One of the habits built over the years should be your understanding that you are responsible for yourself. So make it a habit to ask yourself the simple questions :
- What do I want?
- Who do I need to be to do what I want?
- Why am I here?
But you know that you do not hear those questions enough. So, please get in the habit of asking these questions because things are impermanent, and they change all the time. And so, you should have a continual and ongoing dialogue with yourself and with each other on something you are up to and become a seeker at it.
A book by Martin Buber entitled Hot Searching greatly recommends your way of asking yourself. This is about how men search for themselves in a particular way, which means you have to search for what is inside. And that’s where you will discover who you are or who you are to be, who you want to be, and what you want to do. And then, as resolution, you talk about all the pieces that work, which has more to do with having a mind, body, heart, and soul in alignment,
It is not somebody telling you, but it is an inside-out job. And so you begin with yourself and ask these big questions, Where am I going to? And Why am I here? Not why am I here in terms of an intention, but your answer must be, “I am here because it is my masterpiece.”
Everyone has a masterpiece; in particular, it is your identity. You would know who you are as an individual because there’s only you and no one else. And it is your job to understand who you are so that you can be who you are.
Thus, you must begin with yourself and make sure that you align with what you say and what you do. Talk about honoring yourself, being still, and listening to who you are. And make sure not to be preoccupied with oneself, so that means always asking these questions:
- Why am I here?
- Why did I free myself?
- What’s my purpose?
- What’s my intention?
With that, you could surely come up with something from inside, something that speaks to you that will push you through.
Often, you talk about being in a system where you are crusted in a shell without a divine spark unless you can get out of it, chipping off that shell to get out of it. So you have to have some level of self-observation and know some ways to hide from reality.
The Fulfillment of Your Existence
And so then there is something that can only be found in one place, a great treasure called the fulfillment of existence. This treasure can be found in the place on which one stands. So the line from the book Hot Searching says, “It is a great treasure which may be called the fulfillment of existence,” remarkably makes sense.
And so you have this idea that you have to look for things and do extraordinary things, but in actuality, knowing where you are at the beginning of where you currently are. And that is where the treasure is, that is where you find yourself at the moment, in this time. It’s a matter of just being still and knowing how you can express yourself to share yourself.
And so these minor interactions with people have something that angels can’t do; making things with holy intent. Like, you can intend to interact when you go to haul food or when the mailman comes by; you can make that a holy interaction and let God come in where you stand. And make that as your interpretation, whether it is Buddha-nature, Christ consciousness, Kwan Yin energy. Let that create an inviting spark.
You can also interact with the environment in a holy way, which will make you connect beyond the illusion of separateness. And so, during this time of COVID, you mustn’t let ideologies or other things prevent you from having compassion and empathy, but realize that you are the best one to do it the best way.
The Role of Leadership
Everyone has an essential role in developing the habits of inclusion. These are habits of beginning with oneself, but not ending with oneself, and just understanding to be fully present and be holy here and fully engaged. The mind, body, heart, and soul should be present in whatever you do, and that is what it is all about. It’s about knowing that the best way to find yourself is to forget yourself in service, so get yourself in this habit of just saying, “okay, how can I serve?”
Even though you might be feeling pain, know that it is not running from the pain, but it’s about understanding that the best way to find yourself is to embrace it no matter what the pain is. At the same time, generate hope or focus on what you can do and create.
So to be able to do this, make it a habit to do it daily in communion with yourself with your highest power. And this will be the channel to ask yourself, “how may I be of service today?”
Being of Service
How can you be in service today? This is the best time to reflect and think about it. For some extraordinary people like Virginia Wolf and Einstein, these are the three things that they consider to being of service to others:
- Reflection – reflecting on your lives, reflecting on your experience, and understanding your experiences.
- Leveraging – this has to do with knowing yourself, knowing and playing with your strengths, expressing yourself.
- Reframing or contextualizing, or interpreting what it means if something happens in a way. These things must empower and motivate you to move beyond and realize that those are stepping stones and not roadblocks.
And the essence of it all is you will be able to express yourself in battles or discomfort, and it is the only way out.
To get more inspiration, check out this keynote speech from George Mumford on YouTube:
