It’s 7:30am on a weekday morning, and I’m still in bed, agonizing over having to go into work.
Every cell in my body seems to be complaining about it, my heart feels heavy, and yet my mind will somehow drag me out of bed and into work. And I will give in.
This is what feels so wrong – that my body, soul and mind are not in sync.
My thoughts, words and actions are not in harmony.
My own dreams and visions are of a life filled with peace, solitude and harmony. And also of plenty.
A life filled with what I’d like to fill it with – writing, meditation, nature, yoga, and reading. And nowhere in there is my corporate job that’s filled with insincerity and insecurity, that borders on selling my soul.
I feel like a puppet, tied up in strings, and the strings are dragging me out of bed each morning, dressing me in corporate costumes, and dancing me across desks.
Can I not cut those strings, those unseen, invisible, imaginary strings that feel heavy as iron chains? Can I not break the wooden shell of my puppet self, and discover my inner gold, my true purpose?
So I started working on that alchemy – to turn wood into gold, to transform myself from a puppet into a purpose-filled being.
“And when you want something all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”
– Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
Step 1: Refine Your Goal
My first step was the recognition that I wasn’t living the life I wanted to live – that was just the beginning.
And then I had to figure out the kind of life I wanted to live.
I had to define and refine what my goal was – Gold.
I defined my Gold as a life of peace, a life filled with meaning and purpose.
I wanted to transition from a material to a spiritual life. I wanted to spend time in nature, in contemplation, and in solitude.
I wanted to earn a living from what I was passionate about learning, and not in a soul-less office space. I wanted to spend time and energy only on what made me radiant, what brought me joy, and nothing else.
Step 2: Find Your Fire
I realized that I used to be more like water – I had always followed the flow. Because I was too afraid to make choices, too afraid to say no, too afraid not to please the people I love.
I see all this about myself only in hindsight, looking back at the painful path I trudged these long years.
I found that the element that will fire my purpose is Joy.
Joy didn’t mean sitting around doing nothing, or pursuing pleasure. I realized that following joy is a life filled with intensity, integrity and initiative.
It takes courage to create a new path: my own path. It takes courage to be vulnerable, to be willing to make mistakes, to fall down, and then correct my course.
Step 3: Plan Your Transformation
Once I was able to recognize, acknowledge, and accept what I was missing, I then had to build a metaphorical blueprint to visualize the life I want to live. I made a list of what I love, a plan for my passions, and a path to my purpose. I created a vision of the life I want for myself.
I started following my intuition. I started journaling about my joys, I started being grateful for everything that was a blessing – whether I personally liked it or not – as they were all lessons to lead me to the gold.
It has been a few years since I started doing that, and even though I had no idea where I was actually going to end up, I knew that each step was going in the right direction – the direction of joy.
Step 4: Let Go Of The Lead
Before I could create something new, I noticed that there was a lot that I was holding on to, the dross that was weighing me down. Clinging to the leaded dregs left no room for new experiences, new growth, or new opportunities.
So I started letting go of things that felt heavy, things that didn’t mean anything any more. I stopped going to office parties that terrified me, I stopped networking with work “friends,” I stopped watching news and didn’t need TV to keep me busy, I stopped going to places of worship that seemed more like social gatherings…
In short, I stopped doing everything I could to not do things that didn’t bring me joy.
Step 5: Discover The Catalyst
The single most important discovery I made in making my vision a reality was to find the catalyst to make it happen: to take the first step, no matter how small.
The first step I took gave me strength and momentum. And then the path itself pulled me forward.
At each baby step of the way, I weighed it if it felt right in my soul, if it created joy in my heart. The more I walked, the more confidence I found in my legs and in my life.
And then it was easy enough to create the life of purpose that I visualized. I found my Gold.
Step 6: Stay On The Golden Path!
Once I found my purpose, all I need to do now is to stay the course. As long as I stay true to what feels right, I’m golden.
Just as I had envisioned, I’m creating a life of meaning, I’m transitioning from material to spiritual, and I’m spending my time on everything that fills me with radiant energy.
When I stray off my path, I feel that too – in the misalignment, in sensing when I’m off-center. It took me a while to find my path, but now that I’m on it, I’m filled with Peace and Purpose.
Saiisha is a Meditation for Life coach, and uses ancient Vedic practices and techniques that are essentially relevant in this fast paced modern world. Take her Marga Quiz to see what is YOUR spiritual path.
