Living Your Passion

Living Your Passion ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

So many of us end up in jobs that pay the bills but we feel dissatisfied. Our soul yearns for more. Or we end up at the end of a career saying, 'finally, I can do what I love to do - if I only knew what that is'!

That's because, from the moment we're born, we're looked at as blank slates to be written on or lumps of clay to be moulded. We're not recognized as Consciousness, our Essence is not seen.  In actuality, we are treasure chests of potential.

A clue to your missing passion is to remember what you loved to do when you were younger. Did you love to sing or dance, or paint or make up stories? It may even have been sports or some kind of physical activity.

Our creativity is our essential language, how we express ourselves as Consciousness into the world. But our creative actions get dampened down as we go through school.  Musicians can't make any money - you should be come an accountant. Your finger painting was delightful in kindergarten but won't get you into art school. Writers definitely don't earn a living, you should become an English Teacher.

We won't be happy if we're not expressing our creativity. We lose our zest for life. A way to regain our passion is by reawakening our inner artist.

Sometimes it's our own expectations and assumptions that keep us from trying. You don't have to be a professional in order to create. You don't have to be the next Tom Hanks, you can have fun in community theatre. You don't need to write the great American novel, you can start a blog of your thoughts and impressions. Perhaps it's cooking or baking that thrills you.

By rediscovering our passion, our lives have meaning again. We feel a reason for being.  It may redirect you in your career, or give you a new lease on life after retirement.

When we get back in touch with our Essence, new doors open, new pathways reveal themselves, new opportunities come up. We don't have to quit our jobs and join the Peace Corps to rebuild Nepal in order to live our passion, unless that's what your Essence is calling you to do.

Your purpose for being here is to *be* your Essential self. Your expression is needed in the world. You are unique, and your resonance contributes to the collective orchestra. Your music helps make up the symphony of life.

What is your life purpose?

©2008 Joan M. Newcomb

When I was a new spiritual teacher, a quarter century ago, I felt my purpose was to teach everyone on the planet to ground. Learning a specific technique for consciously grounding myself had so profoundly changed my life, I felt everyone needed to learn it. I also felt that if I worked for God, God would take care of me, so I guess you could say my Life Purpose was to teach everyone on the planet how to ground -- for God.

Years later someone asked me 'what is the purpose of life', and I thought about it in terms of being Spirit manifesting in the physical. And the answer that came to me was 'to create'. We were all here learning to create in and through physical bodies. I still somewhat hold that idea, that we're all Spirit in physical form, and learning about being here which is so opposite of what Spirit truly is. An aspect of learning is how to manifest in Density and Effort land.

However Eckhart Tolle's New Earth book seems to say that our life purpose is to Be. To experience Presence. More than just existing, to Be the focused energy of Presence here and now. And there's a lot to be said for that approach as well.

Abraham-Hicks says "The basis of your life is freedom; the purpose of your life is joy." Which goes hand in hand with Eckhart Tolle, because if you stop and Be Presence, it can be an unspeakably joyous experience.

Robert Scheinfeld's and Arnold Patent's approach is to drop trying to change, fix or improve the hologram of your life, and in doing so experience joy. But then they also say that all emotions are actually joyfulness in disguise, since that is all your Expanded Self can experience. I translate that as Spirit *is* ecstatic joy, and finds delight in all physical experiences - it's our body-level selves that aren't too happy about depression, rage, invalidation and all the darker tones of emotions. However, when you surrender trying to control or manipulate outside yourself, and trust that your Higher Self is doing a great job running the show, then joyfulness is the result.

I've mentioned in other posts that I've had periods of time of feeling in Love with God, in Love with my Life and in Love with my Self (not always in that order). Each time came after surrendering to what is or 'bottoming out'. Within those periods, although the problems in my life hadn't vanished, I felt that everything was going to be okay. And I've longed to have that feeling back again, but without the drastic circumstances that led up to it!!

As I write this, it occurs to me that, just like every definition of God is correct, because there's a path or God that's right for everyone, then *anything* anyone claims is their Life Purpose is right as well. And it doesn't have to stay the same for your entire life, either. You can have the Life Purpose that feels right for you in this moment and as you grow and change, it will evolve as well.

Right now, I'm integrating Eckhart Tolle's, Abraham-Hicks, and Scheinfeld/Patents approaches as they are all both familiar and a stretch for me. I do experience moments of joyousness, and I do almost always have an awareness of joy even when things seem painful or awful. And perhaps, for now, *that* is my life purpose.

What's yours?