Finding Right Livelihood
QUESTION: At this point in my journey, I am faced with many confusing issues. Amongst them, I desperately need to know what I should be doing for a living.
I am involved in marketing at the moment and I am neither very successful nor do I find it very rewarding (most probably because I am not very successful). Please help. I get to a point where I feel quite desperate at times.
CHERYL: From my perspective, each one of us comes into this world with a special calling or role to play. When we don’t know what that is we can turn to our inner guidance – the voice of wisdom within. Meditation and journaling can be a link to that inner guidance. It can come as inspiration or insight that elicits a sense of rightness, a “yes!” sense. When we act on inspiration it begins to open the path forward. If we take inspirations or insights into the rational mind we find two great debaters that can take us in circles, leading to confusion and non-action. Trust and act on inspiration and insights that elicit a sense of rightness.
A calling is a summons that comes from the highest part of ourselves and is based on something that we enjoy doing, something that is beneficial to society. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, in fact most of us are called to small things. When something is a calling the motivation behind it is in alignment with a sense of purpose and passion. We enjoy doing it, even if it entails hardships. Being a teacher or a realtor or a carpenter can be a calling, as can being a musician or forest ranger or parent. It isn’t what we do so much as the reason why we do it that is important. If our motivation is primarily to make money that wouldn’t constitute a calling. We may make a lot of money but we won’t feel satisfied in a deep and meaningful way. When we follow a calling we find ourselves in our authentic place doing something that is aligned with our purpose and is of benefit in the world. We still make necessary or substantial amounts of money while serving our highest good and the good of the whole.
Meditation and journaling help us to tap into the deep resources of the subconscious mind and higher awareness. The subconscious, the seat of all of our memories and emotions, is a great place to gather information about what it is in life that really fires our enthusiasm and passion. What are the things that we really enjoy? These are clues. Our higher awareness will inspire us in the direction of our personal calling and place in life, as well as those pieces that make up the whole of a healthy and balanced life pattern. As we get information we can begin to put the pieces together that lead to meaning and purpose in life – both professional and personal.
Quiet or walking meditation is another beneficial practice to open ourselves to inner guidance. When I’m looking for inner direction I often walk in some quiet, beautiful place in nature. Journaling is yet another way to enter the subconscious mind and higher awareness. Pose questions, such as What is my right livelihood? What do I like to do? Walk in receptive silence, meditate, journal. Write down any inspirations that come and RECEIVE them. Let them percolate. Don’t debate them.
We can ask questions when we meditate, then become quiet and receptive. We can ask questions when we go to bed at night, then drift into sleep knowing that the subconscious part of our minds remains alert to direction from our higher awareness. Questions lead to answers from all kinds of sources: a sudden moment of insight, a relevant dream, a person who says something that strikes some inner cord, and so on.
Whatever process or processes you might use, the important thing is that you begin to put into action the ideas and inspirations that come. Just take little steps and as you move forward more doors will begin to open.
The following story from Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work, illustrates how we find clues from the things we enjoy doing that help us to put together a meaningful life that includes finding our right livelihood:
I’ll give you an example of a woman who had some difficulty finding out what her job was in the divine plan. She was in her early forties, single, and needed to earn a living. She hated her work to the extent that it made her sick, and the first thing she did was to go to a psychiatrist who said he would adjust her to her job. So after some adjustment she went back to work. But she still hated her job. She got sick again and then came to me. I asked what her calling was, and she said, “I’m not called to do anything.”
That was not true. What she really meant was she didn’t know her calling. So I asked her what she liked to do because if it is your calling you will do it easily and joyously. I found she liked to do three things. She liked to play the piano, but wasn’t good enough to earn her living at that. She liked to swim, but wasn’t good enough to be a swimming instructor, and she liked to work with flowers.
I got her a job in a florist shop so she could earn her living working with flowers. She loved it. She said she would do it for nothing. But we used the other things too. Remember, she needed more than just a livelihood. The swimming became her exercise. It fits in with sensible living habits. The piano playing became her path of service. She went to a retirement home and played the old songs for the people there. She got them to sing, and she was good at that. Out of those three things such a beautiful life was built for that woman. She became a very attractive woman and married a year or so later. She stayed right in that life pattern.
