Back to my previous story and its main protagonist who lamented about life purpose (he was also around 40 at the time!) that was in a latent phase in my mind until lately when I run into “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” by Deepak Chopra, where I was caught by his interpretation of the Law of “Dharma”. While there are numerous explanations of the meaning of “Dharma”, and I always thought about it as it is generally described as “rights and duties of each individual”, while Chopra described it in the context of purpose of life.

“There are three components to the Law of Dharma. The first says that each of us is here to discover our true Self. The second component is to express our unique talents; the expression of that talent takes you into timeless awareness. The third component is service to humanity. When you combine the ability to express your unique talent with service to humanity, then you make full use of the Law of Dharma.”

And this is simple as that, it is immanent to all humans this quest for the purpose of life, and there is also a spiritual component in it. In our modern world people are often mislead and they think there are other things they want and would make them happy- like becoming successful or rich or the best in doing something or becoming someone. Media, institution and profit companies are all playing on that card trying to turn people in their best interest alone.

And this brings me to my path and awareness that I have been adopted certain pattern of what I am giving and expecting in return from the people around me and from my life. And that I always felt obliged to somebody else expectations and living according somebody else ideas partly because I had a feeling it deliberates me from the responsibility if I fail. But it doesn’t work that way…we are all unique and the circumstances in our lives are also unique and therefore we may say that “life is not fair”. There is no way that we can simply copy somebody else life formula, for being successful, happy in love or whatever. We are all alone in this search and we have to fight with our own devils, limitations and find out what works best for us. It is hard, painful and it is a life long process. But, finally there is the only way, and our ultimate aim. And we can ignore it, neglect it, forget about it, but it will wait for us around the next corner.

And it gets even harder because there are constantly somebody tries to convince us how we need to live. And while we are tend to be proud on our western democracies legacies and systems while compare it to repressive regimes, sometimes these modern society influences can be even more effective and therefore more dangerous because they operate in hidden, subtle ways and apparently give people freedom of choice. Media, films, TV shows, political campaigns, commercials- there are myriad ways that we came under influence and potential manipulation.

Some time ago, I saw a documentary film about living in L.A. It is about being obsessed with material aspects, but to the sick extremes- about endless plastic surgeries, about ever rising crime rates that lead to situation everybody has in their home weapons to defend themselves, brutal games and intrigues in the film industry, estranged people to mention just a few. I was hit by the mild sickness when watching it and I remember one term was crystallizing in my mind- “Demonic”. A couple of years after that I read a book on Indian myths, and I was surprised on author’s definition of demons as creatures without a purpose in life. I instantly recall that film about L.A., realizing what really made me nauseous- it was lack of purpose, a spiritual purpose of life.

And it seems there are fewer and fewer isolated places that our creative, spiritual, real self could be realized, e.g. through art, contact with nature, meditation… On the positive side, though, I believe that more and more people becoming aware of shortcomings of lives we live, that we are, in a way, forced to live and start looking for an alternative. That’s a great way to go!

Because I spend so much time on worry, I’ve decided to embrace it with a personal research project. Maybe you’d like to join me.

Here are two avenues I’m exploring:

1) I practice catching myself at it. “Hey, I’m worrying again.” During a recent morning swim, I caught myself worrying 10 times during one lap! I’m not kidding. On rare days when I don’t have anything to worry about, I find something. What I’ve learned is that worry is a mental habit. I can change habits; I’ve done it before. There’s hope.

2) My second approach is to practice presence. By this I mean stopping my thoughts. In my workshops, I ring a bell to help participants practice centering. The quieter we are, the longer we hear the bell. There’s a lovely moment when we all listen . . . until the ring is barely audible . . . then just a memory. I relish that moment of quiet before my thoughts re-engage. There is no future or past, just Now. No worrying thoughts — no thoughts at all. It’s a peaceful place, which is why I stretch the moment. I want to strengthen the connection to something greater than my worries.

3) When I told my good friend Rosie about my worry project, she told me about her approach, which is to do one of three things: decide to address the issue right then; if you can’t do anything about it at the moment, give yourself a time to address it later; or decide that it is not important and let it go. In other words, act on it, file it or throw it away.

4) Finally, one of Rosie’s favorite worry stoppers (and mine) is to sing. Connect with your self, your creativity, and the place where everything really is okay.

Awareness and acknowledgment are the keys to changing our habits. Morihei Ueshiba, who founded aikido and spoke of it as the Art of Peace, said we must “always practice the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner.” Perhaps my research project on worry will help me to lighten up, smile, and live each day in such a way.

