A Meaningful, Purposeful Calling
Hellllllooooo! (a type of calling!) A calling, as defined by Merriam-Webster is 1) a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence; 2) the vocation or profession in which one customarily engages; and 3) the characteristic cry of a female cat in heat. Let's stick with the first two for this entry.
Most people would love to have a clear calling, an obvious direction to head in, an arrow pointing toward what they were meant (meant: to have in the mind as a purpose) to do. Meaning, for most everyone, is very important. The thing is, we aren't actually allowed to place meaning on our own. When we are born there are already people here who have decided what is and is not important. So when you are growing up you may have been told not to waste your life doing anything meaningless. This actually meant to stay away from various things that were undesirable in the eyes of society, your parents, your family. When so many things are made to be wrong, how does one go about actually discovering their calling, especially if it falls into the "meaningless" category?
Before we get to that, let's talk about purpose or having in mind a purpose… which in some ways is a calling and others isn't. Your purpose can be more than one thing (so to for your calling, one can have several and one can have a calling that is broad enough to encompass a variety of ways to fulfill it, i.e. serving others) and that one thing can be different depending on who is judging it. You are put here for so many reasons it is nearly impossible to list. Your purpose is for every relationship you have, all that is learned from your connection with others and all that the others learn from their connection with you. Your purpose may also be to create space in some way for someone who may never have met you, or for any other seemingly infinite reasons. Everything matters, so everything has a purpose… even that breath you just took, and that one. Your sitting reading this blog, or walking and reading, or laying in bed reading it. You are where you are supposed to be… there is a purpose to every movement and connection you make and every breath that you take. You don't have to do anything to matter. By being you are affecting the world. You are making it something it wouldn't be without you. So we could conclude that the initial calling for all of us was to come into this world! Congratulations!!! You did it! You found your calling. Now, where were we. Oh yes, that other calling… what do we do once we are here???
Well, now you know that you are meaningful. Hello! You are nothing but meaning. You decide the meaning you are to yourself, and others decide what you mean to them. But meaningless, impossible! So whatever you do has meaning, it just isn't the same meaning across the world. Meaning is an opinion and it is very personal.
So if everything has meaning then how do we get back to a calling? A calling is the most meaningful to you. It resonates the most with you. You find yourself drawn to it. You vibrate on high when you are engaged in/with/around it. When you take away the judgment of something having to be meaningful and replace it with the understanding that you cannot do anything that isn't meaningful, you can begin to see that your desire to doodle all of the time may just be what you were meant to do. Maybe you love popping pimples… somebody has to do it… that could be your calling. You may enjoy cleaning tables, reading books, changing light bulbs, steaming floors, singing, pantomime, cheering people on, giving massages, cycling, talking, reading, watching, being… your calling could be anything under the sun. The first step to figuring it out is letting it be heard. Taking off the earmuffs that we put on or were put on us and letting our souls voice be heard finally. Your calling could be to search for a calling… and where that journey takes you.
The most important thing is to let go of what you think your calling should be like, look like, or feel like. Do what you enjoy, do what brings your soul the most love and happiness and the rest will fall into place.
xo
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