When you hit bottom what do you do? This is a very important question, especially for those who have. What happens when your life falls apart? What happens when all of your friends and family seem to betray you for something you haven’t done? Or because you have done something right? This happens, and has happened probably since the beginning of time.
Every great human being that we can think of, and I don’t mean actors or sports figures, who have done something to make the world better have been persecuted. Everyone never agrees with a person who stands out and changes things. People like Gandhi, Jesus, Paul Robeson, Mother Jones, and many others were often persecuted by their contemporaries. We then hear about them and their lives and it sounds as if their lives were easy and glamorous. The truth is, however, that their lives weren’t. They were very hard. That is why it is important to learn how most of them dealt with stress and persecution before we decide to live you own lives fully. If we can learn what they did, we too can accomplish great things without having to worry about compromising our deeply held core beliefs. We can deal with the stress.
The first step in following one’s bliss is to find out what our core beliefs are. Our core beliefs are associated with, not necessarily the same as, what gives us our bliss. What gives you your bliss? What is it that you’re doing, or would like to do, that makes you feel alive? All of the great people that I have referred to earlier didn’t buckle or fall under horrendous persecution because they found their bliss and were doing it. There bliss was aligned with their core beliefs about themselves and the way the universe works. I think that it is time for all of us to also find our bliss: one that is aligned with the way that we know the world is in our hearts.
When we work at finding our bliss, and then trying to do whatever it is, we will be like the great people. We will have the strength to make it through the hard times and the lowest, darkest moments, so we can continue to reach for the heights. Firstly, however, if we don’t know what it is that gives us our bliss we have to find it. Secondly, we have to begin to do it.
We have to do what makes us happy, if it is legal, healthy, and contributing something to the world and our community even if we don’t get paid very much, or not at all. Even if we try to perform some kind of art and we are not good at it, we must continue if it is our bliss. We must keep doing it, until we get good at it. When we stop and give up we will convince ourselves that we are not in control of our own lives and we will die on the inside.
If you have found your bliss and you are not doing what makes it real in your life, it’s time for you to start. This is applied theology and spirituality. Sit down, make a plan, prepare yourself to be chastised. Be ready for someone that you love to put you down, or try to turn you away from your goal. As sure as day follows night this discouragement will come just as it came to those people who worked to make the human condition better and got persecuted. Isn’t it strange to think that one can be chastised and discouraged for following one’s bliss by friends and family, until some outsider recognizes the quality of what you are doing, or until you can make some money doing it?
This is a very strange thing. We often get support after we don’t need it. That is why it is important to begin to support your self. Hold on to your dream. Meditate, stretch, do exercises, study, do whatever it is necessary to stay strong so you can persevere. If you want to make some type of contribution to the world, you must be diligent and consistent, doing your work little by little, moving forward step by step carefully and not carelessly, and finding joy in the process, the very act of becoming better and better, instead of in the outcome. If you can do this, you will attain your goals and your dreams. You will not have experiences where you feel that you have lost everything, because you will be aware that there is something inside of you, a loving and powerful spirit, that is connected to everything all around you. In the midst of the darkness the light of the universe will shine forth, and that light will be you, my friend–the awakened human spirit where God and humanity meet.
You will also realize, as you work and are being yourself for the first time, that some people actually like you and your authenticity. These people will be your friends and your family–your true friends and family Until you find them, however, it is necessary for you to keep your stress level down. Bad health comes from too much stress. Do some type of meditation, develop a spiritual life, and stay healthy. If you can do these three things for health maintenance, and you refuse to stop following your bliss even if you think you are failing, you will have overcome the world. You will have succeeded already in life. For the living of one’s life, and contributing in some unique way to the world, is the calling of every human being. As you do what you are called to do and you feel fulfilled in life, you are changing yourself and the world, and living the way we were all meant to live.
Dr. John W. Gilmore is a writer, a spiritual director, a certified healer, a martial arts instructor, and an ordained minister. To read more articles like this visit this ezine or our free Practical Spirituality Journal at http://www.dswellness.com. There you can explore our website in detail and our absolutely free Circle of Creation Spirituality and Stress Reduction 101 at our cyber school.
Newly Published: Reclaiming the Religion of Jesus in a Modern Age: Called to the Sword of Truth, by Dr. John W. Gilmore