Are you worrying? Stop your thoughts for a moment. Listen to the sounds around you, pay attention, and be present to this key moment. And smile . . . for no reason. You may find that’s the best reason of all.

Consider this true story about the famous recording artist Ella Fitzgerald, now deceased, once called the First Lady of Song whose singing career spanned six decades from the ’30s to the ’80s, in which time she won no less than 13 Grammy Awards. At the age of sixteen Ella entered a talent quest at the Harlem Opera House. It was Amateur Night and the nervous young lady had entered the competition not as a singer but as a dancer. Right at the last minute, for some unexplained reason, she changed her mind and chose to sing instead of dance. She gave three encores and won first prize.

In his thought-provoking book ‘The Soul’s Code’ psychologist and university lecturer James Hillman ponders this sudden about face. “Was it chance that suddenly changed her mind? Did a singing gene suddenly kick in? Or might that moment have been an annunciation, calling Ella Fitzgerald to her particular fate?”

In my case my life purpose gene – or was it my fate? – waited until bankruptcy kicked in to show itself. It’s a fate I don’t wish you to repeat – I lost everything, my second marriage, my home, my freelance business, my car, savings, possessions, the lot. I was in a mess healthwise. Years later – too late – I found Caroline Myss’s brilliant book ‘Sacred Contracts’. I could fully relate to what she wrote:

“For our own good, each of us needs to learn what our mission is, because the details of how we live our lives accumulate to create health or illness.” Gene? Chance? Fate? Life purpose? Mission?

Since her particular field is health, I suggest the same warning can be applied to all other areas of our lives: career, success, relationships, love life, happiness, whatever else. Often it takes a major life crisis if we haven’t discovered our mission, our life’s true purpose, before about middle age. Maybe this is what the mid-life crisis is about, our destiny kicking in to remind us that we have a purpose awaiting our attention before it’s too late. Napoleon Hill gives another hint in his famous bestselling classic ‘Think & Grow Rich’:

“That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguided in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.”

While Hill’s sources were the worlds of business and politics, a similar message was offered by scholar and author of world mythology Joseph Campbell in this book ‘The Hero With a Thousand Faces’ whose sources were the common themes of folklore, fairy tales and myths of the world. He uses the term ‘call to adventure’ (in our lives) to refer to the call of our destiny to recognise our life’s purpose:

“The herald or announcer of the adventure, therefore, is often dark, loathly, or terrifying, judged evil by the world; yet if one could follow, the way would be opened through the walls of day into the dark where the jewels glow.”

He adds that to refuse the ‘call’ (an invitation to experience good luck) converts the ‘adventure’ into its negative (bad luck). However, as he famously said, “Follow your bliss and doors will open where you never knew they existed.”

Hillman calls this the Acorn Theory, that we are born with a calling which, just as an acorn grows from a seed into a massive tree, so is our life’s purpose born with us to grow throughout our lives. In order to flourish and grow, we attract to us what we consider to be good luck.

The big secret is, luck is inextricably linked to life purpose. Our life purpose needs luck in order to grow, flourish and to be effective. Good Luck.

Image via Wikipedia

Do you really want to spend time with grumps anyway? (And if you’re the grumpy pessimistic person I was describing- STOP IT!) Unless, of course, you like seeing the world from your viewpoint of failure. But trust me, the world looks better from a brighter viewpoint. 

There is a simple truth that whatever we focus on in life expands and grows. Also, the things that we do not focus on wither away into oblivion. So naturally, if we are focused on negative things all of the time, the negativity in our life will expand until it overwhelms us. Avoid letting that happen. Focus on positive things. 

Surrounding yourself with positive people will make this process much easier. They will infuse positivity into your day, even when your not feeling it. You will feel better. You will perform better. You will become and better person. And the world will be better for it. 

No, it’s not easy avoiding negative people. But keep in mind that no matter how heavenly your mood is, there is someone out there who knows just what to say to bring it crashing down so badly that the rest of your day becomes awful. But that doesn’t have to happen. Don’t be afraid to tell people that you are not open to their negative chatter. Choose not to be infected with failure.

Being positive, bright, and cheery doesn’t have to mean that you are somehow disconnected with reality. You can remain realistic about the present state of your world while being positive. It’s true. Whether you see the glass as half-empty or half-full changes nothing about the glass. The only thing that changes is how you feel about it. So choose to feel good about yourself. If you find yourself dissatisfied, don’t fall into the trap of negativity. Rather, feel good that you are dissatisfied and that because of this dissatisfaction you are becoming a bigger and better person. 

