Quotes of the day:

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.” — Pema Chödrön

“Becoming YOU is your purpose.

YOU are the very purpose of your existence. Realizing what lights your fire and floats your boat–that’s your life purpose. What else could it be…..Your life purpose is what you say it is. Who could tell you otherwise?” — Danielle LaPorte The Fire Starter Sessions

Wonder! White Lined Sphinx Moth

A Question of Purpose

This morning a friend who retired a little over a year ago told me about feeling grouchy and unsettled and restless all at the same time. With several trips planned and more freedom than ever since she retired, the question of purpose has risen—again.

Like her, I find myself circling around this question regularly. I sense that it’s not enough to walk through life asleep, that it’s important to contribute, to make a difference if I can.

Amidst the day to day ebb and flow of my life, I wonder, do I have a soul purpose?

Does each of us have a soul purpose that transcends our personality and petty concerns?

If so, what is my purpose?

Is it enough to want to make beautiful photographs?

What does the world need me to do?

What does my heart say?

How I can be certain I’m listening to my heart and not my ego?

Am I doing enough?

These are deep questions to which I have no certain answers.

Here is what my heart tells me today—

Grace! White lined sphinx moth

Each moment I have a choice—to go towards love or fear.

Sometimes it feels like a tiny choice, like smiling at a stranger. Sometimes it feels like a momentous life-changing choice. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, each loving choice makes a difference. Each fearful choice is an opportunity to learn.

I don’t get to choose what happens, but I can choose how I respond to it.

Yesterday I overheard a very disgruntled person in line in the store ahead of me, “It wasn’t supposed to rain today,” she complained. I smiled to myself and wondered if the clouds knew that they weren’t supposed to rain today.

Many days I’m faced with body pain that keeps me from doing what I want to do. Some days I’m able to gracefully accept and even embrace what is. Other days I complain or feel like “it’s not supposed to be this way.”

When I have a particularly difficult day, I try to imagine being someone with paraplegia, something which cannot be fixed or changed, only accepted and worked with. Just imagining that, helps me gain a perspective on my own body’s idiosyncrasies.

Peace

When I follow what makes me feel alive, open, connected, spacious, and flowing, I experience joy and grace.

Maybe I cannot put my purpose in life into words. Maybe I don’t have a purpose. But I like what Danielle LaPorte says about purpose, “Becoming YOU is your purpose.”

Here’s some more Danielle wisdom that sings to me:

First, get clear on how you want to feel.

Then, do stuff that makes you feel that way.

Feelings are magnetic.

Knowing how you want to feel is half the journey to liberation.

 

Be done with feeling guilty for wanting to feel the way you want to feel. Follow your desired emotion. Don’t analyze it too deeply. Just let it roll and rumble a bit. It may be there to humble you, expand you, heal, surprise, or reinvent you. Anywhere it leads, it’s there for a divine reason.

“Feelings first” is really the essence of simplified living–a focus on what matters most.

Flow

Feelings First With Open Heart and Open Mind

Take action—life-affirming action. Do small things, big things, in between things that move you toward your desired feeling. Learn, love, live, notice how you feel. And repeat. Less thinking, more living. I like the sound of that. How about you?

Beauty

What is a bee’s purpose?