Here’s the deal: You’ve come to this planet with a calling. You have a unique purpose, a mission in life featuring your own message that can only be delivered with your unique style and perspective.
Knowing this, you may have done enough work to even have defined your individual purpose, message, passion, and mission (PMPM) and know who you are and what you’re supposed to be doing if you were achieving your highest and best.
Then there is life. Life is full of distractions which can keep you from achieving your highest and best.
This will apply to any calling you have that could make a difference in our world. Why? Because there are people, principalities, and powers that do not want to see the world change, and your potential contribution could cause conflict, or slow their roll, even if your PMPM only affected a single life for the better, that one moment could change everything in a heartbeat.
This is why you see yourself bombarded with nearly unlimited opportunities to do anything besides what could put you one step closer toward your sense of purpose and meaning which harkens to you for release.
Let’s face it, we live in an “if it feels good do it” kind of world, and you are attacked in the media and face-to-face by people you know as well as perfect strangers who will stop at nothing to provide you with thousands of exposures to potential opportunities that could distract and/or prevented you from advancing toward your calling.
In terms of being of service to others, there needs to be some hard work, dedication, and commitment to your calling, to serve the greater good. It may mean setting aside your own personal desires, those things that make you feel so good, to be able to serve in a greater capacity. Yes, it may take sacrifice, but it is this one point that separates those who talk about what they wish they could do, and those who are actively involved in making a difference. A little selflessness on the behalf of others, or the big picture, goes a long way. St. Paul writes, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” in Philippians 2:3.
Your calling must have a higher priority that selfish acts which make you feel good, or even service to others in ways which might prevent you from pursuing your goals to achieve your highest and best. No one person can anything, so remain focused on your mission, and when other situations and circumstances come up, rather than letting these things distract you (as worthy as they might be) step aside and defer to someone else whose mission it might be. You might have to put aside selfish pursuits to be true to your calling.
Tapping into your heart is almost a necessity in achieving your highest and best. Unlike your brain and emotions, which only seek to protect you and your ego from potential fear-based emotions or perceived potential pain, your heart will always be congruent with your calling.
It’s no surprise if you can’t know how to tap into your heart, which is the most powerful energy source, connection to all life and beyond because it is no secret that we’re not taught to listen to it or even validate its power. For if you could, you might realize that our heart is the most powerful tool or weapon on the planet, possibly in the universe, and we all have one. Take some time and find ways to focus on and connect to it, and develop your sense of knowingness exponentially.
How to tap into it, and learn how to hear or feel what your heart is trying to tell you can be complex because it can be a very different process for different people. So, find your own way, experiment and see what works for you.
Stop protesting or being distracted by focusing on things outside of your control. While you may hear about or witness atrocities, find someone else who’s ministry it is to deal with that particular issue and defer to them; you may even be able to offer support, but don’t allow yourself to be taken off your path in doing so.
Watch your tongue as well as your thoughts, if you are saying or thinking negative things about something that is negative, you only add negative energy to it. By protesting, making a stand, or fighting against a certain thing, you actually promote it. Instead, focus on the solution, find someone who is doing the work and support them in the performance of their ministry, without falling victim to the negative whirlpool.
Whatever you do, whether in terms of supporting your own calling, or supporting others in theirs, avoid negative reporting. When you say something negative, especially in this day and age, when everything we do, say, and possibly think, is being recorded and can be used against you later. Having access to negative sound bites can be your undoing, so avoid going there if at all possible. To quote St, Paul again, “Do everything without complaining and arguing so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people,” (Philippians 2:14-16) so, take the high road.