Recovering Your Destiny

I love that proverb which says feed a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, because it touches on the need for self-sufficiency. But it stops short because it doesn’t address those who already know how to fish, but would rather be doing something more with their lives. Sure there are those who love to fish, but if someone’s passion is in the act of gardening, writing, designing buildings, healing, woodworking or something else, shouldn’t they be free to do it, while those who love fishing continue to provide the world with fish? n
In religious terms as well as vocational terms one often hears of someone having a “calling” to minister to others or a “calling” to become a musician. I believe all of us having a calling. Some are fortunate to hear it at an early age. Others appear to never hear it at all. Most of us have heard it, but for one reason or another, have chosen to ignore it. Perhaps, we were never encouraged as children. Or we were told our ideas and dreams were impractical. Whatever the reason, we may now find ourselves at a crossroads in our lives wondering why we feel lonely or unhappy or unfulfilled. Perhaps, we simply feel an inner gnawing that something is not right. A kind of itchiness, restlessness or sense of being unsettled, and we have no idea why.

More than likely it is because we’ve been ignoring our need to express ourselves in our own unique way. After many years of looking into this human dilemma, I now consider it a basic human need which should not be ignored. n
The cost of ignoring our need to be creative, self-expressive human beings is difficult to measure, but I am sure that many conflicts in human relationships could be resolved if people were simply able to follow a different road. Frustration, anger, resentment often arise out of feelings of powerless. Studies have shown crimes are often committed by those who feel the most powerless. n
True inner power is the result of a feeling that one has found his or her place in the world, and that he or she is making a worthwhile contribution to it. There is a free flow of energy with this type of power: one is in a position of both giving and receiving at the same time, taking care of the human need to not only receive love but to express it as well. There is no lack here. Incredible things happen when someone arrives at this place. People and money and opportunities tend to move toward them in a magnetic way. So much energy is being generated by such a person, that he/she often becomes a conduit for others’ success. n
Years ago, I read a book called The Master Game. In it, the author compared life to a game and he challenged the reader to find a game worth playing, a life worth living. It is a challenge I took seriously. My entire adult life has been devoted to finding a game worth playing. The Master Game, as I see it, is a game in which you are the master of your own destiny. All of us are to one extent or another, but few of us acknowledge it. We’ve moved out of the driver’s seat of our lives, and let someone else or several other people do the driving for us. Some of us have even forgotten how to drive.

Finding your passion is the first step in taking charge of your life, getting back into the driver’s seat. One way to do this is to get back in touch with what you love to do, with your life’s work. This is where your strength and power lies. There is a tremendous amount of energy around our desires and our passions. By immersing ourselves in that energy, we find that we can overcome numerous fears and problems which have thus far prevented us from living a fulfilling life.

From today forward, consider yourself on a mission to recover your destiny. It is a puzzle with interlocking parts which need to be pieced together in order for you to live out the rest of your life in a meaningful way. The puzzle pieces may be scattered near and far. But they are never lost forever.