Here it is: You’re not here to save the world, you’re here to save yourself. Make this your mantra and repeat as needed.
This is a trap I’ve fallen into over and over again, so I know how it goes. Worrying that you’re not fulfilling some cosmic mission, or that you’re just not doing “enough”, is a trap set by fear and ego. The truth, beautiful in its simplicity, is that you were born with all of the tools you need to succeed in this life. Every person you meet, every situation you find yourself in, every challenge faced—no matter how small—is a deliberate part of your purpose.
But it can’t be that easy, can it?
Of course it is!
We humans are excellent at complicating things unnecessarily. We overthink. We fixate. All of that is noise created by the mind, by fear and ego. The mind/personality/ego wants us to misdefine what makes us who we are. It wants us to believe that attention, accomplishments, wealth, or power determine identity and our measure of success. These are all lies. You can live alone in the woods, never encounter another soul, and fulfill your purpose. You can live in abject poverty and create a life of which to be hugely proud. You can have influence over no one and become an amazing person in your own right.
Our worth comes from within. We’re born with it. We never lose it. We don’t need to prove it to anyone. We only need to believe it ourselves.
Worth does not come from stuff, or a completed To Do list. It comes from your soul, your kindness and compassion—to yourself as well as others.
Our own minds lie to us, telling us to be afraid we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We suspect we’re not measuring up to some imaginary chart.
The truth is that we come here to Earth to heal specific parts of our soul. We are born into these bodies with a specifically limited portion of our energy in order to be forced to focus on certain traits, and to resolve portions of our karma. Your purpose is simply to live as you are—exactly as you are—as best you can, with love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Your only duty is to try to exist fully in the present moment, taking life one moment at a time, and face each one directly. Be good to those around you. Try your best. Learn from your mistakes as often as you can. If your heart has a fervent, secret dream, follow it.
If it helps, think of yourself as a pre-programmed piece of software, with pre-determined missions set out in front of you. Nothing is a mistake. Everything is intentional. I often like to think of life as one giant video game where you can’t pause the game, and can’t quit until you reach the end without losing all of your progress thus far, being forced to start back at the beginning again in your next life. What this means is that you don’t have to “try” to play the game—you’re already doing it. You don’t need to “find” your purpose—you’re already immersed in it. Your purpose will find you. You actually can’t escape it. So, relax! Give yourself a break. Seriously.
If you feel pulled by your gut to do a certain thing, go for it! If you find yourself stuck in certain patterns, going around and around without escape—pay attention to it! There’s a solution right in front of you, waiting for you to see it. You just have to face your fears and find the courage to try something new.
The trick to all of this is that there is no trick. The only person standing in your way is you. You can choose—every single day—to make things easier on yourself, or to make things harder. We tend to stick to the familiar, but the familiar may not be doing you any favors. To follow a path involves taking forward steps. You need to try going places you haven’t gone before.
I spent 37 years of my life avoiding standing up for myself because I’d been telling myself it would mess everything up. It was the voice of fear, and I paid for listening to it by getting stuck in a miserable situation. The same people kept hurting me in the same ways, but at an increasing rate until I reached a breaking point. At that breaking point, the fear of making a different choice was suddenly much less than the pain of continuing on with things as they had been. And you know what happened when I finally stood up for myself? It kept being scary for a short while, because everything was changing so fast. And then… everything started to fall into place. Things that hadn’t made sense my whole life finally did. All of my pain vanished. Everything became clear. I gained perspective. I learned so much. I became stronger. Everything I’d hated about my life was gone. I was left with only the good, and so much possibility waiting ahead of me.
Please, learn from my mistake. Make a different choice earlier. Spare yourself the pain. You can. You can gift yourself that, if you are brave enough to try. You can live this life being your own worst enemy, or you can be your own hero. No one else can decide how things turn out, but you.
The universe is patient. It is kind. If you’re not ready, it will stick by you and keep offering you opportunities to make a different choice. It will never give up on you. But pain isn’t necessary for growth. It’s just not. We cause our own suffering when we resist what is. I promise you, what is, is not bad. There is nothing to be afraid of. Use suffering when it finds you as a tool. See it as a signpost, pointing the way. Listen to it saying “pay attention to THIS”. That signpost is there for a reason. It’s there for YOU. Trust it’s there for a reason, that before you were even born you set these tasks in your own path for reasons that won’t likely become clear to you until this is all over.
I have also wasted a lot of energy being upset about the idea of justice. Whenever things didn’t seem fair, it infuriated me. Have you felt the same way?
The solution is to try and understand karma. We carry karma with us from life to life. The universe seeks balance in all things. When the pendulum swings one way, it must always swing back. A homeless man on the street is not a victim of a cruel world if he chose that life to balance his karma from a previous life spent a slave to greed and pride. We aren’t equipped to see the bigger picture, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. All you need to do is trust the ride and accept what you have been given. There is purpose behind it.
Your challenges, no matter what they might be, are your gifts. Have faith in them. Clear the hurdles set directly in front of you and don’t worry about what’s waiting up ahead. The deliberateness of the universe is a glorious thing. It’s woven with love and understanding. If you can find a way to appreciate exactly where you are, right here, today, then the itch to be somewhere “better” will fade.
Love and blessings, friends.
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