Category Archives: Abraham-Hicks
Passion and Purpose: A Question of Value
“Start with what delights you that you can’t help sharing because that is the joy that no one can really resist.”
‘Wisdom’ and Other Words To Live By From a Wet-Behind-The Ears Oracle
Passion and purpose are words I see and hear a lot in the ever-expanding literature of self-development. I don’t know a life coach or a spiritual advisor or self-help guru who hasn’t included some mention of these concepts in his or her book or seminar or blog or speech.
I read those books and blogs and listen to those tapes and get as caught in the notion of a passionate and purposeful life as anyone. Who doesn’t like the idea of living his/her dream, following one’s bliss, etc.?
But when I take off the reading glasses and look in the mirror clarity sometimes seems to scurry out the door, leaving me with a lot of questions about where I put my passion and purpose and how to retrieve them, assuming I ever really had them to begin with.
I look at what at I’ve done and what I’m doing and I wonder things like, does any of it really matter? Does anyone really care? If I continue—or stop doing it—or do something else, will anyone even notice?
So I asked the Shower Team: “Where’s the value in what I do or in what I have to give? How can I know that what I have to offer or if what I regard as my passion or purpose has any real value?
It’s a tricky question you’re asking, not because the answer is difficult or even all that complicated, but because there are some powerful false premises attached to the way that you’re asking it.
The simplest and purest answer to the question, How can I offer something of value?” is to just decide that you’re going to offer yourself something that you value. That is, you should always start with you. Start with what lights you up or makes your heart sing and your feet dance and your smile beam. Start with what delights you that you can’t help sharing because that is the joy that no one can really resist. That is the gift that your world most needs and that will be most appreciated because there’s no way not to appreciate a gift offered from such a sweet, honest and joyful place.
But, this notion trips you up because it seems to conflict with your longstanding and oh so seductive perspective about ‘service’ to others and the only honorable route to such service being to put your own desires and dreams and “selfish pleasures” in the backseat where they supposedly belong.
You have a hard time believing that anything that feels too good can be a good thing for yourself much less for anyone else. So rather than making your passion—your bliss—your life purpose, you dig around in the dirt for something that looks nobler or feels like more of a sacrifice because you’ve trained yourself to believe that if it doesn’t hurt at least a little—preferably a lot—if it doesn’t cause you to suffer or to give up something you really like, then it can’t much use to anyone else. After all, how can something you truly adore and find absolute joy in doing possibly bring any value to anyone if there’s no evidence of what it cost you?
The other tricky part of your question is that embedded in it is the notion that someone other than you gets to decide the value of you. And while we can se how this notion arises from the conditions you observe of others placing price tags on products and services and creations, when some ‘they’ out there appears to be deciding how much this or that is worth . . . while we can see why you might conclude that you not the ultimate authority on how valuable your gifts may be, we still say to you that from the broader perspective, no one else decides this for you unless you let them. You may be one who sells some creation of yours for what some would call an obscene amount of money and never really believe that your creation was worth the paper or canvas or plastic or wood or whatever other material on which it was rendered.
If that offering had no real value to you, the price tag dangling from it or the dollars flowing into your bank account from the sale of it will mean next to nothing to the one whose opinion of it matters most—the one who created and offered it. Without your agreement on its value, any quantifying of that value is just economics, and economics continues to be one of the most persuasive illusions to which most of you ascribe.
So, you ask how can you know what is in you that is of value? What gifts do you bring to the world you inhabit and the people who inhabit it with you? And we continue to say that you will never sacrifice or suffer enough to improve the world you inhabit or to make a difference to those who agree that your only worthy option is to sacrifice and struggle.
You will only see reflected back to you the light that you allow to shine through you—and the only real way to be that light is to be who you truly are, to identify and express the most passionately selfishly true joy of your being, whatever that might be . . . and to offer that as your gift first and foremost to yourself, and then to offer it to those (and we promise you there will be plenty) who are able to recognize and receive the incomparably unique value of that perfectly offered gift.
It’s curious to say the least, how much easier it seems to just join the clubs whose creed is that nothing worth having-or giving—comes without sacrifice or suffering. Membership is open 24/7 and never stops growing. You see their flyers everywhere.
