literally. The stress causes her constant
pain and she's undergone several surgeries with long, excruciating
recoveries.
But Sue doesn't see the connection. She just sees that she's got
12 years already invested and, as she puts it, "only eight years
to go" til she gets her pension.
Now I don't know about you, my friend, but to me the word "only"
just doesn't go with "eight years!" Especially in a situation like
that, serving a self-imposed sentence of eight more years at hard,
soul-killing labor.
Sue's absolutely miserable -- and not just the 40 hours a week
she's at work, but all the time she's going to and from work, all
the time she's getting ready for work, all the time she's THINKING
about her work.
And the really sad thing is that by doing what she hates instead
of uncovering what she loves and doing that, she's not just
cheating herself, but cheating everyone involved -- and in fact,
cheating the whole world of her real gifts.
But she's got all her REASONS.
And she believes her reward -- financially and otherwise -- lies
on the other side of those long, stifling eight years.
What do YOU think?
Will Sue's life somehow be miraculously
transformed from misery to lasting joy after
eight more years of same old, same old?
Shakespeare wrote, "Go to your bosom. Knock there and ask your
heart what it doth know." And one of the oldest and most profound
pieces of advice we have from the ancients is the simple phrase,
"Know thyself."
My friend, if you're not joyful in the life you lead NOW, it may
be time to back up and start there: Know thyself. Otherwise, the
gift you came here to give -- to yourself and to all of us -- may
be lost in transit.
Once you go within and rediscover the unique inborn talents and
gifts that fill you with joy and satisfaction when you DO them,
the next step is to say yes to them. That's saying yes to your own
nature and to God's perfect idea within you. Those talents and
gifts are there for a PURPOSE!
And the way you say yes is to DO them, to take action.
There's a balance between doing the inner work -- the
contemplation, prayer, meditation, the listening for that still
small voice, or however you approach it -- and then moving into
action. The early 20th century evangelist Billy Sunday used to
urge his listeners to pray, and then he'd add, "And when you get
off your knees, hustle!"
Our Mr. Wattles insists that "you must not rely upon thought
alone, paying no attention to personal action. That is the rock
upon which many otherwise scientific thinkers meet shipwreck --
the failure to connect thought with personal action."
Taking action is how you GIVE your gift and live a life of true
service to yourself and others. And that doesn't mean that your
life's work has to be something that seems grand and noble. The
real key to being of service and living your purpose is simply to
do what you LOVE to do -- whatever it may be.
Painting, scientific research, cooking,
running a business, teaching, woodworking,
fishing, caring for children or those who are
ill or animals, making music, selling, keeping
an office running smoothly, growing or cooking
or serving food, dancing, programming, writing,
gardening, making things, moving things,
fixing things, -- any- and everything. You
name it!
The possibilities are as infinite as we are.
I want to show you more about how this works and to do that I
need to tell you another story about someone else, this time
someone you've probably heard of.
Buckminster Fuller was one of greatest inventors and thinkers of
the 20th century. Some thought him a genius, some a crackpot, and
some thought he was both (not an unusual way the world describes
people who follow their hearts).
But in his early years he was rather wild and directionless, a
party animal that marriage and family hadn't tamed.
One day he went off to a football game, leaving behind his wife
and six-year-old daughter, Alexandra, who was seriously ill. He
promised Alexandra he'd be back soon and would bring her a
souvenir from the game.
But, as usual, he didn't keep his promise. He didn't come home
for three days.
When he finally arrived, he found that she had taken a turn for
the worse. As he gently gathered her into his arms, Alexandra
smiled up at him and asked, "Daddy, did you bring my prize?" Then,
while his own heart ached with the pain of disappointing her, her
tiny heart stopped.
Fuller went off by himself and, deep in despair, decided to
commit suicide.
But something happened.
He had a realization, heard an inner voice that said, "You have
no right to take your life. It isn't yours to end. It has a
purpose, and so far you have not yet done what you came here to
do."
For Buckminster Fuller, this was the big tap
on the shoulder, the huge wake-up call he
needed. And he finally paid attention and set
about doing what was his to do.
He wanted to know the rules by which God had set up the universe.
