When one is looking for a job they have awareness that hard work can lead to high reward but looking for one’s passion should not be hard work…instead it should be about “listening”
I have had the experience wherein I strained and strained again to find my calling and the more I tried the more elusive it became.
Why, when all my instincts told me something so vital to my life required endless hours of determination?
The answer is simple…it comes to you…you do not go to your purpose…it is the inspiration, the muse and it creeps into your heart and stays there until your mind is ready to let it visit. I remember when I was a kid and I would love to see birds up close and it didn’t matter if it was a large or small bird or what kind of color it had…I just liked birds.
They seemed to like me as well and when I was sitting on a park bench they would come up close to me and see what I was doing…in fact, I could be trying to eat and they would crowd around at my feet in the hope I dropped something. It didn’t matter if it was a crow or a pigeon or even a tiny sparrow, they all seemed to love visiting me when I was eating…but that was not when I wanted to see them.
I wanted to eat, not be distracted and worry they would steal my food…it became a game…if it was their idea they would visit…and not a moment sooner.
When I finished eating I would be ready to visit them.Being an inquisitive child I would inevitably try to get up close to them by walking quietly toward them but they would always fly away.
Inspiration comes within and you cannot coax and cajole it, it is not a faucet you can turn on in a time of need. But isn’t that unfair?
Yes…it is also unfair when you are feeling sad and nobody will give you the time of day…yet when you are upbeat and happy you have all the people you can handle!
The irony is that we get what we want when it is time…not before and try as we might, we cannot force things to happen. Some folks are aggressive in many things they do but this should not be one of them.
In my experience I just woke up one day and realized that something was on my mind for years and it just sat there getting under my skin…it was the idea that I never wanted to exploit someone’s weakness ever again. I would find a company’s vulnerability and I would “scare” them into how it exposed them to further problems and if only they would by that service or widget I was selling they would never have to worry again…until next month anyway.
I realized I was a predator and I needed prey to do my job and I didn’t like it…I saw myself in a completely different light..I was not very helpful to society and my legacy would consist of generating unrest in others.
Things changed rapidly after that…once I admitted it was there and stopped ignoring the feeling it surfaced and I let it go..and in its place was another feeling…an epiphany!
That was…how do I ignore the vulnerabilities in others..perhaps I couldn’t but what if I saw that vulnerability and used it to strengthen people?
I never wondered what my purpose was again..whether I volunteered or did an assignment for a non profit, I just shifted my focus once I “listened” to what was inside. Looking for a job written by Ken Bownes
