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Today, the first day of a new year and decade, a blank slate of time and promise lies before us, and many of us reflect back on what has been and look forward to what might be for our lives.
Last week I wrote about the necessary cleansing and preparation that must precede any lasting new change in our lives. In that discussion I said that the greatest impediment to personal growth is not what we don't know; rather it is what we know that isn't so.
There is an equivalent truism that will determine our success in manifesting new possibilities for our lives and that is, the quality of our motivation. A strong enough why can move us over, around, or through the myriad of obstacles that might thwart our progress with a lesser impetus. There seems to be a direct corollary between the depth of our onward impulse and our chances of reaching our goals.
Any of us could sit down today and with a little imagination make out a long shopping list of wants and desires for the coming year or decade. We could stick those up on the wall as our treasure map to guide our thoughts and actions in the days ahead. That is a familiar time honored process of clarifying what we want out of life in specific terms. However, I suspect that many of these goals and desires might not be realized, and some might actually lose luster or significance over time. Why is that? Because these goals are not rooted in our deepest self. They emerge from the surface mind with its false understanding of what would bring us true and lasting fulfillment.
Eckhart Tolle, author of A New Earth suggests that instead of asking the question, what do I want out of life, the greater and deeper question is what does life (or God) want out of me? Unless we sincerely entertain this question, we are living outside the Divine impulse for our life, and thus likely to suffer disappointment and emptiness as we try to carve out a life based solely on our desires. When we ask the deeper question that links our inner passion and purpose to a new vision for life, we are really asking who have we come here to be at this time in our lives.
When our doing arises out of our Being we build new life on a rock solid foundation that will not be toppled by ephemeral winds of desire and whim. By calling forth our deepest impulses to navigate the direction of change, we will have the inner resolve and fervor that will be necessary to keep us on course when the going gets rough. If we are to climb the mountain it will take all the love we can give it.
Each of us has our own unique set of talents, gifts, propensities, and affinities that are unlike anybody else. When we look honestly and listen deeply, and silence the critic (last week's article) we can emerge knowing what is within us that aches for greater expression in our lives. This ache is our calling to something greater and truer. It is the most natural and powerful process we can honor with our willingness to heed its call. It is the same impulse that morphs a butterfly from an earthbound creature; that springs the seed out of its husk of darkness into light; that releases a flower from its shrouded beauty. In you and in me it is our imprisoned splendor given its freedom so that we might give the world our best, and in so doing fulfill our personal destiny. When you do this, you will at once know how you can best serve because the world needs you at your best to meet the challenges of these times.
