“Now and then, it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”
-Guillaume Apollinaire-
Let's investigate this from what my mentor Michael Neill calls, the "Outside-In" approach to life; meaning what happens outside us(circumstances), causes how we feel on the inside(emotion). In an outside-in world, it makes sense to find something outside of us that fulfills us, inspires us, and makes us happy. Most people spend their whole lives searching for these 'magical' objects and activities. Sometimes we even find something for a while that seems like the perfect thing, but then the feelings we seemed to get from it begin to fade... and we move on to the next job, or relationship, or object that appeals to us. We never stop to question the assumption that the outside world can actually magically imbue us with certain feelings. Without questioning this, most people live their whole lives searching...never quite realizing that what they were looking for was never lost in the first place.
This brings me to the Inside-Out nature of life. When we understand that circumstances CAN'T cause feelings, our THOUGHTS cause feelings, it gives us an opportunity to pause and take a look within (To learn more please read my articles Thought vs. Circumstance and Navigating By Mood). Now, when I say look within, let me clarify that I don't mean look inside our bodies, I mean look at the very nature of who we are. As a culture we don't spend much time looking at who we are. We simply go about our day to day activities, and we operate under a plethora of limiting beliefs, false assumptions, and destructive thought viruses. So, let's take a look right now. Take a minute to close your eyes and ask yourself... who am i? Am I this body... this meat suite, or am I more than that?
Most people have what I would describe as a deeper experience of themselves and of life. We intuitively know we are not just these bodies. There seems to be some kind of unifying force across all of life that we call many different things: God, Spirit, Source Energy, Universal Mind, Unconditioned Self, Essence, and Love; to name a few. Regardless of what you call it, the more you look in the direction of your true nature and that of your thinking, the more you will see the inside-out nature of life. When you spend your time living from this place, life get's really simple and really fun, really quick.
When we look at our jobs and careers from an inside-out perspective, it doesn't make any sense to think about how they could fulfill us. We know that the sense of being fulfilled comes from within. It comes from when we live life from a place of connection, passion and love that is our very nature. It's not something to have, or find, or do; it's who we are! As another one of my mentors Robert Holden says, "We are love and happiness minus our neurosis." To put it even more simply we are love minus our miserable thinking; which is the only thing that can temporarily take us away from who we really are. Some people have just spent so long entertaining their miserable thoughts that they have forgotten their very nature.
I want to invite you to consider something new in relation to searching for work you love. Assuming our very nature is love...consider that it could be as simple as asking yourself "what appeals to me?" and then following that. Keep moving in the direction of what appeals to you and soon enough people look back on your life and say "wow, what a spectacular fulfilling career." And you will simply smile, knowing that the very same energy is inside every single person, waiting to be realized.
You can thrive in any Job or activity because of who you are. That, however, does not mean you have to stay doing what you are currently doing if you don't like it. Ask yourself what appeals to you. Open yourself up to explore. Be willing to step out into the unknown. Go interview other people, job shadow, take classes and seminars. Spend time with people who love what they are up to in the world. If you open yourself up in this way, sooner or later, you'll bump into something you really enjoy. And remember that when you start to get in a hurry and thinking that 'there' will be better than 'here', know that it won't be, it'll just be different. You can rest easy when you remember who you are and how your experience of life is being created from the inside out.
Let me finish with a saying I learned from Michael Neill, "There is nothing you need to do, be, have, or create, in order to be happy, fulfilled, and experience love". The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can drop the exhausting search for the 'right job' and start living your wonderful life right now!
To get massively supported in creating your life from the Inside-Out, call my office today to set up a free consultation at 503-389-3778 or email me at CoachTylerThurman@gmail.com.
Until Next time, Love and Light,
Coach Ty
