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Say Yes To Your Highest Purpose

Image credit: Kitty Terwolbeck

Hello friends,
I hope this post finds you well. If you have not already checked out this month’s Parvati Magazine, please do so. There are many rich articles exploring the meaning of Contemplation and Achievement, including this one on saying yes to your highest purpose. Please read on and let me know what you feel inspired to say yes to in your life.
When we think of achieving, we may quickly visualize something outside ourselves that we need to get to make us happy. But this perspective leads us swiftly to unhappiness, as we work endlessly towards an often elusive goal. We may meet our goals and feel happy for sometime. Then an event takes places that shatters our source of happiness, and once again, we are left listless and unfulfilled. To live this way would be to feel like a hamster running along its wheel, never making progress or getting anywhere.
When we wish to make changes in our life and reach certain goals, it is important to build mindful effort upon the understanding of what happiness is. If we see happiness as an event, a person or an achievement that is external to us, we live our lives missing the joys of the moment in exchange for the hope for joy in a distant future.
My spiritual teacher, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, lovingly known as Amma or the Hugging Saint reminds us of the true purpose of our lives and what we can achieve. She says, “The goal in life is God realization. Strive for That!”
Amma also reminds us that the most valuable asset we have is time, which we too often squander. Keeping focused on the purpose of our life is paramount, especially as we move through our day and encounter seemingly small things that become large obstacles and that take us off path.
The wonderful thing about free will is when we say yes to our highest purpose, we give life to our deepest joy. In so doing, life unfolds with grace-filled support that we otherwise would not have seen – or even thought possible. We feel more energized. We want to get up in the morning and engage with life. We feel enthusiastic and have more patience for even the smaller, seemingly mundane things, because we see them as a part of the greater whole.
The deeper blessing about following our joy and saying “yes!” to our highest purpose is that we feel great, and everyone, everywhere wins. We are all connected. By choosing to follow our true joy, we partake in a total shift in the energy patterns of which we are a part. We create ripples in the fabric of life, and start a wave towards the positive possibilities of being.
As you learn to say “yes!” to your highest purpose, you become more discerning and focused. Since you want to spend time on the things you love, you can quickly make decisions as to how you best spend your time. You see that the person with whom you could potentially get entangled on the phone for hours is not where you are meant to be, so you politely bow out. You know that their needs will be better helped by someone else, and you don’t get wrapped up in guilt or scarcity thinking. You know that getting entangled in situations that make you less than you are and pull you off path, are a lose-lose dynamic. They would be like jumping into deep water to save a drowning person. When you stay on path and keep focused on your goal, you stand on solid ground. In this way, you can be of far greater service to yourself and to others. From that solid footing, you can extend a helping hand to those in need from a place of relaxed and confident joy.
As you go about your life, get clear about your goal and choose to spend your time wisely. Say “Yes!” to your highest purpose to realize the divine in this moment. When you bring your fullest self into the now and free your self from limiting beliefs and hindering habits, you embody deepest joy and inspire others to do the same.
For more on how to live your highest purpose, please enjoy my meditation The Goal of Life is God Realization.