“It is better to perform your own DHARMA (PURPOSE) badly than to perform the Dharma of another perfectly”
Lord Krishna teachings (Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 47)
We are here to perform our purpose, plain and simple. There is nothing more important. My thoughts are that when we do not fulfil our purpose we get sick, we are unhappy and life just isn’t really work living. But what is purpose and why is it important to follow our own purpose.
For me personally my purpose is to serve the Creator – ME. Now you might think this egocentric but take a moment to think about this point of view. What allows us to be creative? Some would say GOD and I would agree but I would also ask the how does GOD do that? I believe that God does this through the creative force or SPIRIT that dwells within each and every one of us. When we choose to serve this, we are in flow because as individualised aspect of the Creator we are gifted with unique talents and skills and it is this that creator demands that we do more of.
So, for me MINE and Creator’s purpose is one and the same. So, the question then is “ARE YOU FULFILLING YOUR OWN PURPOSE” or are you living the purpose of another. Are you driven to strive doing something you love or are you marking our time, just waiting for a sign?
If you are waiting that is; take a look at the signposts below and see if perhaps anything resonates for you. If it does now is a good time to consider changing:
- Feel like you are living your life in the shadows of another and find it difficult to stand in a light of your own
- Have a need to give to others first and so find it difficult now to receive for yourself alone
- Need to get everything done perfectly, procrastinating holding yourself back in case things go wrong and everyone will see
- Are endlessly chasing qualifications and can’t celebrate your wins because you never feel worthy or enough
- Constantly experiencing the fear of missing out (FROMO) on things, needing to be the same. More common in young adolescents that are subjected to intense social pressures and whom have a great need to fit in – but not exclusively as this is also can occur in many adults.
- Worrying about the future, especially if you feel as though your time is running out and you regret not having lived to your full potential yet
- Experience feelings of being overlooked, undervalued, discounted and isolated by the people that surround you
- Seeing other people benefitting from our hard work with no real benefit to yourself.
If you experience some of these things, I would like to reassure you that you are not alone. That makes you human like everyone. I certainly have experienced all of these and do lot of women. This begs the question, how come it is so easy to end up living someone else’s purpose. It is surprisingly easy to do this especially if you were a sensitive child and you experienced the world around is an unfriendly place. You would have had to learn strategies to safely navigate social situations so that you could find a place where you could survive.
Child that are the most adaptable, especially girls as they easily read other peoples’ feelings and adapt – very often as the caretakers of others. Now, there is nothing wrong with caring or being of service to others but this become their life pattern. Also, because other benefit children are not often encouraged to learn to listen to and act on what their own heart is telling then to do, especially when they are conflicted and encouraged to walk their path. Instead they default to their old pattern and end up serving others at their own expense, living another person’s dharma rather than living their own.
So, if this is you and you want to change so you can have a lifestyle that allows you to be healthier, wealthier, happier and fun then this does need to be addressed. The question then is how do we shift direction when we feel out of control?
The secret is to develop an intense awareness our inner feelings so that we can immediately address. If you follow the steps below you can’t go wrong and once you have started to change things you will become so much clearer about where you can go next on your journey.
- Stop – Whatever we are doing and notice what is going on | Slow Time Down and Breathe
- Reassess – The way we are thinking, our behaviours and our feelings and see if they are valid – Ask ourselves “Is this really true”?
- Re-evaluate – Ask ourselves “Is this in alignment with who I AM and who I Want to Be
- Act – Congruently act upon the information that we are being given
First Posted September 2017 Updated..