Through his explorations, he came to believe that the plan was for
all people to live in abundance and that we all simply needed to
do what we each came here to do for that to become reality.
Over the course of his 88 very full years in search of those
rules, he came up with what he called Generalized Principles, some
of those rules he was seeking to understand. The one I want to
share with you now, as briefly as I can, is called PRECESSION.
Rather than attempting a scientific explanation, let me just give
you a couple of simple examples.
First, if you drop a pebble into a pond, what happens?
The stone sinks -- there's motion in one direction: Down. Then,
ripples spread out on the water's surface at right angles from
that direction. So the one original action causes the MAIN effect
and a SIDE effect.
Here's another example that shows why BOTH effects are so
important.
The honeybee has a job, or you could call it a mission: Gather
nectar to make honey. And the honeybee is more than merely good
(talented) at it. Gathering nectar is its very nature.
So every day the honeybee wakes up and does what comes naturally.
It goes into motion, takes action: Flower. Nectar. Hive. Repeat.
Honey is the MAIN effect of that motion or action in that
direction.
But something else is happening!
As the bee travels from flower to flower, he cross-pollinates the
blossoms.
So while the bee is going in one direction, going about his
business of making honey, another action is happening off at right
angles to that line of motion: cross-pollination.
Now gathering nectar is good, honey is good. We all enjoy it. And
that's the bee's job, or mission.
But without that side effect of cross-pollination none of us
would be here to enjoy the honey because cross-pollination is
essential to supporting life on this planet.
So here we have this little honeybee just going along, doing what
comes naturally, what it was put here to do, and all along ...
... its TRUE PURPOSE is happening as a SIDE EFFECT!
If the honeybee has a purpose, my friend, so do you.
If the bee fulfills its purpose by simply doing what comes
naturally ... well, you see where this is going, don't you?
Fulfilling YOUR life's purpose is a side
effect of pursuing a goal or vision that is
NATURAL to YOU. It may seem paradoxical but
you may never actually know what your true
PURPOSE is.
You just need, first, to know what you love
to do -- what's YOUR nature, your natural
gift -- and then, to DO IT.
Precession requires MOTION, or in our Science of Getting Rich
terms, ACTION. No motion, no side effect. Thought, contemplation,
all the forms of going within are necessary to uncover the vision
of what we desire to be, do, and have -- but so's the "hustle."
The INSPIRED action that springs with enthusiasm from the
contemplation of that "clear mental image."
Otherwise, the true purpose is never fulfilled.
The wonderful thing is that the ACTION -- inspired action -- is
where all the FUN is!
Bucky Fuller believed the primary goal for each of us should not
primarily be going after all those things we mentioned before --
money, approval, security, and so on -- but to do something we
love and feel passionate about. His idea was that each of us could
ADD VALUE and somehow improve the quality of life for the earth
and its creatures.
The real profit, as he saw it and as I believe Mr. Wattles tells
us, comes from being true to our higher selves. For Wally,
becoming REALLY rich "includes everything else" and the way to go
about it, he says, is to do what you love. Know what you love to
do and do it, and all the rest happens precessionally, as a side
effect.
Including prosperity. Including purpose.
Fuller also noticed that no plant or animal has to work for a
living. They just do what they're meant to do and the Universe
provides for them. (A fellow named Jesus noticed that, too, by the
way!) They just live and grow -- never-ceasing growth and
development, fulfilling God's perfect idea in them.
Now, of course, honeybees, plants, and animals don't get
sidetracked from their natural missions like we do. They don't
have the faculty of CHOICE (so they can't make "wrong" ones).
But we DO have a choice.
For us, the "never-ceasing cycle of growth and development"
requires first the "Know thyself" part and THEN the action part.
Then, it's a matter of step and repeat. If we choose to.
What are you doing right now, my friend? Whatever it is you are
giving your time to, realize that you are giving your LIFE to it.
If it brings you into touch with your joy, congratulations! How
wonderful! You are living your purpose!
If that's not your experience up 'til now, perhaps this gem of
advice from the new "Harry Potter" movie will shine some light:
"It's not just your talents that make you who
you are, Harry. It's your CHOICES."
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