John Locke was observant when he said, “The thoughts that come often unsought, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have.” Why? Because those thoughts are the ones with the best information—the information that is meant just for us. We will be happier in our life if we can develop the skill of looking within. Unfortunately, we have not been taught how to live our lives in accordance with our own natures. We look outside of ourselves for answers to our questions, when we should be looking within. When you begin to live in awareness, you will find that you move along your path with ease and grace. By trusting yourself and that you are being led in the right direction, your life will become lighter and more joyful.
The key is to get in touch with your inner self and fully acknowledge the intuitive power that you have. If you know who you really are and what your life purpose is, the bumps and forks in the road can be taken in easy stride. But if you are not sure about who you are or why you are here, then even small decisions become daunting---like mountains instead of molehills. When your heart tells you to do something, you must simply do it. By being who you naturally are, your path is obvious and uncluttered. When you let your natural self take the lead, you will find your destiny, including your right work, the right relationship, the right life. The best will come to you, if you let it.
We have gotten too far away from our inner nature. As a society, we mainly focus on the physical world, and have forgotten how to access our metaphysical one. We make decisions from the ego, instead of the soul. When we become more enlightened, we will begin to see the spiritual significance in our everyday decisions. As we look within, we must ask ourselves what it is that we most want to do in life. We must recognize what we want, ask for it, and be open to receiving it. We need to knock in order for the doors of opportunity to be opened. Because as long as our deepest dreams and wildest passions lay dormant, we will not be able to access them. It is as though our life purpose is on a hard drive that has a special password. The password is simply to declare it to ourselves, and then to others. If we do not bring our desires to our consciousness, we will not be able to manifest them. The first thing to do is to see the possibilities in your mind’s eye, then you will be able to create them in your life. You also need to learn to balance taking action(ego) and allowing nature to run its course (Spirit).
Your nature is your greatest strength. Do what you are naturally good at. When you are giving your gifts and doing your right work, you attract people, circumstances and resources necessary to succeed. However, the way of nature also means embracing insecurity and imperfection! Nature is far from perfect, and we as humans, are far from perfect, too. It is this imperfection that makes our gifts so unique.
The nature of all human beings, like flowers, is to bloom—to be big, beautiful works of art. Carl Jung agrees, “Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.” When you follow your nature, like a great river, it guides you to your life purpose.
If you don’t follow your nature, you will not likely experience the life that was meant for you. In fact, bottled creative energy is a great source of stress and anxiety. “Psyche” is the Greek word for soul. When we are doing work or other things that go against our nature, our psyches/souls are affected. We don’t feel right, whole.
Abraham Maslow said, “A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself.” To NOT do the thing you have to do is a major reasons people feel frustrated. I know that when I don’t follow my nature, (such as when my nature calls me to write) I become uncomfortable— I am struggling/resisting myself. I must follow it where it leads, and I often do not know the direction, but still I must go. I have also learned to follow my nature in other work-related situations, if something is not going well for me, or my values are called into question, then I listen to what my inner self tells me to do. It has always worked for me.
In Eastern cultures, people are very aware of their life force energy, which is known as “ch’i.” The purpose of “ch’i” is to circulate energy to bring about spiritual, emotional and physical health. When your life energy is freely flowing, you experience joy. When it is blocked, you experience pain. Since Americans by and large are not taught to “tune-in” to their body vibrations, many people feel stuck in jobs that hold little or no meaning for them. Their life force is not flowing, and this creates negative energy in our work force.
We go against our nature in so many ways. I do not believe it is natural for human beings to be unhappy in work or stressed out all the time. We have temporarily forgotten who we truly are and keep driving ourselves in this consumer-oriented society to acquire more and more stuff, thinking that is what will make us happy, and that is what life is all about. But we are slowly waking to the knowledge that Spirit is always present. We are coming to know our full divinity---we are already wired for greatness and waking up to the knowledge that there is work that is meant just for us. All we have to do is to tap into our internal, universal database.
We need more spirited work. William Elery Channing said, “Every human being is intended to have a character of his own, to be what no other is, and to do what no other can do.” Inspired works of art or everyday chores come from being “in spirit.” The word “inspired” means to breathe into, to communicate divine instruction to, to infuse ideas or poetic spirit into, to “animate” in general. It means to make something come alive, to infuse spirit into your work. I do not think it is difficult to see that we need more inspired work in our society. There is a frightening amount of low quality, meaningless work on the market. When we perform work strictly for economic reasons instead of spiritual ones, the product or outcome is devoid of love and spirit. We need more educational, humanistic, inspired work! Let’s all start creating movies, books, businesses, homes, schools that are designed to enlighten our mind, body, and spirit!
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