Secret Messages and Spies
It was a message that changed everything
Secret Messages
It was a bright sunny day. The downtown skyscrapers painted heavy shadows between the beams of light. A group of strangers wait for the traffic light to turn green. A woman discreetely hands a small piece of paper to a man in a suit. With stoic face, the man checks the time and walks away.
Mysteries grab our attention. We become anxious if we don’t know the rest of the story. Who was the well dressed man? What was the message on the paper? Were they spies?
And so it is with emotions. Our emotions give us messages, but it is up to us to give meaning to the message.
Decoding The Message
I made good money. I was healthy and mostly happy. I had a good spiritual life. However when I turned 40 I started to feel dissatisfied and discontent. Something was missing. It was a little harder to get through the day. Feelings of resentment were stirring. I had to spend almost 10 hours a day doing something that I just didn't want to do anymore. It's not that my job was bad, I was very grateful to have a well paying job.
When we become responsible for ourselves and enter the world of employment we have a lot to learn — how to get a job, deal with management, work with others, gain specific job skills, health insurance, transportation, finding places to live, get transportation, the list goes on. With all of this pressure, it’s easy to miss the message.
Why was I dissatisfied and discontent? What was the meaning? It wasn’t a mid-life crisis, it was an awakening. It's that I was spending my life building for others and not building for myself. My life was what was left over at the end of the day. My career was not the reason I was here. But that was how I was living. I began to wonder what my life would be like if I could choose what I wanted to work on each day? What would I do?
If it wasn't for feeling dissatisfied and discontent I might not have truly considered my own dreams. Yes, MY dreams. This isn’t a philosophical ivory tower debate. I was feeling real pain; real pain.
Seek and You Shall Find
I began to study what made people successful. I broke the stories into pieces, and examined each component. Then I began to see a bigger picture. Successful people have a purpose. I'm not talking about rich and famous success. I'm talking about people who live their purpose. They don't let the calling go unanswered. They don't submit to the culture and philosophies of others. They follow their own path. Their true path. Even though it might be unclear. Even though others may not understand or approve.
The good work is to know and live our purpose. This is when I stepped through a portal to another level of life.
An Awakening
How many times can we be born? How can we know for sure? If we lived a thousand years, maybe we would go through many births, many awakenings.
I had responsibilities. I had likes and dislikes. I had goals. But I never had a purpose. Having a purpose is another dimension. It is like being born again. And in many ways, it requires learning a new way of life. It requires new thinking, new values, new practices.
Some people make radical changes or search for a guru to give them the answers. I believe we just need to reconnect with what has been within us all along. We have a purpose. We have something to contribute to life. We have something to give.
Purpose
Our purpose is ours alone. No one, and no thing, can steal our purpose. Its value can’t be diminished. Purpose utilizes our uniqueness. Purpose is how we contribute. Purpose guides us to our true work. Purpose doesn’t compete. Purpose fulfills.
Purpose is not reserved for the icons, the visionaries, or the founders of great movements. Purpose is available to everyone.
What is your fulfilling purpose in life? You don’t have to climb a mountain, or wander a desert. It doesn’t have to be difficult. My purpose is to explore and express my potential, and share what I find with others. Simple.
Finally
Our emotions are messages, and we determine the meaning of the message. We might be tempted to find negative meanings for our emotions. But the truth is, we have a choice to create meanings that are empowering. Empowering meanings lead to growth and life affirming encounters.
By choosing an empowering meaning for “dissatisfied and discontent,” I discovered purpose. By discovering purpose, I experienced an awakening. And maybe that is what life is all about; to move from awakening to awakening.
I’m just a traveler who is trying to make sense out of messages life hands me. At this point, I think having a purpose and living a dream is an empowering way to live. I certainly feel more involved and invested.
To your success!
James Wilder
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