Friday, January 25, 2013

What's Your Dharma, Baby?

For the last few weeks we have been preparing ourselves to plant the seeds of our intentions for 2013 and for this next stage of our lives. We talked about the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we can and can't do, and how we create the limiting beliefs that keep us from living an authentic life. We discovered who we really are and what it is we truly want. This week we are going to tackle the last section in our Soul Profile ... why am I here?

The word dharma means purpose. Davidji, meditation teacher, author and motivational lecturer, says that under the banner of "what is my dharma," we should ask ourselves: How can I help? How can I heal? How can I serve?

Our purpose does not have to be our jobs, although it can be. If you don't know what your purpose is, ask yourself these questions:

     . what is it that I do that, when I'm doing it, I loose all track of time?
     . if I knew in this moment that I could not fail, what would I do?
     . what is it that I love to do so much that I would do it forever if I could?

Now, you may be saying things like: "well, I love to do woodworking, or gardening, but that's not saving the world, or helping someone in need." Sure it is. Grow some beautiful flowers and take them to a nursing home. Make a cradle or a toy for a child. It doesn't matter if you dream of selling ice cream in Alaska or hot tubs in the tropics -  if it brings you joy and that joy radiates to those around you as a result, that's your purpose.

"There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song." Max Lucado

Nobody can sell those ice cream cones like you can. Nobody can make that cradle or that toy like you can. Nobody can grow flowers as beautiful and meaningful as you can, because the recipient of that ice cream, that toy or those flowers has healed a little bit more because you were in their lives.

That, my friends, is your dharma. So go write your song.
And so it is.