It’s been a long journey and I’m not anywhere near my destination. But then I believe life is not about destinations. I believe that even death is not an end point, but a transition. In my world of newfound spiritualism, life is all about the journeys we make. Journeys are about experience, about learning, about loving, caring, about finding truth and meaning, about spiritual growth.
Life is but a whisper, a mere breath. It is therefore our most urgent responsibility to fulfil our soul’s purpose (dharma): to heed our calling, follow the spiritual path and create absolute meaning and fulfilment in our life. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna writes “Concerning one’s dharma, one should not vacillate!”
We can only take responsibility for ourselves, no one else. Keats said life is the “vale of Soul-making”. It is therefore our duty to bring forth the best in ourselves, to awaken our soul. We can’t do that if we’re living on someone else’s terms or if we live in fear.
In our modern world, we are burdened by so many fears. When we are born, we have two instinctive fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears are programmed, accumulated experiential fears that our subconscious mind embeds in order to keep us safe: safe from predators and safe from unseen danger. Today, we no longer have the rapacious predators that used to roam the planet. We have moved to the top of the chain and subordinated all fierce, wild things and bent them to our will and world of order and containment. The unseen dangers are the ones our mind fictitiously creates as part of our inbuilt safety programming. They are fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of not being good enough, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of judgement, fear of disapproval, fear of rejection.
But it’s a fallacy to trust the sub-conscious mind. These fears do not in fact protect us, they actually harm us through the ‘mind-body connection’ or ‘psychoneuroimmunology’*. The mind-body connection is the link between a person’s thoughts, beliefs, emotions, attitudes and behaviours and their physical health. When we think and feel fear, the nervous system is activated to produce self-defence stress chemicals in our body which, over time, are damaging to our cells. Conversely, if we think more positive, beneficial thoughts and we feel more loving, joyful and happy, this activates the parasympathetic nervous system to destress, calm and balance the body.
One of the biggest fear afflictions in the world today, certainly amongst women, is imposter syndrome. We think that we are not good enough. “Who am I to do this? What makes me so special? I don’t have anything special or of value to offer. My job is to be selfless and look after others”. Whether this is part of our psyche and conditioning of being seen for so long as the inferior sex (we only had the vote in 1918) and as child-bearing nurturers, is not up for debate here. The important point is that when we second-guess ourselves constantly, we vacillate.
This vacillation will prove our undoing. We’ll stick to playing safe, we’ll stick to living in our familiar comfort zone, we’ll stick to never knowing what could be possible beyond the veil of fear, beyond the realm of our current predicament. Unveiling and living out our life’s purpose will most likely be a trip into the unknown. It requires us to explore and experiment without knowing the outcome. It requires us to have faith that when we listen in to our heart’s calling, we’ll find the courage and the guidance we will need to untap our creative potential.
Our creativity is our God-given gift – we have the ability to create new human life – a life made in God’s image. It stands to reason therefore, that we have the energy and power of the Universe to create a life of fulfilment and purpose, where all our heart’s desires are met. Creativity is perfectly imperfect. Nature experiments, learns, adapts and evolves in its quest for sustainability and longevity. As part of the natural world, we are moulded the same. We are not made to be perfect, we are perfectly flawed to learn, to grow and evolve. Life is never a constant, change is the only constant.
If you’ve enslaved yourself to the idea that you have to be perfect to achieve anything in this world, then you cannot be further from the truth. Holding on to the mirage of perfectionism (a major symptom of imposter syndrome), is what is preventing you from living your life’s purpose and seeking your truth.
When we learn to let go of the need to be perfect, we open ourselves to experimentation and learning. Clarity of purpose only comes from taking action: imperfect action. So, what are you waiting for? Are you living a life that is fulfilling, that arouses passion and inspiration? If not, then why not? Don’t reach the end of your life full of regret. You owe it to yourself to take imperfect action and to make the positive difference that only you can to your life and to create the ripple-effect in the world that your positive action will bring about.
“We are here but for a second, but our impact ripples through time.” ― Neetal Parekh
If you need help and support in taking the next step to identifying and fulfilling your purpose, then my Midlife Passionpreneur 90-day intensive programme is for you. In this I teach you all about energy, how to shift thoughts and patterns of behaviour, how to identify your true path and how to translate your gifts into a lucrative, passion-inspired business that positively transforms your life and the lives of others you touch. Learn more here.
* recommended reading on the mind-body connection and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI):
The Biology of Belief – Dr Bruce Lipton
Molecules of Emotion – Dr Candace Pert
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