Use your life path to express the highest and the best in you.
The universe seems to be purposefully initiating constant change, growth, and evolution. We witness its purposeful motion in nature and in our lives. The energy and consciousness within an apple seed propels and guides it to grow into a flowering plant. The same energy and consciousness propels an embryo to develop, a child to grow into an adult, and a creative project to manifest.
The human soul is also a seed. Its purpose is to grow into a powerful tree that expresses the Creator’s consciousness. Just as one apple seed can bring forth a tree bearing hundreds of apples over many years, a single human soul can inspire and enlighten generations of human beings. There are many varieties of apples; similarly, each of us is a unique soul fulfilling our purpose in diverse and original ways. We all, however, share the same purpose: to realize and actualize our true nature.
One of our most important lessons involves learning to express our best self amid the reality of our daily life. It is through our humanity that we express our spiritual nature. It sounds contradictory but is really complementary. Our knowledge of how we as individuals fulfill our life purpose is not an intellectual understanding; it is a heartfelt, intuitive experience coupled with a desire to share and contribute.
It is up to each one of us to honor, discover, and follow our true purpose. Guidance and support are always available, but each one of us needs to reach out for these, make a connection with our true soul’s desire, and take responsibility for actualizing it.
Connecting To Your Personal Purpose
I have been asked by many clients, “How do I find my personal purpose?” In other words, “How do I define my life path?” My answer is always, “Ask this question as many times as needed in your meditations and listen to the answers.” Answers can come through a feeling, an image, a word, or a combination of all these things. Some of us are very clear about our life path. My brother, for example, who is a brilliant mechanical engineer, started taking things apart and putting them back together when he was four or five. He loved nothing more than finding out how things work. To this day, this is what fascinates him.
On the other hand, I was led to pursue acting by a strange pull that came over me when I was looking at the advertising for the Academy of the Performing Arts. I remember being glued to the words dance and acrobatics that appeared on the list of subjects. I had no dance background, and actually I was one of the worst students in my high school gym classes. I also showed no acting talent whatsoever. I cannot explain my attraction to the ad, other than to say that my soul was calling. It knew that this was the path to follow.
Twenty years later, after a long and successful career in acting and dancing, when my therapist at the time told me that I am a born counselor and that I should join his training program, I got very upset with him. “I am an actor,” I said. “I don’t think you appreciate that.” It took two years for this message to register. One late night, I heard the small inner voice whisper, “He is right.” In fact, we were both right. I continued my work in the theater while also training as a psychotherapist. In my case, I was nudged into my life path. I was literally given instructions to pursue it, twice, in spite of my emotional resistance. Needless to say, I’m grateful for the instructions and grateful that I followed them.
How Do I Know If I Am On My Life Path?
This is another question that clients often ask me: “How do I know if i am on my life path?” I also hear it from friends and acquaintances. Here are some helpful tips to answer this question for yourself:
- Your true life path incorporates your gifts, talents, and abilities.
- Your life path feels natural, and you have a feeling that you belong there, even in spite of difficulties or challenges.
- Your life path brings you deep satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment, even when you are struggling with obstacles and setbacks.
- Your life path is not something that you do to impress, look good, please your parents, achieve status or money, prove your worth, or get acknowledged. These traits of our defensive self might be mixed in, since we are human, but they are not the propelling force behind choosing a true life path.
- Your life path gives you the opportunity to share your talents and abilities with others, and it feels good to do so.
- Your life path is aligned with your spiritual and emotional evolution as well as with your spiritual path.
Thinking about these indicators and reflecting on how you’re spending your days can give you valuable insight as to whether you are aligned with your life path or not.
Follow Your Bliss
The famous quote by Joseph Campbell, “Follow your bliss,” is a guiding principle for living a purposeful life. You are here to be fulfilled and to contribute. These two are your rights and your responsibilities. Your talents, abilities, and passions live within you like the seeds of an apple tree, waiting to become fruit. It is wise to support and nurture them. Doing so, you are giving to yourself and others.
Many of us lack the courage to follow our bliss. We are taught that we should have a good job that pays the bills and that fulfillment is secondary. Not true. Fulfillment is primary. Ideally we should find a creative way to marry our fulfillment with a good job that pays the bills.
Each one of your talents is a contribution waiting to happen, and an experience of joy. Your life path should include all the things that are truly important and fulfilling to you. Of course, it is a balancing act.