Choose positive and uplifting friends. Live life with a purpose. Enjoy!

The purpose of an authentic education is to gain enlightenment within ourselves. To gain this enlightenment, we must take personal responsibility to get to know ourselves in mind, body, spirit. To set this process in motion, we enter the university, as Mario Savio taught us, with the mindset that we are going there “to learn to question,” to expand, challenge, and at times change our perceptions of ourselves for own personal involvement.

The university is the place where we begin to question our motives, our intentions, our beliefs, our hopes, dreams, aspirations, and how we will face the giant world awaiting us. We question who we are, what we are, why we are, and what our purpose is in life. Questioning ourselves in this way kick starts our journey into self-discovery and self-exploration for the excavation of, as pointed out in The Port Huron Statement, “our unrealized potential for self-cultivation, self-direction, self-understanding, and creativity. This potential is essential for gaining human independence and with finding a meaning in life that is personally authentic.”

Through cultivating this new found potential, our individuality begins to shine through and we discover our once solid walls of limitation start to crumble. We connect to an inner creativity that is uniquely our own. We commence to speaking our own language, formulating our own ideas, constructing our own belief systems, and setting our own boundaries. We are alive and active and can no longer accept isolation, allow our creativity to be suppressed, or our thoughts and opinions to be stifled. The lever of stagnation has been pulled releasing an inner creativity that can no longer be confined and must express itself.

A true authentic education is not just about questioning ourselves. It’s about questioning the world around us; questioning the hierarchical and bureaucratic nature of American society; and questioning how the university administrators go along with society and industry. Mario Savio addresses this issue in his essay written in 1964 entitled, “An End To History” by saying, “The university is the place where people begin seriously to question the conditions of their existence and raise the issue of whether they can be committed to the society they have been born into.”

We question why the universities are more into status quo and producing product to meet the demands of industry as opposed to supporting the development of one’s unique individual qualities. We question why we do not have involvement in the decision making that directly concerns and affects our lives. We question why the curriculum does not embody the individual’s passion. For example, someone who aspires to be a mathematician would require several algebra classes.

But why should someone whose aspiration is to become an artist or musician be required to complete so many algebra classes? Why not include classes that will help cultivate their artistic abilities? Why should someone wanting to become an artist but can’t seem to grasp the concepts in algebra no matter how hard they try feel hopeless in ever obtaining that much desired degree in the arts? Why is the educational system set up to weed out certain individuals?

Is it a governmental way to keep what they consider to be the elite in control while suppressing everyone else? Shouldn’t we be permitted to have some kind of input as to what should be included or excluded from the curriculum? The most important question is, do we truly have equality and freedom within the confines of these bureaucracies and where is the true democracy? I think Mario Savio summed it up best with his statement, “The University is well structured, well tooled, to turn out people with all the sharp edges worn off, the well-rounded person.”

Asking these types of questions and at times becoming active in making a change in policy and program are highly important factors in obtaining an authentic education. Otherwise, we become molded into society the way society sees fit and lose all ability in making decisions for ourselves that ultimately determine the quality and direction in our lives. Our individuality is turned over to the bureaucrats, industries, and societal hierarchy. We become lost in the rat race wandering around aimlessly with no real purpose.

We will become as stated in “The Port Huron Statement,” “Students will leave college a little more tolerant than when they arrived but unchallenged in their values and political orientations. With the administrators ordering the institution and the faculty the curriculum, the student learns to accept elite rule within the university which conditions him to accept later societal forms of control.”

The choice of whether we choose to view education as simply a means of learning new information or as a means of gaining enlightenment and freedom within ourselves is ours to make. However, it is only through getting to know ourselves in mind, body, spirit, questioning ourselves and society, and self-cultivation of our hidden potential that we are able to fully connect to our individuality.

Making this connection allows us to live more from our individuality as opposed to our personality. A prime example of the differences in the two can be found in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This act greatly reduced the instruction of gifted and talented programs, art, music, and other programs that support our individuality and placed focus on more math and reading for the creation of the systematic personality geared toward industry needs.

It creates an even greater need for us to connect to our individuality and not allow it to become suppressed. This is an important factor as the personality is the person in which we were taught to be by our parents, society, influence of our friends, etc. Our individuality is in essence, our spirit expressing itself. It is the person we truly are. It is this person that gives us meaning in life that is personally authentic. Obtaining an education in this way allows us to have purpose in our approach to life. This allows us to feel as though our efforts are of significant value and offer a contribution to the greater good of mankind in a way that is uniquely our own.