My Life Purpose Meditation by thomas Blog entry

Blog: Journey of Light
by thomas

My Life Purpose Meditation

A Recent Meditation Helped Me to Understand What Would Bring Me the Greatest Joy and What I really Want to Do in Life

Date: 11/1/2005 12:56:04 AM ( 19 y ) ... viewed 3782 times

In my previous blog message I talked about taking action and how important it is in co-creating your future with the universe. However, one of the important points to make is that in order to take action and co-create successfully it is important to know what direction you want to go. Action without direction can almost be as ineffective as inaction as progress is not achieved. So one of the essential parts is to be true and honest with yourself as to where you want to take this human experience. A clear indicator to be used is what will bring you the greatest joy. I know most people have a hard time conceptualizing that what we do as a job in life can also be centered on what brings us joy. Too many of us are convinced that work can only mean stress, frustration and aggravation. But the truth is that there are millions of people out there in all different kinds of jobs doing lots of different things enjoying what they do. They wake up in the morning happy to go to work and come home a little bit tired but nevertheless just as happy as when they left. That isn’t to say that people don’t have their bad days, we all do. But there is a significant group of us who have that bad day every day. For some and I speak as someone who was once in this category, the mere thought of going to work creates a bad day. In order to make sure that every day is the right day it’s essential to follow what you love and what brings you joy. I totally believe this and am putting it into practice right now in my own life, so this isn’t something I am merely talking about. It is something I am living.

Ever since I left my old job, I was convinced that what brought me the greatest joy was painting and photography. I come from an artistic family and was introduced to art at an early age. I guess I had always had an interest in art but it wasn’t until five or six years ago that I went from having an interest to being passionate about it. All it took was my picking up a brush and starting to paint. At first, I painted a few pictures a year and now I think I painted at least three or four within the last couple months. I guess I have come a long way. After painting for a while, I decided to take up digital photography. The balance of the abstractions of my paintings and the realism of the photography created a really nice artistic balance for me. I was able to satisfy both sides of my creativity through these mediums. So it made perfect sense to center my next job around either one of these. As a result I began looking for either a graphic design or photography job. As I mentioned in the previous blog, I was having difficulty with finding something. Part of the problem was my lack of taking action. However, what I have realized looking back is that my lack of taking action was in part attributed to my not having a clear picture of what direction I want to go in. There was this intuitive part of me that I was trying to ignore that just knew that this wasn't the right thing.

At the same meeting mentioned in the previous blog, we had a meditation that helped me determine what direction I really want to go in. The person who conducts the meetings who I also consider to be my mentor was guided to present the following meditation to me. I was to picture a path that led to the sword in the stone. I was to pull the sword out and walk up to two paths. There was one on my right and one on my left. I was to travel down the left path first which would lead me to a building or house of some sort. Inside I would find a gallery with all of my art work hanging on the walls. There would be people standing all around enjoying and talking about my work. I was to be fully present in this moment and pay particular attention to how I felt. I was then to leave this place return to the paths and travel down the one on my right. This path would bring me to another building or house except in this one I would walk on stage and be surrounded by a crowd of people. I was the guest speaker. Again, I was to be fully present and determine how I felt. I would then leave and return to the starting point where there would now be an additional path in the center. I was supposed to walk down this path and see which of the two buildings was in front of me. This would be the choice that I desired the most. After listening, I thought this was a great meditation and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

I began the meditation as instructed. I walked along the path until I reached the sword in the stone. I grabbed the sword and lifted it up and out of the rock with ease. I then looked around and realized that I was in a box. Obviously this was representative of the box I had created for myself based on old limiting beliefs and thoughts. Having a sword in hand I decided to chop up that box and set myself free. The sword easily destroyed the box and I walked forward to the two paths. I went down the left path and came upon an absolutely beautiful gallery. It was all white with huge windows and sky lights that let in lots of natural light. I walked down the steps into the gallery and noticed right away my paintings and photographs hanging on the walls. It was an interesting layout as the paintings and photographs were intermixed together in a painting/photograph/painting pattern. It just seemed to be an interesting idea to me. So I went into the crowd and felt such joy and pride that all of these people were here to appreciate my work. As instructed I was fully present and made the most of the experience. I was truly living it up. Of course I was in a suit or tuxedo of some sort and there were martinis being served. Like I said, I was truly living it up. If you’re going to do it right, might as well do it big.