It takes skill and commitment to keep all elements flourishing at the same time. Family/relationships and work/contribution are two of the main elements. The third element can be our spiritual and emotional growth, and the fourth can be learning/discovery/travel. There are other elements. Each one of our paths is a unique combination of elements. We are the weavers of the tapestry of our life. We create it according to our needs, passions, desires, and abilities. Each of our creations contributes to and enhances the greater tapestry of life.
The Four Magic “C’s”
I will share with you what I call the Four Magic “C’s”: Choose, Commit, Contribute, and Celebrate. These unfold in this order.
Choose
Choose your thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions very carefully. They translate into vibrations. We are energy, and we vibrate on the frequencies that reflect our state of being. Whatever we emit as vibrating beings, we attract to ourselves. Most of us are aware by now of the Law of Attraction, which means “like attracts like.” As you think/feel, you become; what you become, you attract. We attract to ourselves people, situations, and events that match our vibration.
It behooves us to work diligently toward shifting negative thoughts, feelings, and behavior patterns into positive, life-affirming ones. Consistently and daily, we must choose to transform. It is a discipline and a choice that we can make, or not.
Well-being is a choice. Success is a choice. Love and commitment are a choice. Being a contribution is a choice. Achieving these might be what is called the “hard work miracle,” but they all are fueled by the power of choice.
Commit
Commit to the discipline of shaping your inner reality. Commit to realizing who you truly are and why you are here. Commit to the connection with your higher wisdom. Commit to being honest and open with yourself and others. Commit to respect your unique contribution. Commit to your happiness and to your well-being. Commit to your expression and growth. I could go on and on.
What I’m saying is: Commit to experiencing and expressing the best in you. Without commitment, focus, and a burning desire, we don’t get there.
Contribute
We find deep joy in giving. It is a well-known fact that we love to share our gifts and abilities with others. We love to feel appreciated, useful, inspiring, and helpful. There is a need within the soul to love and be loved. Living a life of contribution answers this need.
Sometimes, as young people, we might not yet be ready to live life from a giving perspective. We want love. We need approval. We want to look good, to impress others, and to be noticed. That is normal. As we mature emotionally, we begin to find fulfillment and satisfaction in contributing. This yearning to make a difference is like a good wine: it tastes better the older we get.
Celebrate
I can’t think of anything more important than to enjoy our daily moments and feel the magic and the beauty within them. Open yourself to the moving, playful, funny adventure of being alive. I actually tell myself to do that every morning. Celebrate being here—the challenges, difficulties, and miracles . . . all of it. It is possible to embrace, accept, and surrender to life and, at the same time, change and contribute to the creation of a better world. Tap into trust, gratitude, and humor. It’s not always easy to do, yet it’s always uplifting.
The ability to celebrate life and feel grateful for all that it brings is a direct path to bliss. Enjoy the energy, colors, shapes, smells, and textures of life. Enjoy people, animals, and nature. Trust yourself and life enough to relax, be playful, and grateful for the challenges, the adventures, and the gifts.
I impress upon my clients the importance of acknowledging their victories and enjoying their daily magic moments. It helps you live in a state of gratitude. Counting your blessings, no matter how few they might seem, creates more blessings, and enjoying your victories, no matter how small they appear, creates more of them as well.
The Ten Commandments for Fulfilling Your Life Path
- Honor Yourself
- Follow Your Bliss
- Be Impeccable, Strive For Excellence
- Uphold Honesty and Integrity
- Create Partnerships
- Honor Your Goals and Dreams
- Stay Focused and Consistent
- Enjoy and Play
- Be Grateful
- Celebrate
©2014 by Nomi Bachar. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Findhorn Press. www.findhornpress.com.
Article Source
Gates of Power: Actualize Your True Self
by Nomi Bachar.
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About the Author
Nomi Bachar, a holistic spiritual counselor is a self-healing, self-actualization expert and coach. She is the director of White Cedar Institute for Expanded Living LLC and the creator of Gates of Power® Method. Ms. Bachar has been working with individuals, couples and groups for the last 26 years, as well as lecturing and facilitating workshops.Alongside her counseling and training, Ms. Bachar has an extensive background as a multidisciplinary performing artist. Her artistic background includes acting, dance, choreography, producing and writing. In the last few years she has dedicated herself to empowering people through the Gates of Power® Method. Visit her website at http://www.gatesofpower.com
Watch a video with Nomi: Intro to the Gates of Power Methodology Process
Another video (interview with Nomi Bachar): Technique for Healing your Unconscious Pain