Could finding and living with passion and purpose really be as simple as just being myself? Am I even truly willing to belong to a club that would have me as a member? Far be it from me to argue with The Shower Team, but don’t be surprised if you see me tripping over that truth a few more times before it really sinks in.
Parting aFLOWmation: “Be the gift to you that keeps on giving.”
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Tall Trees and Shaky Ladders
'Wisdom' and Other Words To Live By From a Wet-Behind-The Ears Oracle
I had a dream some time ago where I was on a ladder that was positioned next to a very tall tree so that I could reach out and selectively pick different varieties of branches and leaves and flowers and hold them in my hand. But as I was reaching for these bunches of leaves and flowers I became very aware of how shaky the ladder felt and that I was very nervous about falling.
In the dream, I asked The Shower Team if it would be possible for me to be up at that height and to feel absolute confidence in the ladder supporting me, to know that it would hold and that I was in no danger of falling. In the dream I heard Them say that I could absolutely get myself to such a place of certainty and self assurance where I could reach for anything that I wanted without fear of failing or falling, that I could know that I was always supported, no matter what I was reaching for.
The dream stayed with me, and so I later asked The Team to elaborate on the subject of shaky ladders—and how to get over my fear of reaching for the heights.
When you stand in your now, reaching for something that you want and you suddenly feel shaky or uncertain or worried about whether you can effectively reach the object of your desire, you have either temporarily forgotten what you know—which is that nothing you want is ever truly out of reach—or you have not practiced enough the belief that you are always supported in your reaching for anything that you desire.
In the dream you experienced, the shaky ladder represents on some level what you are allowing yourself to know or believe about you. That feeling of the ladder being wobbly or unreliable or unsecured is your perception of you not having what it takes—or more precisely—you’re not being entirely worthy of what it is that you are reaching for.
This kind of uncertainty or insecurity or doubt is always a lapse of memory on your part, or some temporary focusing of your attention away from what you know about yourself when you are seeing You clearly—that is, seeing you through your connection to Source. You cannot look at yourself through the eyes of Source and feel doubtful or nervous or shaky in your conviction that anything you want is available to you. You cannot look at yourself through the eyes of Source and feel anything but worthy and capable and confident that the Universe will yield to you whatever your heart desires.
So when these feelings are present . . . when the ladder you are standing on feels wobbly or unsupported . . .. you need only find a way to remind yourself that you are never alone in your reaching, that the always benevolent, always supportive forces of the Universe are all around you, holding you up, providing the safe and secure platform from which anything you are reaching for is yours to have.
How do you remember this when the shaky or wobbly ladders is what is most on your mind? The approach is always the same—to look around at anything that offers you relief or a reason to relax back into what you know. Scan your environment for cues and clues and evidence of how you are supported. Reach for memories that provide reassuring reminders that all is well and that things usually work out for you. Look around for any indication of your being where you need to be, and of your desires coming to you in the way and in the time that works best for you.
Recognize that it is always what you know or believe about you that provides the foundation for what you are able to ask for and receive. If your ladder feels shaky as you are reaching out toward the tree branches for something that you want, take some time to remember any and every success that you have experienced in your past . . . Take the time to review all the reasons that you have for believing that you are capable and deserving of your dreams and desires. Allow yourself the time to practice feeling strong and secure, collecting evidence of that fact and then relaxing into the knowledge—the view—of you that is a match to the You that Source always sees.
Finally—and perhaps most important—allow yourself to remember and to know that in fact, you can never really fall or fail. Your fears about this are always illusions. The vulnerability that you feel in any situation is never more than an indication that you have turned your attention in the opposite direction from what You know. As soon as you focus again on the well being that You know is always flowing, your fear is what falls away, leaving you free to joyfully and confidently reach for whatever height you are aspiring to.
I’ve always had a fear of unenclosed heights and of ladders in particular—so The Team knows that this is a tricky topic for me. But, curiously perhaps, I also love to be up in high places with awesome views of nature or city skylines. I love the thrill of looking down from some safe height, taking in the sights and sounds of a world that from that vantage point always feels more like mine for the taking.
The message here seems to be that I have seen the shaky ladder and it is me. So now I guess I need to go looking for those reminders that I’m not nearly as wobbly as I sometimes let myself believe—or maybe just keep telling myself that I’m never up there without a net.
First A Dream 