After a short time, I began to notice that the feeling of joy was starting to wane and there just seemed to be something missing. Once I began to feel that way, I decided it was time to move on. I left the gallery and returned to the beginning. I then went down the path on my right. At the end of the path was a great big stadium and within the stadium was a large crowd of all different kinds of people and they were all there to hear me speak. I walked up to and onto the stage and grabbed the microphone. I started to talk and was filled with the greatest sense of joy. I instantly felt the energy of the crowd and allowed the words to flow effortlessly from my lips which amazed me as I tend to get nervous during public speaking. I basked in this feeling for a good amount of time and then decided to return once again to the beginning. However, I noticed that during the entire time I was in that stadium I never lost the feeling of joy I had. I could still feel it as I went back to the beginning and now saw the path in front of me.

I looked in front and saw the path. There was a locked gait that held me back from walking down it. I tried to visualize a key to unlock the gate until I realized that I was still holding the sword. I swung the sword and instantly broke through the chains and the lock. I pushed open the doors and walked through. I took a few steps and started to realize that there were these thorny plants that began to grow over the path and again obscure me from walking forward. It almost reminded me of the scene from sleeping beauty when the prince is on his way to the castle to try and save her. Again, I took up my sword and hacked my way through. After several swings, I looked around and noticed that they had disappeared. I understood in that moment that the locked gate and the thorny plants were once again the illusions and fears that had held me back from taking action and walking my path. Now free of all of them, I walked forward and saw before me the stadium. I once again walked into the stadium and went on to the stage. Although the stadium was dark, I knew there was a large crowd of people out there. Instead of grabbing for a microphone, this time I lifted my sword high up in the air. At that moment a light from above shined onto the sword and shot out into the crowd and illuminated everyone sitting there. It was a completely surreal and amazing moment. I felt an unbelievable sense of joy. Reflecting later upon the experience, I realized it was highly symbolic. The sword was representative of truth. Once the light of truth is shined upon the darkness there is freedom.

I came out of the meditation with a much greater sense of purpose and direction. While I knew that art would always be an important and rewarding part of my life, I did not want to make it the most important part. Being on that stage and raising that sword reminded me of the joy I receive when doing spiritual work. It is simply amazing when I am truly in the zone and doing the work of God.

At different points in my life, I have been guided to help others. When it happens, I get a strong and lasting sense that there is something I can do. When I have followed this sense in the past, I realized that by talking with this other person I was able to comfort them, guide them or help them to see things from a different perspective. I now believe that most of the words I speak are more divinely inspired then of my own creation. When I am within that moment there is nothing else like it. There is just such an unbelievable sense of joy, purpose and love. And most importantly, when that person walks away and I can see and sense the change within them I am elated. I have also realized that a lot of the lessons I have learned in my life and a lot of the things I considered at one time or another to be a hardship, were instrumental lessons in life that would help me become the person I am today. My story is one of truth, freedom and joy. The truth sets you free and brings you untold joy.

I came to the conclusion that the freedom I now experience and the joy I have felt, I want to give away to as many people as I can. I know now that this is the direction I want to take my life. Through the sharing of my truth and the use of my gifts, I want to help set free all those people out there who are like I once was. People, who are insecure, afraid, lost, buried beneath false images of themselves and consumed by self-hatred and negative thoughts. For within each of them buried beneath all this crap is a beautiful and perfect soul just waiting to be nurtured, loved and freed. Right now my mantra is only one word: FREEDOM.

I also realize that everything takes time and there are still lessons for me to learn. But knowing where I want to take my life and the goal I want to achieve, I can now take a step in the right direction and maybe one day I will be that person in the stadium helping thousands of other people set themselves free.