There are 2 ways to live your life. One involves trying to live up to expectations, the other is living the life you’re soul intends to live.
It seems easy to revolve your life around trying to follow some rules and fulfill expectations. The rules are all laid out for us, all you need to do is follow directions. These rules come from society, family, friends, the media and ourselves. You are driven to finish school, get “good” grades, get a “good” job, find a “good” partner and buy a “nice” house. You think we should be skinny, write thank you cards and volunteer. You want to have an Ipad, a sweet ride and trendy clothes. You tell yourself that if you complete this never ending list you can somehow win at the game of life. You continue to press on working towards these things, all with a desire to impress and meet expectations and obligations. It SEEMS easy to follow that road because the expectations set out for you are set fairly early in your life and are fairly scripted. So you just mindlessly keep at it.
The reality is that the game of life that involves living up to expectations, self-imposed or not, is really an impossible battle that will never be won. It never ends. Trends change. There are always more people to disappoint. You are left with a feeling of less than the magnificent wonder that you already are inside.
Now let’s look at the second way to live your life because ultimately it is a soul’s purpose to express its fullest self and follow it’s own path, not that scripted by others.
Now I don’t claim that it’s easy to make the shift from living a life of expectations to living your life for you. First you need to get to know yourself and what really lights your fire. It helps to be in tune with your deepest desires and to get glimpses of the unique purpose that your life is intended to have. You can see these things when you discuss a certain topic and your energy rises, when you observe an event and you want to share it with another, when you act in a way that makes you feel a swell in your heart. These are all clues. Mindful practices help to tune in as well. When you start filling your life with the things that resonate with you, your flame is ignited, your life begins to flow effortlessly. Only then do you realize that the scripted life with the long list of things you aught to be and do is the harder road to travel.
One by one you can start to drop the parts of your life that are not in line with your true self and start to add in those that make you shine brighter. I can already see your light shine with a little extra sparkle. If we all shifted a little bit more in that direction, the world would be a better, brighter place. I’m sure of it.
